Do Parents Cause Childhood Obesity?

In 2012, statistics showed that a stunning 17 % of children 2-19 is obese or (12.5 million) (CDC 5) There is a difference between obesity and being overweight. Being overweight is having extra body weight for a certain height with the conditions of bone, water, and muscle while obesity is simply having 30% of BMI or more. When there are more calories consumed than needed, one of the two will occur. Ever heard any parent say Dont get up from the dinner table until you eat all your food? Although it is good to teach kids not to waste food, it is not good to teach kids to over-eat, which can become habit forming. (Kaneshiro 2) Some parents also reward kids for good behavior with an unhealthy snack or even extra time watching a cartoon or playing with electronics. As a parent, caregiver, and role model a higher level of awareness regarding food choices and portion sizes, and physical activity could make for a healthier nation.

In America, statistic found that one out of three kids are considered being overweight. (Gavin 1) That is a huge number considering all the options to eat healthy and available activities. A study was done by researchers in Nova Scotia, rating children in two hundred and ninety-one schools. Out of those schools, 5,517 students (5th grade only) were reported as following: 32.9% described as overweight and 9.9% considered obese. (Jones6) Another study White 2 was done in United States by the Third Health and Nutrition Examination and they found that child obesity (ages 6-11) rose from a 6% to 9% range up to 6% to 13%. Ten years later, adults were surveyed by the same company, finding that obesity rose from 25% rate to 33% rate. (Lutz and Gable 7) These studies convey the epidemic obesity has on our society. There are many of

thoughts as to why this epidemic exists, but we should be looking how kids spend most their time. What is being done in homes to help prevent or reverse the direction the children are headed as an adult?

One culprit is to blame childhood obesity on the type of food being offered on a daily basis. With both parent working full time, little time is left to prepare a healthy, balanced meal. This makes it easier to utilize fast food or eating on the go. Breakfast is also a rushed meal with working parents; most breakfast food is high sugar foods not the nutrition that kid need to through the morning. These choices, more often, are unhealthy, processed, high calorie foods. Most of the foods that need to be avoided are seen in over ten thousand commercials on television. (Kaneshiro 2) Not only are the options of the food choices increasing childhood obesity, so are the portion sizes available. Portion sizes seem to be getting bigger and bigger, from super size fries being offered as well as a super big boy. If a parent is overweight and has a poor diet and exercise habits, the child is likely to adapt the same habits. (Kaneshiro 2) As the role model to these young minds, parents need to be aware that their lifestyle will most likely have a trickle down affect with their kids. An alarming prediction was made and found that by 2030, if current trends continued, nearly all Americans would be overweight. (Dalton4) To add to the unhealthy food being offered, everywhere one may go unnecessary calories and high sugary drinks can be found.

With each generation, there are new and different electronics being made almost weekly. One usually cannot go anywhere without seeing someone on their phone, playing White 3 handheld games. Television considered being the biggest problem of all electronics. Studies showed an average of seven hours (teenagers alone) is being used daily with combining all electronics and two hours for children six and under, which is causing less physical activity. Children that watch television four hours or more are most likely to be overweight. (Gavin1) It

may be easier for the parent to allow children to watch television or play video games, but if parents monitored the time allowed, children would be more prone to be more active. Although it is good for children to learn as much as they can on computers and all other studies in school, it is also very important to get physical activity in on a daily basis. More schools are cutting back on daily time in physical education and low budget schools that cannot afford the equipment cut it out all together. Even though it is not the teachers duties to help maintain health and fitness, it could help the kids have a better outlook on health if it were started earlier in schools. The human bodies want and need physical activity and all kids should use their energy, by playing sports or just getting up and being involved physically.

There are some serious health problems that come with being obese or the concerns on some diseases to develop in adulthood. Diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, asthma, self esteem problems and depression are just to name a few. (Gavin1) Doing a yearly exam with the pediatrician is very important to determine if there is a health concern. The doctor can do several tests to determine the health of the child such as (BMI) to calculate if weight and height is accurate, blood work and family history. Although unusual, being overweight can be genetic or hormonal issue. too little activity and too many calories from food and drink remain a significant contributor to childhood obesity. (MCS 3) There is a prediction that obesity will be as high as hundreds of billions by 2020 making HIV look, economically, like a bad case of the flu. (Dietz 4)

If things were changed and parents were more cautious of the health of their kids, White 4 things could be a lot different as a nation. Taking the extra steps, such as monitoring the calorie intake also the quality of the calories, getting physical activity in daily and also being active with them could help move closer to lowering these statistics. These are important factors and parents should consider their childs health in general: how they will be as an adult and how

they can avoid having any diseases. Life is fast paced and there is so many things parents need to get done on a daily basis, but if parents would take small steps toward a healthier lifestyle for their family, our nation could see a positive trend towards healthy weight because matters like this cannot be left up to the kids, only the parents.

Figure 1 Child BMI chart with average of ten year old boy in different views of weight. Corene White English 1201 Online April 13, 2014 White 1

Works Cited

Gavin MD, Mary L. Over Weight and Obesity. 2012 Web October > Http://www.kidshealth .org> parents>General health>

Kaneshiro MD, Neil K. Cause and Risks for Obesity-Children. 2010 Web 1 August. 2012. Http://www.nlm.gov/midline plus.

Mayo Clinic Staff Childhood Obesity. Web 2014 February 15 Http://www.mayoclinic.org/Disease-conditions/childhood obesity

Dalton, Sharron What Parents, Schools and Communities can do to Control the Fatness Epidemic? University of California Press. 2004

Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Web 2014 March 23 http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html

W. Gifford-Jones MD/ the Game Doctor. Childhood Obesity a cause for parents concern. 24 December, 2010 (Winnipeg Free Press) Pa 27.

White 2 Gable, Sara and Lutz, Susan Household parents and child contributions to Obesity. May 21, 1991 Vol. 49 Issue 3

Child BMI chart and examples of different weights. 2011. Photograph

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/childrens_bmi/about_childrens_bmi. html