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.