You're Joking Me

I grew up around constant Dad jokes. 

A really bad answering machine message: 
"You've reached our summer home, some are home, some are not!"

A groaner every time:
"It's time for a honeymoon salad, lettuce alone."

The money joke:
"What do you get when you have 100 cows and deer? 100 sows and bucks!"

Maybe you, too, suffered from this fairly common childhood condition. 

To this day, our house relies and survives on jokes and humor but we never, ever, rely on those jokes being about body size or food consumption. 

I was recently texting with a friend who is increasingly concerned about her daughter's preoccupation with food and body. After we talked, she said, "Well I guess that means I can't joke about being one flu away from my goal weight." 

She's right. Using jokes to poke fun at people who already feel an enormous amount of shame around their body size or to suggest that permanently changing body size is not only possible, but expected, isn't ok. 

This week, pay attention to your joke content and commit to NOT poking fun at your size, your family member's sizes, what or how much you or anyone else eats or your activity level. 

Believe me, your kids pay attention to what you do and what you say. What you focus on and who you poke fun at doesn't go unnoticed. 

Shift the focus in a different direction. 

Try a good old, knock knock joke instead. 

Orange you glad this is over?