Dear Mrs. Obama...

Dear Mrs. Obama, I want to commend you on your work in fighting childhood obesity in our country and the creation of Let’s Move! It is an important topic in our world today and something that all Americans and nations throughout the world can learn from. I have been doing some research on childhood obesity and how television and advertising affect this worldwide epidemic. I believe education and good habits need to start in the home. Television is a medium that we have ready access to in our homes and it is a parent or guardian’s responsibility to monitor and control what children are viewing on television as well as how much television they are watching. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much control in what advertising is being targeted to children. If you sit and watch children’s programming, the amount of unhealthy food and snack options that are peddled to them is astounding. We need to strongly encourage corporations to take greater responsibility, not only in how they target their marketing strategies to children on television, but also in the creation and content of the food products they are advertising to children and their families. We need more healthy alternatives! As an advocate for health and wellness, I am asking that you take a look at this issue and how it affects the childhood obesity rate in our country. Advertising and fast food are big business in this country, particularly with our busy lifestyles. It has become an easy option for busy moms and dads to pick up a pizza or go through the drive thru on the way home from work. I have been guilty of this myself on numerous occasions. I have seen some evidence of companies who are making more healthy alternatives available to their customers, such as McDonald’s and their happy meal options with fruit, etc. Corporate America knows how to make a buck and what weaknesses to capitalize on in the quest for the almighty dollar. It’s unfortunate that many of the healthy alternatives cost more than the less healthy options marketed to us on a daily basis. This seems like such a contradiction when we are a nation obsessed with appearance and health in the media, yet you look at the majority of Americans adults and a growing number of children who are considered overweight or obese. What will our nation look like in 20 years? I believe that if we do not hold corporations responsible for their unhealthy practices, we will be a much weaker nation in the coming decade. Are we so concerned with making money that we are willing to contribute to the decline in health of the rising generation? I hope you will look at the research on this and find a way to open the dialogue on this important matter. Keep up the good work!

Miss-represented

Watching the movie "Miss Representation" really opened my eyes even more than I thought I already had them open and was aware of what is going on with females in the world and the role they play in society. It is disturbing how we allow these practices to be perpetuated and most of us are guilty of it. It's that mindset of "How can I change this? It's so big, my voice couldn't possibly make a difference." We buy into it with our need to be "forever young". I am guilty of this because I think with everything else that we deal with in our lives, it seems so daunting to take on one more thing......yet it's so important! I have 4 daughters! I don't have any sons, so watching that movie really made me think about not what only am I teaching my daughters, but what am I allowing them to watch (even when we think we are being careful) and are we discussing things and trying to make sense of all the mad sexualization that is everywhere? It's amazing how ridiculous and out of place those images seemed in the movie as opposed to when you are viewing it within the actual video or movie, etc.... They are so startling and in your face that it's almost embarrassing to realize that you had watched it before and maybe not thought too much about it. I totally believe that we as women can make a greater impact on our society. When I was a teenager, my ambitions were to be in government, be an attorney.....I loved going to youth legislature and participating in a mock process as a high school student with ambitions. Life happens, our lives can take a different road----and it's a great one; However, after watching that movie it makes me believe that we can all do a little more.

My reality tv

I admit it, I totally get sucked in by certain reality tv shows. I finally had a few minutes to sit and watch a little tv this week. I haven't watched Deadliest Catch for several weeks and I was sucked in by the impending doom of a greenhorn on the Wizard. No one knew what was wrong with him, he had pain, went into shock and appeared to be having a seizure. I finished one episode and was ready to go on to the next, and what did I do? I accidentally deleted the wrong episode....so I couldn't see the one from Tuesday night that showed all the action and whether or not Chris was ok. On our trip to California, I madly searched the internet to see if I could find any clips of this...no luck! I finally found a little synopsis on what happened but it just isn't the same as watching it unfold in front of you........How lame am I? I guess at least a realize it, huh?

Sex in the Media, American Idol Style

Tonight was the finale of American Idol. Can I just say that I have loved Phillip Phillips the entire time? I'm so glad that he won. Anyway, we talked about sex in the media in class today and as I was watching the American Idol Finale, I really picked up on some things that were disturbing to me. They did a segment on Steven Tyler tonight, and it was kind of disgusting, especially since my 4 girls were sitting there watching this "family" show.... He basically welcomed you into his supposed house or "pad"...He had a sloth that he was carrying around as a pet (creepy) and then he had all these Playboy Playmate wannabees (maybe they were the real ones....) lining the hallway. They were going up to each girl and saying "Miss January, Miss February " and so on as he walked by them. I think he swore a few times and made a few more comments that were not appropriate for the audience. And of course the women were dressed in the Playboy Bunny outfits....Steven even pulled one of their tails off their bum to powder Randy's face with! I was a little surprised at how blatant they were being with their sexual innuendos. A few weeks ago, they had Jennifer Lopez perform her song "Love To Make Love To You".....Apparently adolescence really don't know the lyrics of the songs because she was out there dancing and singing this very provocative song, not to mention that her hotty 25 year old boyfriend back up dance was doing a naughty dance with her as she sang. Neither of my teenage daughters seemed to detect the real meaning of it all. Hmmm, I may have to screen out some more shows....!

Mom, I need a new phone!!!

There are so many cool phones on the market today..... They have nice big screens and they are so pretty and shiny. Don't gag, I'm a sucker for cool cell phones, covers, you name it! My 16 year old daughter has gone through 3 different phones in the last 2 years. So guess what she is eligible for now?? An upgrade She really does need one...Her screen looks like its about to shatter from so much texting. She really wants this new phone that a bunch of her friends have. It's the HTC VIvid and it is big and shiny and looks super cool. It's pretty inexpensive to buy the phone, but then guess what? You have to have a data plan! Almost any phone that looks like a modern device requires data with our particular carrier. What an aweful trick....Get the new cool phone at a great price, but then you have to have the data. Not only do I not want to pay an extra $20 a month, I do not want my teenager having unlimited access to the internet, facebook, or whatever apps she choses. I may be too strict or old fashioned, but texting alone to friends already takes up a lot of a teenager's time. Do I really want her to be handed the world on a plate? Okay, I am being a little dramatic, but the bottom line is that there aren't a lot of phone options out there anymore that don't require you to have a data plan. It's making it very hard to control if you give in. We haven't agreed to it and I don't think we will. She's sad and I get it, and she's a good girl so I really don't worry much about her if we did give in. I guess that's not really the point, is it? It's hard to raise teenagers today. You want them to have things, but what does giving them everything really teach them?

Things as they really are......

When Dr. Coyne showed the Mormon Message "Things As They Really Are" it reminded me of a brief family home evening we had about a month ago. Having 2 older daughters that use facebook, cell phones, etc... and 2 younger girls who are watching their examples, I wanted to share a few of the Mormon Messages with them as a family. I kept getting the titles mixed up, so I think we watched What Matters Most and a few others before I finally got to the correct title. All of the messages that we viewed together as a family came together and reinforced what my husband and I had been feeling: We should not get so wrapped up in our virtual communications that we don't see the people who are right there in front of us (or behind us in the video). What matter most are those interpersonal communications with our family, with our friends, face to face, no on some computer or cell phone. I love technology and gadgets, and so does my husband and all 4 of our girls. We definitely have ways we are working to improve on using our devices less and interacting more. I am always intrigued with the latest and greatest advancements in technology. I love how the church is using technology to help teach and spread the gospel. I don't know if anyone was more excited than me to see the updates online that can be used in conjunction with the old YW manuals that we use, as well as the Youth app and all the other church apps that can be used as teaching tools.

Favorite Books

This weeks assignment was to write a paper about our favorite book from childhood or adolescence and a book that we love now. It was so hard for me to pick because at different times of my life there have been many that I would have considered my favorites. So I picked ones that made a distinct impression on me in adolescence and now as an adult. There was definitely a theme developing when I picked The Diary of Anne Frank and The Book Thief, both about Jews and the Holocaust. I'm really not morbid but both books did make an impression on me. If I had to pick a book from childhood that I loved it would be the Pippa Mouse books. They were short chapter books with black and white pictures. I remember my mom reading them to me. Recently, she found them and mailed them to me. I plan to share them with my younger girls.

Music.....and the Spoken Word

I am the Young Women's president in our ward and this weekend I had the opportunity to attend Stake Youth Conference. As part of the weekend, we talked a lot about music and the effect that certain types of music have on our actions and attitudes. As a demonstration, they played a portion of popular song that many of us have listened to ("YoungWildFree"). Everyone was kind of laughing and rocking out to it for a minute. The lyrics are not great ("So what, we get drunk, so what we smoke weed".... you get the idea!). They then started to play a video of a college choir singing "Come Though Fount of Every Blessing" that was so powerful, it really brought everyone to silence. I think we all felt the spirit in recognizing the difference between good music and questionable songs that don't invite the spirit. As a conclusion to the weekend, we took all of the young men and young women in our stake to Music and the Spoken Word in the Tabernacle at Temple Square. What an amazing experience to see the Choir perform live with an orchestra! At the fast and testimony meeting that was held after Music and the Spoken Word, it was amazing to hear how many of the young men and young women talked about these two experiences with music, how they felt, and what an impact music has in their lives.

Infant Videos

This week for our class we had to interview someone with an infant between the ages of 6 months and 2 years. My sister has a 23 month old so I interviewed her. It was interesting to talk with her about what she allows her daughter to watch and why. My youngest two girls are 7 and 8, so I don't watch a lot of the infant or preschool programming that is out there. It seems like there is so much more out there now....My sister talks alot about Sprout which is PBS for cable. She mentioned shows such as Word Girl, Super Why and Poppy Cat. For her, the most important factors in letting her daughter watch television at such a young age are (1) is it age appropriate? and (2) Is she learning something from this? It was interesting to hear all of the different views about watching television that class members had or had encountered during their interviews. I believe that

if we use moderation with television viewing, it can be a great tool for learning and entertainment.

This week in 358 we were asked to interview someone with a child between the ages of 6 months and 2 years of age and find out if they let their child watch Baby Einstein videos or any other type of infant programming. I interviewed my sister who has two children ages 23 months and 3 years. She is not a big fan of the Baby Einstein videos and had never really encouraged her children to watch them, even though they had been given a few as gifts. She talked alot about PBS programming and the cable channel Sprout. Some of her favorite programs for her daughter Ava are Super Why, Word Girl, Poppy Cat. She likes this type of programming because she is looking for shows that will influence her daughter in positive ways by increasing her vocabulary and teaching her how to interact with other people. She believes Sprout is a great option for her 23 month old daughter.

White House Correspondence Dinner

I kind of enjoyed watching the White House Correspondence dinner recap. Jimmy Kimmel was a little brutal with some of his comments, and Barrack Obama was pretty funny with his script too. There was a particular thought struck me as I was watching it. They showed a video segment that was making fun of censorship. They took real video clips of the President and other reporters and people in politics speaking, and added the BEEP and blur to their dialog and video. Now we all know that what they said originally was most likely suitable and didn't require any BEEPs or blurs, yet it was interesting to see how they could make you think that what they had said was naughty or inappropriate just by carefully placing these censors.....Good food for thought when we watch the so called "reality tv" programs, or any news that we see that has this type of sensorship. Is it real or engineered to make things appear a certain way?

Guilty Pleasures

Don't ask me why, but for some reason I love watching reality t.v. I know, it isn't really reality when you have a camera in your face 24-7, knowing that millions of people the world over could soon be viewing what you say and do. Two of my favorites lately are The Biggest Loser and Deadliest Catch (I know......WHY???) There is something so fascinating to me about these people who go out on the Bering Sea, risk their lives to catch crab, working in some of the worst weather conditions imaginable, and hoping to make a great living at the end of the season. I know I wouldn't last beyond stepping on the boat in the marina, but its fun to live vicariously through them....sort of...? One night, my husband came down the stairs and said "What are you watching? All I keep hearing are BEEP every few seconds?" Now I don't go around beeping after I watch an episode of the Deadliest Catch (definitely should not)......nor do I go and work out like a maniac after I watch the Biggest Loser (probably should). The question I pose to myself is would I watch either of these shows with my kids? No on the first (BEEP) and yes on the second....We love the Biggest Loser! They don't seem to understand my fascination with Deadliest Catch.......

Back2School

While my kids are starting to wrap up their school year, I am amping it up! I just returned to BYU after many years out of the academic setting. I feel strongly that I need to be a good example for my 4 daughters (Emerson 7, Addison 8, Cassidy 13, and Bailey 16) and finish my college education. Life happens, but its never to late to finish!