Dear Mom & Dad,
I know that you can’t get along, and that’s why you got separated, but I still need both of you to be my parents. Being a parent does not mean driving through McDonald’s for dinner, nor does it mean ordering pizza because you’re too tired to cook, or because you don’t have time. That food is not good for me. I know I say that’s what I want, but the only reason you give in is because you want that kind of food too. If I said I wanted to drink alcohol, would you let me? No, you wouldn’t, because it’s bad for me. Well, so is high-fat, low-nutrition food. I am growing. My brain is growing, and without proper nutrition, it won’t grow well.
Dad, do you remember that time you planted a tomato seedling in the backyard? It didn’t get a lot of sun, nor did it get fertilized. It didn’t grow very well, did it? And it didn’t produce any tomatoes either. Well, I’m like a young seedling. I need proper care. I also remember that you later read a book about how to care for plants. Do you think you could read a book on how to care for me?
Mom, you said that you separated from Dad because he was never there for us. What about me? Now that you’re dating, you’re never there for me. Don’t I deserve your love and attention? Don’t I deserve to be fed high-nutrition food? Don’t I deserve help with my homework? Don’t I deserve to be listened to without being yelled at?
Mom and Dad, I’m being bullied at school because I’m overweight. I’m overweight because you are not helping me make good choices about food, and those choices need to all be good choices too. If given a choice between pizza or a salad, I’ll going to choose pizza. Remove the bad stuff as a choice. Pizza, hamburgers, sodas and other low-nutrition, high sugar/fat foods are not good choices at all for me while I’m this young. It could lead to an imbalance in the neurotransmitters in my brain and an addiction to that type of food.
Neither of you have to be perfect, but at least give me a fighting chance to succeed in this world by making sure that I am protected from things that are bad for me. I’m too young for PG-13 movies; I’m too young for bad nutrition; and I’m too young to be left alone in front of the TV or the computer for hours at a time. I’m also too young to have to tell you how to raise me.
Mom & Dad, I love you. Please love me back by taking better care of me. If you don’t know how, go find out.
Your Loving Child,
(Insert your son’s or daughter’s name here.)
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