Moms try so hard to do right ...

Work life juggle ain't easy for working moms

We COULD blame crap advertising, crap school lunches, crap #worklife …

But no, another study blames working moms! Yes, now we are making our kids fat by our selfishness, our insane desire to work, put in long hour to pay off mortgages and buy school books, or self indulgently, have a career.

It made me so mad I can’t even respond in a logical fashion except to scream.

AAWWWWWWWDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD oh CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you haven’t seen the study, it says:

The growing number of full-time working moms in the past few decades could be one of the factors contributing to the concurrent rise in childhood obesity, new research hints.

In a study of more than 8,500 UK adults followed since their birth in 1958, researchers found that the study participants’ young children were 50%  more likely to be overweight or obese than they themselves had been back in the 1960s.

When the researchers looked at factors that could be associated with the trend, they found that mothers’ full-time employment, which was more common in the younger generation, appeared to be one.

The findings, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, do not prove that moms’ full-time work, per se, contributes to the risk of childhood obesity.

One possibility, according to the researchers, is that children of full-time working moms have fewer family meals or less-healthy diets in general.

I concede:

Families with two working parents are busier.

Mothers who work are less likely to have time to cook dinner from scratch. But so are dads. In fact, in our house, dad’s idea of cooking from scratch is making an omelet or waiting until I am out to sneak the kids to McDonalds.

But why not cast this as in families with two working parents, the parents’ full time work contributes to the diet of the children.

I know my response is irrational. But I am sick of us working women taking much of the blame for changes in society.

Other likely culprits (I’d say very likely culprits!) mentioned in the study: “The explosion in sugary junk foods on the market, food advertising aimed at kids, and the increasing availability of high- fat, high-sugar fare in schools are among the other factors that have been blamed.”

Make your own decision: Mothers full time work contributes to kids’ obesity.

Read our other rants on these issues at Working men are making kids fat!

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