Fat Kids
Written by: Alexander Nobles
Childhood obesity has become a serious problem in America. Roughly twenty percent of children aged 6-11 are considered overweight. Some states in America have significantly higher rates while some have ignorantly lower. It is hard for a child to be asked to take care of his or her own eating habits. Parents have to educate their children starting at a young age proper eating habits.
A persons eating habits is developed at around 10months into the their life. A baby has no control over how much they eat nor how often. It’s the parents role to take care of the baby and establish proper eating habits at a very young age.
Obesity is the result of poor self-esteem. Overweight children are much more likely to become or stay overweight into their adult life. Feeling down about themselves people are sometimes driven to eat more which just multiplies the problem greatly. At adult age a person should be able to dictate what they can eat and fix their problem. It is just not ok to be obese, even if the person has accepted it. Obesity results in many health problems such as heart disease and diabetes. Children are much more likely to develop diabetes if they are overweight. In fact it is considered a cause of diabetes.
Not only do the parents have to establish proper eating habits but they have to establish a proper lifestyle. This is a parents job to begin with. Do not let your kid sit on the couch for 4 hours munching on potato chips on a nice day. Kick him or her outside. Sometimes you can’t just kick a child outside due to safety reasons; put it in your schedule to take the child to the park or for a walk. Get the kid outside every chance you have, every day off.
This is a burden for a parent, but it will effect the child for the rest of his or her life. Lifestyle habits are developed young. The child will carry on what is taught to him or her for the rest of his or her life. Be a good parent or don’t be a parent.
Some people can’t get enough time off to take their children places, or to cook a good meal that’s no excuse for a fat child. Buddy up with other parents and take turns cooking. Not only will this make a child physically more healthy but it will also make the child more socially healthy. Children seeing their parents being social they are going to grow up and be the same way.
Talk to other parents about the problem, get them in on the help. Chances are they struggle with the same problem you do. Get your children’s schools to have healthier lunches and snacks. If they stay unhealthy than bag a lunch. 5 Minutes in the morning can insure that your child eats properly. Talk to your children’s teachers to make sure your kid isn’t eating junk food anyway.
It is hard for one or even two parents to fix their child’s problem. Get the community involved, try to get everyone going for the same goal you are. What excuse can you give that your child is fat? Be a good parent, it is your fault, solve your mistake. It isn’t your governments job, it isn’t your communities job, it is the parents fault. Take responsibility and help your kid. Being overweight is not just a problem now for a child but it will be in the future also.
Anand, Rajen. Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Department of Agriculture. 27 Oct. 1998. 25 Nov. 2006 <http://www.usda.gov/cnpp/Seminars/obesity.PDF>.
“Childhood Overweight.” CDC. 06 Aug. 2006. 25 Nov. 2006 <http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/overweight/index.htm>.
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Comment by Emma on 23 September 2007:
Obesity rates are sickening. What’s more sickening is watching overweight parents and overweight kids at a restaurant eating…well, only fatty foods of course. It makes me so tempted to just walk over, snatch their food away and put a nice salad in front of them. Is it so hard? Okay, parents: If you are overweight, fine. It’s your problem, but when your child is growing up and you see them getting fatter by the day, doesn’t it concern you? Don’t just feed them what they want to make them like you! What will make them like you in the end is the fact that you taught them to eat right and they are at a healthy weight. My mother always taught me to eat right. I’m not mad at the children because as the article said, the parents create the child’s eating habits. Even though when the child grows older he will notice his weight and eating habits, if they truly want to fix it they are more likely to go on an unhealthy diet, like anorexia. Reason being, they don’t know how else to get rid of those nasty pounds! They were never taught to eat right, and God forbid exercising! A healthy diet can’t work without a good exercise at least every other day. Parents, a word of advice- Take control of your own weight by going to some HEALTHY club that focuses on both eating right AND exercising and while your working on your habits, start working on your child’s and your family as a whole. They will thank you for it if it’s not already too late for them to have major health problems likes diabetes.