Mr. Smarty Pants

I was feeling particularly lazy the other day when Gavin asked me for some milk. Too tired to get off my dairy air (???) I tried to convince him to just have some water (this he can get from the fridge by himself). He promptly comes to stand in front of me, looks me in the eye, and says, "Mom, don't you want me to grow big and strong?" How can you argue with that?

This particular streak of laziness was going strong that day because later Gavin asked Dallin to read him a story. Dallin wasn't actually being lazy, he was busy with something else. He told Gavin "not right now," to which Gavin responded, "Don't you want me to learn to read better?" Seriously, you can't win an argument like that!

I've found myself paying closer attention to the commercials seen on TV, especially the weight loss ads (probably because of my own weight issues). What kind of message is the media portraying when they show an already VERY thin girl/woman losing more weight and being able to wear the "skinny" pants? I'm not talking about the before and after photos you see on Nutra-System or ads like that. I'm talking about the Wal-Mart (most recent one I've seen) showing a girl that is probably a size 6 (on a heavy day) eating smarter (and cheaper, I guess) so she can lost those two inches that will put her in a size 4! (It actually shows her slender physique in a pair of jeans and she pulls them away from her waist a few inches to show she's lost weight). Yes, I openly admit I have skinny envy, but I also think of my little girl and the subtle messages she will endure during her growing years. I tell her frequently that she is beautiful and loved, but I worry that the pressure from peers will be a louder voice than my own. The commercials really bother me and leave me with a feeling that, where the media is concerned, you can never lose enough weight. The pressure is almost always directed at women. Is it men behind these ads? I think so. Why do I care? Because they tell me I should (yes....and the skinny envy).