Childhood obesity

[ohgar]

I see people with really fat kids way too often these days. Wasn't Michele Obama supposed to be taking care of this? Do we need to start publicly funding fat camps? It's starting to get pretty ridiculous. When I was a kid fat kids were made fun of, because being fat was unusual. Now every kid is fat. What can we do?

(By the way I'm overweight but not obese--I used to be obese--but I walk 3 miles every day to get to a normal weight.)

[FlyingBIZKIT]

This should have probably been posted in the P/R thread, but I don't give a rat's tan ass.

[Sketchy]

Each day make them all take a Springer spaniel for a walk and tell them they're not allowed to come back until the spaniel is tired out.

No, but I agree that it is something that is a problem (here in the UK included).

[ohgar]

I'm increasingly of the opinion that we need mandatory parenting classes for new parents, which would include how to prepare healthy meals. Of course the teapartiers would all yell "I don't want my government telling me how to raise my kid!" and that's fine; they don't HAVE to listen but they should at least have to go.

(Move to P/R?)

[VioletS16]

Nutrition is such an important thing. Same goes for excersize. Even if a kid isn't "fat" it's no excuse to be lazy and eat bad. I try to keep a healthy diet. I don't eat meat, but I eat fish, and I eat fruits and veggies EVERY day, and spent about 3 hours a day fast walking (not all at once, just whenever I get bored). It's sad to see so many kids with poor diets. One of my best friends, Calvin, doesn't eat anything green. He eats junk food and soda all day. He's not fat at all, but one day it's gonna catch up with him. If it's not his weight, it'll be his health. His little sister is probably verging on obese, and his little brother eats fruit, but a lot of junk food too. The two boys don't excersize, they play video games all day, even the 7-year old (who has been video-game obsessed  since I met him at age 5) and it's just UGH!!!! I will certainly make sure my kid has a very healthy lifestyle 

[rogerdil]

I think there's been more of a shift to sedentary lifestyles than a change in diets in the past generation -- supersizing has been around for a while so can't blame that -- while electronics (gaming, cell phones, Internet) have obviously increased, leading to more kids sitting inside rather than playing sports, screwing around outside etc.

[Orbert]

It's all of it together.  It's easier for parents to just stock their pantry with cheapo snacks that the kids can raid after school than for them to provide healthy alternatives and expect the kids to eat them.  It's easier to hit McDonald's three times a week and eat crappy, high-fat meals because mom or dad is too wiped out from working to cook a decent dinner most of the time.  If there's both a mom and a dad, it often doesn't make any difference because they're both working anyway and it just means that they can afford to dine out every night, not just sometimes.  Meanwhile, kids just sit on their asses playing games, or watching TV, or on the Internet.  Even socializing no longer requires walking or riding your bike over to someone's house; you just Skype and/or hang out with them inside a virtual world.

Parents used to literally chase the kids out of the house, not only so that they (the parents) could have some peace and quiet, but because it's good for the kids to actually get some fresh air and exercise.  Even if all they did was walk around bored, or head to the mall and be bums, they were at least walking, doing something physical.  When no one forces them, most kids today would just sit on their asses getting fat, just like their parents.

[Ħ]

Yeah it's pretty sad because you know the kids are going to be pidgeonholed into a lifestyle of poor diet, minimal exercise, and probably low self-esteem and less dive for success. Just a downward spiral. I think PE should be much more extensive in elementary, middle, and high school. They should make kids play sports daily.

[theseoafs]

There are a bunch of reasons kids are fat. Junk food is both easier to prepare and cheaper than healthy food (as I understand it, this is because the American government provides a hefty corn subsidy, and most junk food has corn syrup in it). There also has evidently been a change in how children socialize, though I was never around to see the pre-internet world.

How do we fix it? Honestly, there's not a whole lot we can do at the national level. A tax on junk food might do the trick, but college students like me and poor families would get hit the hardest by that, and that's the last thing you want from a tax. Nationalized parenting classes aren't the answer either, as this just amounts to mandatory government indoctrination. Realistically, this is an issue that each family has to confront individually.

[ohgar]

Nationalized parenting classes aren't the answer either, as this just amounts to mandatory government indoctrination.

We already have mandatory government indoctrination for kids; why not adults too?

[rumborak]

There's also the factor that low-income households have to work 2 to 3 jobs at once to make ends meet. When you're in that situation and kicking your kid out of the house "to play outside" is simply not safe, you don't give them the exercise they need. And once they've never learned to enjoy exhaustion, they're essentially a lost cause.

rumborak

[ohgar]

There's also the problem of obese parents who are in denial that something is wrong with them and that they can and should do something about it (I used to be this way) and who pass that attitude and lifestyle on to their kids.

[rumborak]

Yeah, sometimes you really want to go over to the parents and ask "What are you doing to your kid ?"

rumborak