Shame on Shaq
Until tonight I’d never seen that TV show where Shaquille O’Neil works with overweight kids. I’m sorry now that I sat through the first two minutes, because it made me so angry I had to turn the TV off and leave the room. See, I remember being a chubby kid pressured to lose weight, scrutinized for every bite I put into my mouth, nagged at for not being slim.
The couple of minutes that I watched showed one of Shaq’s producers reviewing a tape of these kids. They’d all been instructed to work out over a 3-week period when Shaq was going to trust them and not insist on monitoring their exercise. None of the kids actually put out the effort he expected and, indeed, it looked as if most did not exercise at all. The camera closed in on one little boy, standing there with a clipboard listing the exercises expected of him. As the kid checked off the whole list without doing a single one, the producer’s voice over approached hysteria: “He lied! He lied!”
I turned it off just as Shaq was talking about how he was going to get tough with these kids now. “No more Mr. Nice Guy,” he said.
I can’t help wonder how if any of these producers were actually a chubby kid themselves. Do they have any idea how kids who already have negative body-images begin feeling hopeless, resentful and even more self-destructive when the one thing people focus on about them is their weight? They already know they’re different; they know they’re fat. What they don’t know is that they’re going to be loved and cared for, protected and cherished anyway.
Because they are kids. And kids learn those things from how they are treated by adults.
Shows like this infuriate me.
What’s the single biggest reason people over eat? For comfort — emotional eating, it’s called. Kids are no different.
Yes, there’s a problem with childhood obesity in America. There’s also a problem with kids being shuffled to before- and after-school care while their parents work, then to Grandma’s or a sitter’s on the weekends because their tired parents want time off. There’s a problem with kids being told to watch TV or play video games because it’s too dangerous for them to go outside, and there’s a problem with parents not having - or making - the time to take the kids outside when they can. Kids need the comfort of childhood, and adult lifestyles are too busy these days to give that to them.
Shame on Shaq. If he wants to make a difference in these kids lives, give them a chance to feel good about themselves without their weight being an issue. Give them someone to play with, someone to listen, someone to hang out and talk with. They won’t have time to be overeating if that’s going on. Most of all, they’ll get a message that they’re worthwhile and believing that about one’s self is the first step to deciding your future is worth slimming down for.
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9 Comments »
Comment by aylee
July 3, 2007 @ 11:26 pm #
I agree. I think the first and important thing to do is make these kids feel better about themselves, and not make it worse by telling them they need to do rigorous exercises to be better people. They need encouragement, not bootcamp.
Pingback by Good Enough Mom
July 4, 2007 @ 2:36 am #
Comment by Jesse
July 4, 2007 @ 3:42 am #
The oh so sad irony in this ill-conceived program is that Shaquille O’Neal has struggled to keep his weight down during every NBA off season since 2002. When he was traded to the Miami Heat then Heat GM Pat Riley had a weight clause added to Shaq’s contract due to O’Neal’s habit of showing up for training camp extremely overweight. In fact, Shaq got so heavy that many of his nagging injuries over the years to his knees, toes, and ankles have been attributed to his lack of conditioning and excess elbees. Shaq is flat out lazy, so I find it very amusing that he would be the host/star of a show that promoted physical fitness and healthy eating…I mean, Shaq’s fat lady in a sundress arms should have tipped the producers off that maybe they pegged the wrong wagon to pin their star to.
Comment by jon
July 4, 2007 @ 6:29 am #
You can expect nothing less from the reality tv culture. it’s aim is to humiliate participants at every turn!
Comment by Wichi Dude
July 4, 2007 @ 8:47 am #
Caught a little more of the show than you did (but not by too much, I had to move on). After Shaq tore the kids a new one, he turned his trainer “Doc” loose on them. “Doc” in turn turned another trainer loose on them. This guy was a total jerk.
What flipped me out was after the kids took their beating from the stars, then the parents started in on them. And none of the parents could be called svelte by any stretch of the imagination.
I found it insulting and demeaning to the kids and to my intelligence.
Even Jerky Springer and Pricky Lake provide entertainment while insulting me. Not so much Shaq.
Comment by Chelle
July 4, 2007 @ 9:37 am #
Things like this make me ill. Whatever happened to just simply encouraging a child to eat whole foods and buying them a bike or actually going out the door with the child and going for a walk with them?
Personally, I never struggled with weight until I was senior in HS. But in the last two years we’ve been watching Bonus-Boy gain weight at an alarming rate. His bio-mom would rather he stay inside than have to use allergy and asthma medications so every-other week he’s a couch potato eating nothing but junk food all day long and the opposite weeks he’s healthy, eats healthy and is active. What frightens me about this cycle is that in one month he gains 5-8 lbs one week and then drops 5-8lbs the next. At age 9 he’s far too young to be going through a gain and loose cycle, especially when his base weight is 82 lbs and it’s all in his chest.
As wichi dude said, none of the parents were svelte on that show which makes one wonder just what kind of examples of healthy eating these children see at home. Home is where it starts. Monkey see, monkey do. Breaks my heart.
Comment by Chubby Mommy
July 4, 2007 @ 12:26 pm #
What flipped me out was after the kids took their beating from the stars, then the parents started in on them.
I’d wondered how Shaq was going to deal with the parents about the whole thing about the kids not going to the gym. They’re kids, duh. To get to the gym means the parents have to take them.
Why blame the kids if they’re not going? Why embarrass and humiliate children further when their own parents sabotage their efforts?
Meanwhile, I got an email from a reader who says that one kid had to be carted out of the gym in an ambulance???!
Either that kid was physically overworked — a dangerous condition — or so mentally distressed that it caused a collapse. Either way is damn near unforgivable.
Pingback by Electric Venom
September 21, 2007 @ 3:38 pm #
Comment by astrid evans
January 28, 2008 @ 8:17 pm #
What really sickened me was how much Shaq had to struggle to get the school to agree to Allow!!! the kids 10 min of exercise, and all the resistance to putting healthy foods into the cafeteria. I understand taxes are high and school budgets are tight, but isn’t it worth it to spend a few pennies more per meal to provide foods that will help kids grow healthy bodies and nourish their brains for better perfomance in class? And if our kids are healthier, then medical costs will decrease as well.
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