Did you hear about this? A French dietician has suggested that the school system give kids better final marks for being their “ideal weight”.
Anyone else just go “WHAAAAAAATTT??????”
“It’s a fantastic motivator,” says Pierre Dukan.
For who? The already fit and skinny? Those prone to eating disorders? COME on!!
Okay, I’ll give this guy a teeny tiny break. Maybe a small percentage of youth would be motivated to take off a few pounds in order to get better marks in school. But, I would wager, a very small percentage. That small percentage who is driven by marks and not the many other pressures of high school.
For the most part I can see the ones who already feel they are less than worthy and unaccepted spiralling deeper into self loathing. The last thing teens need is someone telling them they’re actually going to do worse in school because they can’t take off those pounds. I’d call that extremely de-motivating for those who already feel badly about the way they look.
There are those who are naturally a little larger. There are those whose metabolism hasn’t caught up yet. There are those who are happier with a little extra padding. There are those that just don’t care. Whatever the situation, it’s no excuse to treat them as unworthy of the marks that they deserve. It is even less of a reason to give the ones who a dietician or anyone else deems “healthy”, “acceptable”, or in some way better to get something for nothing.
This makes me vibrate!
What France, and every other high school and junior high needs is self esteem and self love education. Get people in the schools that teach the students – especially girls – that they don’t have to reach some mythical standard of looks in order to be successful, loved and worthy.
I don’t know of anyone, even the ones who those of us who felt less popular thought had it all, didn’t have something that we felt bad about while going through school – and maybe still do. The head cheerleader might hate her nose. The captain of the basketball team may be worried about whether or not they have the marks to graduate. The valedictorian might have an eating disorder. We all have things we don’t like about ourselves no matter how together we may appear to others.
These feelings often stay with us well into adulthood. It’s time to take hold of those things we have been beating ourselves up over and know that, in the big picture, they really don’t matter. We need to be able to look in the mirror and see what we love, not what we think is substandard.
When’s the last time you saw a lion in the mirror?
When’s the last time you smilled when you looked in the mirror?
When’s the last time you knew, absolutely knew, that you are perfect just the way you are? If ever?
Don’t let any of the old tapes tell you that there’s something sub-par about you.
Tell the Pierre Dukans of the world to piss off.
Look in the mirror and KNOW that you are amazing and beautiful just as you are; no changes required. Really, you are.
Hugs, Christie