The Tragedy of Childhood Obesity

Childhood obesity; it’s a subject that is constantly in the news and on many people’s minds. You can’t help but notice it. On any given day you are bound to see many overweight children, some severely overweight. I just cannot get my head around it. I don’t understand how it can be this way and constantly be getting worse.

But then I happened by a special on the television last week. The show was a forum on childhood obesity. There was a panel of professionals. There were doctors, nutritionists, exercise physiologists and dieticians. Everyone was voicing their concerns with just how serious the problem of childhood obesity has become and all of the horrible health consequences these children are facing and are likely to face as they get older. Sounds like a good show, right? Well, I could not help but notice that overwhelmingly the conversation turned to what the government and the food manufacturers and the community, etc. can do to fix it. I was waiting for them to suggest aliens come down from outer space and solve the problem.

They talked about the absence of gym classes in some schools, the quality of food served in school cafeterias, the absence of government programs educating the public on health. These things may be true but where is the talk about what is going on in the home. Why does it seem that people don’t want to address the role of the parents? Does it go against political correctness to do so?

When I think back to when I was young, a child’s exercise did not come from the gym class they took, it came from being active when we weren’t in school whether that be sports, the playground or just playing out in front of the house. Often these days people will say it is not safe for kids to go out and play, well whatever happened to watching your kids play or playing with them or taking them to a playground? It’s just one more excuse.

As for the food in the cafeteria, it was no different than it is today; in fact it was probably worse since some schools have begun to make improvements. Of course if you really think your child’s health if suffering because of cafeteria food than why don’t you pack them a lunch instead of waiting for things to change? And education, well we know much more these days about health and fitness than we did in previous generations. So why is it that personal responsibility is not even on the table when it comes to these discussions. I literally could not believe what I was hearing on this show.

There were parents of obese children on the show and not one of the panel members had the idea to say, get the junk out of your house, feed your children nutritious food and go out and move with your kids. It is easier to say that parents are too busy and don’t have the time to cook than to say that if you’re a parent than part of being a good parent is to provide healthy meals. There are many busy, working parents who cook for their kids. This is just one more excuse in a sea of excuses that people use. We want to blame McDonalds and we want to blame the hydrogenated fats in the prepackaged foods that are in the grocery stores because then we don’t have to put the blame where it belongs, with ourselves. We need a wake up call and we need it quickly.