Well, I’m going to level with you and tell you that this is all 100%, totally, completely, and utterly…

CRAP!!!

I could use other adjectives to describe the excuses we seem to create as a society, but I won’t.  You and I both know that none of these entities are to blame.  You and I both know that it isn’t the government’s, media’s, or candy company’s fault that our kids are getting larger hind ends and even more clogged arteries.  You know who the real culprit is, don’t you?

Even if you don’t really want to face the truth, we all have to.  We all need to redirect who we are pointing our fingers at when it comes to not only childhood obesity, but our own selfish gluttonous ways of living.

The finger needs to be pointed at, you guessed it,

Ourselves!!!

That’s right, each and every one of us is responsible for this epidemic.  Most importantly though, and you may hate me for saying this, but the parents of this country are failing their children. That’s the God’s honest truth, isn’t it?  If parents aren’t keeping an eye on what their children are doing and eating, then who will?  Children don’t know what’s good for them and what isn’t, so we can’t expect them to make the right decisions.

The government doesn’t care about your child’s health, except when it is costing too much for health care.

Teacher’s may be somewhat concerned, but it isn’t their job or position to fix your child’s eating habits.

Candy and soda companies only care about turning a profit, not the health of their consumers (generally speaking).

The media only cares about ratings, not making Junior a better informed and healthy citizen.

Your Doctor will be concerned, but is only there when you take your children in for a check up, so they can’t affect change in your house.

So, if no one else seems to care about your child’s health and the health of our nation, who should?

YOU, THE PARENT NEEDS TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR CHILD’S HEALTH AND WELL-BEING!!!

I really don’t mind being blunt and obstinate about this fact.  The sad truth is that we, as a nation, have forgone responsibility for our children’s and our own health.  We have simply stopped caring and stopped nurturing our bodies as they need to be nurtured.

I am going to ask you this though:

At what point will you and others start to take responsibility for your child’s and your health?  Once it’s too late and your both diabetic or have heart attacks?

I truly hope it is sooner than that.  Please believe me when I tell you that you truly need to take responsibility and start now, and everyone is rooting for you!

 

Another idea behind the article, and one that I tend to get on my soap box and preach about regularly, is that the parents, not the children, should be focusing on health and weight management issues.  This is especially true of women that are pregnant or want to become pregnant.  There is actually a show on TV that talked about women that didn’t know they were pregnant because they were too large!  Doesn’t that seem absurd?!?  Obviously that is an issue that needs to be addressed, but that is an extreme case of parents having no regard for their health, let alone the health of their babies.

In my, and doctors, opinions, women should begin to address their weight, eating, and lifestyle habits long before they become pregnant.  This way you will set the tone for the pregnancy, and also the years to come.  Remember that a child’s brain develops more in the first five years of life than throughout the rest of his or her life.  This means they begin to pick up on very important aspects of living: motor skills, speech and communication, basic social interactions, and even eating habits.  If mommy and daddy are busy stuffing their faces with Twinkies, ding-dongs, sugary cereal, pizza, and the like, guess what junior is going to learn?  I hope that this is common sense and you get the point.

If you want to read the original article that spawned this posting, please click here.

We need to realize that obesity and children is not a good mix. Obese children have the tendency to become overweight when they reach adolescence. Overweight or obese kids also have a high risk of becoming obese adults if one or both parents are overweight. That is not a good sign, since many 30 to 40-something Americans are on the heavy side. Children are the ones that are greatly affected by this health issue, especially nowadays that a lot of children are spending most of their time watching television or playing video games. The tradition of playing baseball, basketball, or football in the neighborhood playground is coming to an end.

With regards to obesity and children, efficient preventive measures should be learned, practiced, and implemented. This is not an epidemic that we can fix by prescribing pills or giving shots. Battling child obesity is a serious lifestyle overhauling and also focuses on the issue of how parents take care of their children, as well as themselves. The first thing that people should remove from their heads is that obese toddlers or kids are cute or healthy. People generally think that a fat kid is cute, or huggable, or well fed. No they are not. If anything, they have a poor diet and an unhealthy lifestyle.

An unhealthy lifestyle and a poor diet are some of the main causes of childhood obesity. A daily routine of school, bus ride going home, video games, microwave meals, television, sleeping late, waking up early the next morning for school is not what you might call a suitable lifestyle for a kid. This is why when you read articles in the paper or in the Internet, the words obesity and children are always inseparable. That is what many people these days see pot-bellied apple-shaped kids. That’s really scary.

Child obesity is an issue that parents should play a huge role in. The key in preventing childhood obesity is proper parenting. Obesity and children is something that parents have a lot to do with. Take note that good parenting can be measured through the values and principles that kids observe as they grow up.