Blame It On Mom

I haven't been around for a while - completely soaked up in a deal I have been working on. Haven't seen the light of day for the last two months, let alone enough of my kids. Which brings me to today's topic.

Yet another study blaming working moms for the woes of their chiildren. Somebody has descided to to create more than a casual link between women entering the workforce and children gaining weight. Yes, apparently the 16% childhood obesity rate has nothing to do with the general population's obsession with fast food but everything to do with mothers deciding to go back to work instead of stay at home and make meals.

This is is not a hard core study. This is simply one observer's casual connection of two statistics which made it into mainstream media (CNN): women entering the workforce in the 80s and the explosion of the obesity rate by 3x since then.

Of course, nobody tried to actually understand the makeup of the 16% obesity rate - is it infact, children of working mothers or any other parameters, such as family income level, cultural background, peer group, school cafeteria options, etc. etc.

Just another causistical statistic to make us working mothers feel like failures. Forget that most of us well educated, hard working women do, infact, feed our children very well, thank you very much. Forget that we not only understand nutrition, most of us are very well educated in it (and many other things associated with health and wellness). Forget that, because we work, we can afford healthier meals and healthier lifestyle options for our children.

I find these generalizations irresponsible and misleading. Such assessments only serve to sustain certain advocacy groups' support their traditional (and may I say, often limiting) notions of gender roles while doing absolutely NOTHING to solve the problem of obesity.

I just shake my head at CNN for airing this garbage. While they may not support fast-food, it looks like they are only too happy to support fast-reporting. Check your facts CNN. This report is a disservice to mothers and children everywhere.