Also, as someone who wears a 22, and is positively addicted to Gitano, can I just say how badly it ticked me off that Fashion Bug has stopped carrying their brand. I mean, lets face it, Zana di may go into the larger sizes, but will never be cut right to be flattering. LA Blues pants are hideous, (In my opinion) and their new line of Angel (or something like that) try too hard to look young.

Also, as a side note, its not fashion bug’s fault that Gitano doesn’t make larger sizes, though I do understand your frustration. And at the risk of sounding totally cheap…George, (The walmart “business casual” brand) has some awesome, cute, stuff in the larger sizes if you can find a walmart that stocks said sizes. (my mother, who is a size 34, usually looks at the stuff in the store, and then orders her size on the internet.) Also, there are a ton of private labels, that make really cute clothes for larger sizes. There are a few great vendors on ebay, that I absolutely adore.

In my Ogre tale the main character faces weight issues because he eats humans who themselves eat crap (fast food, junk food, too much high fructose corn syrup, modified corn starch). I’m sorry you got any other impression.

“Tweety”

rhonwyyn said: “Maybe the solution is finding a way to speak positively and gently about fat and health, not tear down our children for things they can’t control?”

I’d agree completely. I wasn’t trying to critique. I truely was curious. I was at the other end of the spectrum, i.e. skinny. I was teased relentlessly as a kid – - bean pole, stick, string bean, etc. Although I don’t know for sure, I’m sure my mom heard about how thin I was too. I was very tall too, which made things worse. The point is, the difference for kids between “too fat” ,”too skinny”, too tall”, “too short”, etc., etc. is non-existent when it comes to their peers. And, yes, it is out of their control, which is why I cringe when I see mom or dad gladly handing the kid a supersized 32 oz Pepsi. They should know better.

Do you think that the “untrained eye” can know when a child is unhealthily underweight? Why the difference between over and under weight? I’ve had people tell me that my 20 yr old niece is anorexic because she is so thin. That’s hardly the case, however, as I have lived with her, as has her boy friend, for quite some time and she simply has a very high metabolism. She eats like there’s no tomorrow, but also never slows down. At this point in her life she just doesn’t retain the calories (as I never did until a few years ago

Also, I would differ on the opinion that “It’s normal for kids to be chubby”. Human populations have huge variations in genetic fat retention potentials. See the Hopi Indians vs Nordic descendants, for example. The fact is, however, that kids in general in the good ol’ USA are now fatter than they used to be. And childhood obesity has been positively linked with health problems later in life. That, as well as anorexia, etc, should be of concern.

Sorry for rambling here….

Pdiff