Obesity in Children
 

I brought my child to the doctors this afternoon for his check up. There was about a dozen kids there ranging from 4-12 and only 4 that looked like they had healthy weights. It makes me sad :crying: for them and angry at the kids parents :lossinit:

I have to say the obesity issue in children is getting worse these poor kids. The parents should be punished.

I don’t always serve my kids healthy food but I don’t let them gorge themselves either


OK I will get off my soap box

I lived in CA for 6 years, I never saw kids outside playing. When I moved back to teh east coast and settled in a residential neighborhood, I still didnt see any kids. I run 4 nights a week through a few neighborhoods and I see empty swingsets, empty streets. When I was a kid we were outside for every second of daylights. Streets were full of touch footballl, kickball, hopscotch, you name it. Not any more. Some of it is due to security concerns and the fear of crazies having access to kids, but some is just outrught laziness and dependency on tv, computers and video games

I know what your saying I was living on a dead end road in CT with allot of kids around and my kids were alway outside. I moved up to NH to a condo complex that has 3 playgrounds I thought would be great for my kids. turned out are ghost towns

physical inactivity (nintendo generation, urban wussification)
+
nasty processed foods (high fructose corn syrup, enriched wheat flour, high levels of saturated fats)
+
bad habits
=
obesity

:sick:

the good news is, obesity is manageable with a little bit of behavior modification. :)

I think the picture in your avatar should go a long way in modifying behavior

one thing i've noticed
 

is: parents asking their kids what they want to eat for dinner, breakfast or lunch
...instead of saying: this is what we are having. Period.

every one of us generally falls into one of three categories....
*texture freaks (for example i can't stand ocra cuz its slimey like an Eel)
*taste freaks -> taste buds are completely replaced every 7 years
and *visual freaks... people who wont eat something
just because of how it looks....


the point being that you shouldnt eat things
just because they taste good.
they should be eaten because they are good for you.

Parents are supposedly the educated providers who
learn something about nutrition at some point in their lives.

unfortunately...they are also so busy that they sometimes decide
that takeout food or fast food is easier when in reality it's nearly
50% saturated fat... (the worst kind) resulting in FAT kids:happy:

I guess genes dont play into it at all ? I dont believe it . not all fat kids are lazy , computer , video game junkies . some even eat really well and end up fat cause one parent has the gene in their family tree . but that couldnt be it ?

i'm sure heredity plays a role in obesity - but I think diet and exercise (or lack thereof) are the biggest influences. obviously, there are the relatively few cases where really profound obesity arises from medical issues.

A lot of kids are fed to shut them up. If they're eating then they're not screaming. Many parents are very permissive, anything the kid wants it gets. Food , toys just about anything but parenting. Both parents working and feel guilty that they've let someone else raise their children (daycare) and lavish food and gifts on their kids to make it up. As a result, you have overweight kids who's thumbs are exercised by video games.. My.02..

let's not forget all those evil parents who neglect their kids by going .... fishing. yes, you fishing makes your kids fat. :jester:

Yes but when you see them again in the late fall it's amazing how much they grow. :jump1:

I will admit that there are a percentage of kids that will be genetically "coded" for obesity, but that percentage is low.
The majority of kids have become "enabled" by their parents because (as stated earlier) they ask the kids what they want to eat.
I don't have kids, but I do have nieces and nephews, and I am ALWAYS giving them fruit and veggies to snack on.
(This is partly because of my own changed eating habits.)
We live on a cul-de-sac, and the kids always want to go out and play.

Unfortunately, most parents either don't have the time and energy after a hard day at work, or they assume the kids will amuse themselves.
As for the hard day at work theory, I find that if I get home and my brother is there with his kids throwing a baseball around, I have no problem getting my glove and joining them. (Remember, even as adults, exercise is good.)
As of them amusing themselves, if you leave pre-teens alone they will probably get into some trouble (breaking something) or getting hurt. That's why when the kids are out of the yard, there will be an adult to "keep an eye on them".
finally, as for the parent(s) that leave their kids home to go fishing, why not take them along as they get older, or start them off with freshwater tactics. (My nieces and nephews LOVE to go fishing with Uncle Timmy.)
Well, that's my .02

Easy to say if you have never had kids,both parents work full time ect..Its harder than you think

Fair enough SKD, but there are the same percentage of households where both parents work now as in 1987 (http://www.bls.gov/cps/wlf-table23-2006.pdf), and the number of obese kids has skyrocketed in that time.

Also, not all working parents are working for the same "reason". Sometimes both parents work because that's necessary to provide a roof over their heads and food on the table, and sometimes both parents work to have 2 new SUVs and a half million dollar house. Perhaps in the latter case, they could re-focus their priorities.

I had the worst diet when i was a kid, BUT i was always active so it never affected me. Stay active, and you wont be a fatty! Same goes for adults, walk around town and look how fat our society is. Its rather sickening!

that might be a little harsh Bishop, but I get your point.

I try not to judge people without knowing their situation or generalize myself.

you might be one of those people with a high metabolism, your lucky.

I try to avoid mcdonalds and those places
the food in this country is geared towards obesity but you can find good choices.

I'm gonna eat a big bowl of ice cream now in your honor :)

WeLL Said!!!

......but a lot of parents need schooling themselves,,its like when you hear young kids use the F bomb HELLO the freakin parents taught'um that!

.

I was a kid in the 60s - 70s,
and in my opinion things are MUCH different from now.
Back then,
- No tv watching
- No video games
- No Mcdonalds
- No computers
- No women working a job, other than in the kitchen !!!
I rode my big wheel till the tires wore off, then the same with my bike.
We would play street hockey , kick ball and base ball day and night!
I had a paper route when I was 10 and delivered papers with the paper bad on the handle bars about 3-4 miles a day till I was 13 or 14.

Going outside ain't what it used to be....
They can't ride their bikes in the neighboorhood because a road rage d-bag doing 50 in a 25 will run them down - or a freak will grab them up....
They can't walk down the street because a freak might grab them up.
They can't play in the front yard unattended - see reasons 1 & 2...

what Flavor.....? :huh:

yeah Raider Ron me two! DITTO on the activities but i also walked alot to go fish "down the river"...

When Jenn and I decided to have kids, it was also decided that she would stay home. She sews and does anything with material ( her degree at RISD). There is a marked difference in our children (mid 20's now) and their cohorts from school. Our daughter is a slim ,trim fashion maven/ inside sales manager at a major Boston firm. Our son is a slim,trim superathelete bicycle racer/shipper receiver at Providence Bicycle in RI. Their friends on the other hand...welll aren't. I/ we claim no special skills, just that our system seems to be a tad healthier. The kids need someone home when they get there, it's a sacrifice, I know, boy do I know, but the satisfaction alone is worth it all.

Well said Backbeach, I'm living what you did (I hope to have the same results, congrats man!!) , my wife is a Bentley or is it Bently grad(as you can see I"m not) and now a stay at home mom. It is a huge $acrifice, but I can't put a price tag on my kids safety.

If you don't have kids, you have a lot of balls telling others how to raise them.

I wouldn't say "Harsh" at all yes we all have to admit we live in a gluten’s society and its every parents choice to what they buy when they shop..

Stick with Bryers all natural that has to be the best ice-cream

Someone stated that it could have something to do with there genes. My sisters is a nurse and my father a doc only about 10% truly have a genetic condition for the other its normally parental conditioning... generally people with bad eating habits pass it down to the kids we learn from watching :read: chubby mom + chubby dad= chubby kid.

Before I get yelled at I know not always. It just breaks my heart to hear a little 5 yr old panting after climbing a flight of stairs.

So back to point maybe punishing the parents isn’t right but they do need a wake up call.. It just makes me made to hear “oh it’s genetic” when there are scores of medicine that can fix that. People need to wake up and stop looking for scapegoats food dependency is just as bad and sometimes worse then alcohol and drugs for a persons health.
:happy:


:edit: forgot to mention I'm a full time single dad... taking my kids fishing with me is the only chioce I have

dont judge a person till you have walked in their shoes ! a doctors kid from ct that explains it . have at it !

One of my mottos has always been "Everything in moderation!"
Another is "A body at rest tends to stay at rest, while a body in motion tends to want to stay in motion".

I can't prove this, but I believe that by letting kids stay inactive and possibly overweight through their "growing/developmental" years is bad. This allows their bodies to develop a "foundation" based on carrying extra pounds. When they get older, it becomes next to if not impossible to lose and keep off any weight since their bodies developed around a frame build on extra girth.

I was always active as a kid. Walking miles a day was nothing, heck we walked EVERYWHERE. I can recall walking into the city from Jamaica Plain, or walking home from Downtown Boston. Sure, I was tired, but I didn't mind.
As an adult reaching middle age, I don't walk that far, but I try to walk a mile each day (while working out with 5lb weights).
I feel great, my clothes fit better, and what surprises most of my friends and coworkers is that I weigh MORE than I look.
At 5'11", at 46 yrs I top out at around 275lbs. But look like I would weigh less than 240 easily. (I attribute this to the "walking workouts", and that muscle weighs more than fat.)
I try to watch what I eat, and will "explain" why I buy/eat what I do so that my family might get the hint and try taking better care of themselves.

The bottom line is that if the kids don't build a good body "foundation" now, they'll be in for more "repairs" as they get older, and you'll hear "I wish I had taken better care when I was younger".

I work at company that doesn't have enough parking spaces so people can park on the private roads. Early morning when there is still lots of spots, you can watch the fat people parking on the road to get closer to the door. Then they come in and walk by the stairs and take the elevator up to the 2nd floor. What comes first the chicken or the egg - did they get fat from being lazy or they got fat and refuse to exert any energy.

Also how many times have you seen someone waiting for someone else to load things into a car so that they can park close to a mall. You pass them and there's a spot 10 cars back. You park and walk by the fatso still waiting.

What do you think their kids learn?

I get a kick out of the People who park illegally in the Firelanes.......at the Gym. They go inside and work out for 2 hours but they won't walk the extra 100 feet in from a faraway spot

I park at the end of our lot specifically so that I have to walk to and from the building. I also walk up 4 floors to the office as well.
My coworkers think I'm crazy, but I look at myself in the mirror:laugha: and realize it's not crazy at all.:musc:

So I'm not the only one that noticed that?
I worked across a parking lot from a gym for 5 years.
Almost going to blows about how close to the door they got to park.
I actually moved my terminal to get a better view...........
(The scenery was very nice sometimes.)

Perfect People
 

:rotflmao: :poke:

exercise with your kids!

if there's a school nearby, walk laps around the football/soccer field or track.

goof around with a ball. make it fun!

how 'bout a visit to the pool with kids at the local ymca? nothing tuckers out a kid more than an hour spent floundering in the pool.

you know, you can even fish and get some exercise.

some of my favorite workouts have been with folks like ChrisL, Krispy, and JohnR - walking and casting Naps in the middle of the night!

don't have to cost an arm and a leg or take up a ton of time.

My point is that you just can't open the door and let them go off by themselves all day, on foot, like you could thirty years ago. That's why our generation was so skinny....that and the fact that we were too damn poor to have a UHF antenna.

I can't remember my father ever exercising with me - his Lucky Strikes would have burned down too fast in the breeze, I do remember him saying he had to run down to the packy though - does that count?

Personally, my kid is not fat...but I can see why it is a problem.

I'm 55 yo. I consider my generation to be the last "free" one. We could play outside way after dark. We , in our teens could hit the woods with a .22 and spend most of a weekend and our parents didn't worry . Hell you could go for a walk at night and no one called the police. Speaking of police, the small town in Kentucky where I was raised , Pop. 1800, had a police chief who was a patient individual, he knew who was trouble and who was just "high spirited but bacically good kids" . ANd he dealt with us accordingly. If he was alive today, I'd like to shake Chief Bradly's hand and thank him for his understanding. But I digress... We were more active because our world was safer..simple as that ..we , and our children are prisonser in our own homes these days, outside is a very mean place.

I remember as a kid riding my bike 14 miles ONE WAY, and playing 36-54 holes on a very hilly course. Crazy? Maybe, but I loved golf and if my mom couldn't drive me that day, then that's what it took to get to the course. Would love to inspire the same in my kids, but kinda hard when they see me only 5 or 6 days a month and their mom is one of those described above... I am the MEAN one who says NO.

here's one for genetics
I have 2 boys 11 and 12. the 12 year old is thin as a rail, the 11 year old is ...well, not as thin. They both eat the same way and play the same way. now when I was a kid I was as skinny as they come. The boys in my wife's family were all chunky. Now all grown up, I'm 40 y/o 5'7" 215 lbs and my brothers in law are tall and skinny. Life style has most to blame but there is something to be said for geans.

One thing I have noticed since I moved overseas is the size of portions that you get in a US restuarant is way more than you would get in Europe. There is simply no need to have to eat that much. Kids in a restuarant with a 20- 24 oz coke is just too much. When I am back in the US I can not finish a starter and a main course. That being said in the 10 years I have lived in the UK has seen the rise of McDonalds and BK etc. and you are now hearing the same things regarding kid's fitness that you hear in the states.

Our farm policies are all screwed up. We subsidize corn, which makes it cheaper to eat fattening foods that use high frusctose corn syrup than to eat unsubsidized food like veggies. Make fritos cost more and apples, carrots, etc. cost less and you'd have a healther population.

Just so there is another side to the story -
There is a REASON that all the crap daytime shows have diaper, diet aid and woman's stuff, the target is stay at home Moms. And they wouldnt be spending advertising moeny if it didnt work. My point is that most of the Moms in my neighborhood stay home and I know that during the day, when they need to get stuff done, they turn on teh tube for the kids. My kids are in daycare and never watch tv, ever, during teh day.
That said, my wife and I both work incredibly stressful jobs, but, I always leave at a reasonable hour, go home and run around with the kids and then log back in to work once they go to bed. I am active and my kids will be too. There is no one right way

good point RIJIMMY - take a look at the ads on nickelodeon - food food and more food. Still no excuse, but like they say to find the cause follow the money.