This is how they roll in Salzburg. Now that's my kind of dessert!

Talking About Dieting...Part Deux

So Keith's cousin Kathy reads our blog but usually comments outside of the "Comments" box. But I asked, and she agreed, to use her recent story as an example of what I'm worried about with teenagers. See, she has one - almost two and is a great mom. I look to her to see what is ahead of me.

Here is what happened to her recently:
Last week I took 5 - 15 year old girls from E's school(all athletes, very very tiny, in shape and just fun loving girls that eat healthy and do not have food issues) out to Unos after a chili cook-off and square dance at our church.

They decided to go out for dessert and just sit and chat and enjoy a night out with the girls.....great!....they all ordered yummy desserts and were excited about their treat.....well I could have clobbered the waitress and almost did.....I will probably boycott the Manasssas UNO's....she passed out all the desserts and then makes a big celebration when she gives E her oversized reeces peanut butter cup dessert--it was in a huge bowl....w/chocolate drizzled everywhere for presentation...it looked yummy and fun to dive into! Great to be a kid and enjoy the treats every now and then - right?!?!

Well...she then makes this grand announcement about the grand dessert and how it has a whopping 1600 calories in it & she hoped E enjoyed every single last bite and calorie.....she kept saying things about those 1600 calories thinking she was being funny......I was politely trying to get her to move on!...she must have mentioned it 5 times before she left our table!.........Well the girls all laughed with these strange looks on their faces and then just kinda sat there and looked at their deserts after she left ......yeah....the fun was over....they couldn't enjoy their treats at all...... they were saying things---"okaaaay so I am supposed to eat this now? Right--- now I really want to eat this? I should have never gotten this....E must have had 3 little bites of her dessert....the other girls did the same with theirs.

There wasn't anything I could say that could make them confident enough to eat all/most of their desserts- it wouldn't have killed any of them! -- the joy of the treat was ruined and they are only 15. They might have eaten if they were by themselves but with a whole group of girls........no way. Don't you think they should be able to enjoy a treat!?

We ended up asking for 5 boxes and ...yes they boxed up their desserts and took them home to their dads....wow! That was fun! I pulled the head waiter aside and told him that I didn't appreciate the service and why...he said you can go over to the computer and look up the calories of any food item they serve so he didn't see the problem........I politely informed him that we didn't choose to do that and that these were young girls. Self image is fragile at this age - even in the most confident and it wasn't appropriate. He was a knuckle head so I dropped it......thankfully these girls do understand healthy eating and it won't be too much of an issue......soooo look out.......


And it seems we are all in agreement here as to how to handle such situations - but just goes to show you how one comment can change everything. Good for you Kathy to say something!