Sitting
your child down to read and write daily, playing with
educational computer games or learning a musical
instrument are all excellent ways of developing extra life
learning skills in your child, however, we tend to forget
about the importance of daily physical exercise. As
parents, our busy lifestyles with 2-income families, we
tend to focus more on the learning & educational
aspects for our children and we forget how important a
healthy lifestyle and daily exercise is necessary for them
to live and grow. Obesity in children is a rapidly growing
disease that the government and major insurance companies
don’t address with much importance. Educating the public
on the importance of healthy diet and daily exercise is
essential. What is obesity? Obesity is an ailment
resulting from excessive storage of fat in the body. Many
moons ago, being overweight was considered a sign of
prosperity & wealth. Obesity is a disease that causes
nearly 300,000 excess deaths in just the U.S., a statistic
that is still expeditiously rising. It is a critical
health concern for the public because it causes the
individual to be more likely to become subject to over 60
illnesses, asthma, diabetes, stroke, hypertension, many
types of cancer, and America’s number one cause of
death: heart disease (Surgeon General of U.S. 2003.
Obesity is not only present among adults, but quite common
among the children of today as well. Approximately 30.3%
of children (ages 6-11) are overweight and 15.3% are
obese. This infers that there are approximately 18 million
obese children in the U.S. Usually, parents and guardians
fail to address the situation which then leads to the next
estimate that 40% of obese children and 70% of obese
adolescents become obese adults. Not only does obesity
relate to the same condition in adulthood but obesity and
being overweight during childhood is directly related to
depression and death in adult ages. Obesity is caused by a
few varied factors, but they all basically are related.
Though some would like to think otherwise, obesity in
children is genetic. With children, if one parent is
obese, then the child has a 50% chance of being obese. If
both parents are obese, the child has an 80% chance of
being obese.
(American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) It
is hard to separate environmental and genetic traits in
each individual, but mostly the circumstances and
conditions which the child is being raised plays a
significant part in their weight and physical fitness
level. Lack of exercise, poor eating habits, stressful
events such as divorce or death in the family, low
self-esteem and depression are all major causes of obesity
in children, and even adults for that matter. Parents are
responsible for the fitness of their own children. "‘There
are things parents do with the best of intentions that
turn out to be counterproductive,’ A familiar example:
insisting that children clean their plate, a rule that can
teach kids to eat when they are not hungry." says
Leann Birch, a psychologist from Penn State University.
(One Obesity Remedy, TIME Magazine. June 4, 2004) Most
parents don’t realize that by forcing their children to
eat in large quantities, they are adding to the large
possibility of their children becoming overweight and
obese. Eating disorders are much easier to avoid than to
cure. Our youth today is considered the most inactive
generation in history. In order to make the youth more
active, we need to find ways for them to participate in
more out door recreational activities. Some say that their
inactivity is caused by reductions in school physical
education programs, and unavailable or unsafe community
recreational facilities. Encouraging exercise in children’s
activity schedule is another way to prevent obesity, or to
cure those children suffering from the fatal disease.
"Some parents fear that more time in the gym means
less achievement in class, but Sallis’ SPARK research
suggests otherwise. Academic performance can actually
improve with more activity." (The Obesity Warriors.
by Claudia
Wallis. TIME Magazine. June 7, 2004.) Limit the intake of
food. Rather than force your child to eat everything you
put on their plate, give them meals in small doses, so
that they can learn for themselves how much their body can
handle at a time. Lessening the amount of television
children watch is good in two aspects to avoid obesity.
Children are the victims of major food industry companies.
According to an article published in Time Magazine by
Catherine Sharick, "Children rarely see ads telling
them to eat their vegetables or to exercise." By
having your child sit hours on end in front of a
television, they are not only getting less exercise than
they could be, but they are also being persuaded by the
food industries to buy their products, which most of the
time are unhealthy. Prevention of this disease in itself
is a cure. The public aren’t quite fully aware of direct
aftermath of overfeeding their children and of not giving
them enough exercise. By educating the children and the
citizens on the effects of obesity and what exact types of
problems they will face in the future, not only physically
and health wise, but socially, mentally and emotionally,
we can reduce the number of fatalities due to this
disease. Obesity is something that can very well be
avoided if the public were to pay for attention to the
beginning signs of it. If as youngsters know the
consequences they will face if they don’t take proper
care of their body, they will most probably take the
proper precautions against becoming that way as
they grow older. Once a child is suffering from obesity,
it is difficult, but not entirely impossible to cure them.
By stimulating the child’s interest in wanting to be fit
and healthy, and inspiring them to exercise and become
fit, one can make a big difference. This day and age
itself is a major cause of the obesity in children. If one
were to compare the obesity level of children in 1971 to
that of the children (ages 6-11) in 2000, one would
realize the drastic differences. According to the National
Center for Health Statistics, National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey the prevalence of obesity
quadrupled over the last 25 years. This goes to prove that
we can blame the fast food industry, the rise in
technology (television, computers and video games) for our
the nations skyrocketing level of obesity in our children.
But they're not the only ones to blame. Parents hold the
most responsibility for the fitness and well-being of
their children, and until the children are old enough to
be able to make such decisions on their own and form
habits with their intake of food and their daily exercise
schedules, their parents need to pay special attention to
their dietary habits, and limit their junk food intake in
order to make their children used to living a healthy
lifestyle. Shana Dhillon is a High School Graduate, a
free-lance writer and co-founder of www.talentportfolio.us.
She aspires to pursue a career in journalism and
performing arts some day.
Sitting
your child down to read and write daily, playing with
educational computer games or learning a musical
instrument are all excellent ways of developing extra life
learning skills in your child, however, we tend to forget
about the importance of daily physical exercise. As
parents, our busy lifestyles with 2-income families, we
tend to focus more on the learning & educational
aspects for our children and we forget how important a
healthy lifestyle and daily exercise is necessary for them
to live and grow. Obesity in children is a rapidly growing
disease that the government and major insurance companies
don’t address with much importance. Educating the public
on the importance of healthy diet and daily exercise is
essential. What is obesity? Obesity is an ailment
resulting from excessive storage of fat in the body. Many
moons ago, being overweight was considered a sign of
prosperity & wealth. Obesity is a disease that causes
nearly 300,000 excess deaths in just the U.S., a statistic
that is still expeditiously rising. It is a critical
health concern for the public because it causes the
individual to be more likely to become subject to over 60
illnesses, asthma, diabetes, stroke, hypertension, many
types of cancer, and America’s number one cause of
death: heart disease (Surgeon General of U.S. 2003.
Obesity is not only present among adults, but quite common
among the children of today as well. Approximately 30.3%
of children (ages 6-11) are overweight and 15.3% are
obese. This infers that there are approximately 18 million
obese children in the U.S. Usually, parents and guardians
fail to address the situation which then leads to the next
estimate that 40% of obese children and 70% of obese
adolescents become obese adults. Not only does obesity
relate to the same condition in adulthood but obesity and
being overweight during childhood is directly related to
depression and death in adult ages. Obesity is caused by a
few varied factors, but they all basically are related.
Though some would like to think otherwise, obesity in
children is genetic. With children, if one parent is
obese, then the child has a 50% chance of being obese. If
both parents are obese, the child has an 80% chance of
being obese.
(American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) It
is hard to separate environmental and genetic traits in
each individual, but mostly the circumstances and
conditions which the child is being raised plays a
significant part in their weight and physical fitness
level. Lack of exercise, poor eating habits, stressful
events such as divorce or death in the family, low
self-esteem and depression are all major causes of obesity
in children, and even adults for that matter. Parents are
responsible for the fitness of their own children. "‘There
are things parents do with the best of intentions that
turn out to be counterproductive,’ A familiar example:
insisting that children clean their plate, a rule that can
teach kids to eat when they are not hungry." says
Leann Birch, a psychologist from Penn State University.
(One Obesity Remedy, TIME Magazine. June 4, 2004) Most
parents don’t realize that by forcing their children to
eat in large quantities, they are adding to the large
possibility of their children becoming overweight and
obese. Eating disorders are much easier to avoid than to
cure. Our youth today is considered the most inactive
generation in history. In order to make the youth more
active, we need to find ways for them to participate in
more out door recreational activities. Some say that their
inactivity is caused by reductions in school physical
education programs, and unavailable or unsafe community
recreational facilities. Encouraging exercise in children’s
activity schedule is another way to prevent obesity, or to
cure those children suffering from the fatal disease.
"Some parents fear that more time in the gym means
less achievement in class, but Sallis’ SPARK research
suggests otherwise. Academic performance can actually
improve with more activity." (The Obesity Warriors.
by 
Claudia
Wallis. TIME Magazine. June 7, 2004.) Limit the intake of
food. Rather than force your child to eat everything you
put on their plate, give them meals in small doses, so
that they can learn for themselves how much their body can
handle at a time. Lessening the amount of television
children watch is good in two aspects to avoid obesity.
Children are the victims of major food industry companies.
According to an article published in Time Magazine by
Catherine Sharick, "Children rarely see ads telling
them to eat their vegetables or to exercise." By
having your child sit hours on end in front of a
television, they are not only getting less exercise than
they could be, but they are also being persuaded by the
food industries to buy their products, which most of the
time are unhealthy. Prevention of this disease in itself
is a cure. The public aren’t quite fully aware of direct
aftermath of overfeeding their children and of not giving
them enough exercise. By educating the children and the
citizens on the effects of obesity and what exact types of
problems they will face in the future, not only physically
and health wise, but socially, mentally and emotionally,
we can reduce the number of fatalities due to this
disease. Obesity is something that can very well be
avoided if the public were to pay for attention to the
beginning signs of it. If as youngsters know the
consequences they will face if they don’t take proper
care of their body, they will most probably take the
proper precautions against becoming that way 
as
they grow older. Once a child is suffering from obesity,
it is difficult, but not entirely impossible to cure them.
By stimulating the child’s interest in wanting to be fit
and healthy, and inspiring them to exercise and become
fit, one can make a big difference. This day and age
itself is a major cause of the obesity in children. If one
were to compare the obesity level of children in 1971 to
that of the children (ages 6-11) in 2000, one would
realize the drastic differences. According to the National
Center for Health Statistics, National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey the prevalence of obesity
quadrupled over the last 25 years. This goes to prove that
we can blame the fast food industry, the rise in
technology (television, computers and video games) for our
the nations skyrocketing level of obesity in our children.
But they're not the only ones to blame. Parents hold the
most responsibility for the fitness and well-being of
their children, and until the children are old enough to
be able to make such decisions on their own and form
habits with their intake of food and their daily exercise
schedules, their parents need to pay special attention to
their dietary habits, and limit their junk food intake in
order to make their children used to living a healthy
lifestyle. Shana Dhillon is a High School Graduate, a
free-lance writer and co-founder of www.talentportfolio.us.
She aspires to pursue a career in journalism and
performing arts some day. 