I think the parents shouldn't be blamed too much. Sure they should be blamed, but they shouldn't take the FULL blame. No mattter how hard a parent tries, if a kid wants to eat fatty foods, they are. Like Horatio said in 'Grave Young Men', kids are sneaky. They're gonna get ways to find that food and avoid those exercise times. And anyways, maybe that excerise ain't working too great. Maybe the kid has a low metabloism. *shrugs* When i was young, my metabloism was half and half. But i was a really willed, spirited kid. I was a sporty kind of girl, i didn't want to be fat. So i just jogged everyday. Then again, my parents did absolutely nothing. (Well, they are immigrants. Maybe they didn't undertsand the Canadian culture.) Ok, maybe the parents should get blamed a bit more.
Child Obesity - Should Parents Be Blamed?
- Thread starter wibble
- Start date
ladyhunter
Head of the Swing Shift
I think parents are partically to blame
in our society of internet, electronic gadgets being aimed at younger and younger audiences and fear of the 'outside world' kids now a days are not going outside, playing, exploring their own world.
That unfortunalty is the world we live in today. But since parents can't control what their kids eat at school, at friend's house, what parents need to do is BE A ROLE MODEL for your children!!!
That goes for anything such as wearing a helmet when riding your bike to eating right in front of your children. How can we expect children to eat vegetables if YOU haven't eaten one in 10 years or so.. I hope that's not the case but I think we all get the point.
The same goes for exersise. We can't expect our children to get out move their bodies if WE ourselves don't.
We live in a world of high-tech stuff, lightning fast internet, cell phones, and yes unfortunatly unhealthy stuff marketed at children as young as 3. Parents can control that. Limit amounts of time on TV, internet, and Game boys.
GO for a walk after dinner, limit junk and treats and all that stuff. I'm not saying NEVER allow it, but use moderation. And Eat with your kids. You want them to eat healthy, eat what they eat. OR They eat what you eat.
I have said this because I am a parent. We make sure our family eats together and usually they do.
I don't feel parents are totally to blame but parent play a HUGE role in raising their children.
in our society of internet, electronic gadgets being aimed at younger and younger audiences and fear of the 'outside world' kids now a days are not going outside, playing, exploring their own world.
That unfortunalty is the world we live in today. But since parents can't control what their kids eat at school, at friend's house, what parents need to do is BE A ROLE MODEL for your children!!!
That goes for anything such as wearing a helmet when riding your bike to eating right in front of your children. How can we expect children to eat vegetables if YOU haven't eaten one in 10 years or so.. I hope that's not the case but I think we all get the point.
The same goes for exersise. We can't expect our children to get out move their bodies if WE ourselves don't.
We live in a world of high-tech stuff, lightning fast internet, cell phones, and yes unfortunatly unhealthy stuff marketed at children as young as 3. Parents can control that. Limit amounts of time on TV, internet, and Game boys.
GO for a walk after dinner, limit junk and treats and all that stuff. I'm not saying NEVER allow it, but use moderation. And Eat with your kids. You want them to eat healthy, eat what they eat. OR They eat what you eat.
I have said this because I am a parent. We make sure our family eats together and usually they do.
I don't feel parents are totally to blame but parent play a HUGE role in raising their children.
Forensics_annie
Witness
Yes we should all eat healthy, Exercise more, and play alot more with kids. The sports now are getting picky on who is on their teams. They don't want kids that are going to slow them down and bring the team to a hult in their records. Exercise is something most kids don't like to do in groups. Do it privetly in your own house or with your family in a park or outdoors. DO SOMETHING to help this generation shrink its obesity rates.
Forensics_annie
Witness
children copy what their parents do. mimication is what i think its called. what their parents eat they eat, what they exercise or no exercise they mimic. no matter what parents are either fully or partially to blame.
I do not agree with you forensics_annie , yeah sure children copy things from their parents but a child could also refuse to eat it and a child isn't a moran. I mean they can also see that they aren't skinny. I am also not skinny and my parents sometimes say : "should you be eating that" but it is my decision whether to eat that or not. so it's the childs and the parents responsibility .
allmaple
Judge
well when a 4 year old is 200 pounds it is certainly not their fault. and i absolutely have my mom and dads habits when it comes to food. i cook what my mom made for me because its what im used to, and its good healthy food. but if she had been making me greasy junk in my childhood and that was all i knew that would probably be what i would eat now.
but i think there also is a money issue. the unhealthy products are cheaper and its not fair. the white bread is cheaper than the whole wheat bread, the fruit 'drink' is cheaper than pure fruit juice, crappy pre-made frozen food is cheaper than doing it yourself. you could probably spend twice as much on food if you only get the healthiest options, so in many cases some people dont have a choice.
but i think there also is a money issue. the unhealthy products are cheaper and its not fair. the white bread is cheaper than the whole wheat bread, the fruit 'drink' is cheaper than pure fruit juice, crappy pre-made frozen food is cheaper than doing it yourself. you could probably spend twice as much on food if you only get the healthiest options, so in many cases some people dont have a choice.
I refused to eat oatmeal porridge (which is the traditional breakfast here) and vegetables. Fresh ones, some could go but boiled and fried. Nono. Still a nono.
Every time mom picks on my how skinny I am, I just reply that it's good that someone in our house still weights under 80lh. It's cruel but still...
As I said about my sister, she eats well and good food and still she's been fat. When being teenager, she was lots in gym and skied and skated and moved and stuff and still she was...fat.
Although there are alot of factors contributing to child obesity, i think that the majority of responsibility should go to the parents. I saw a magazine article the other day were a 15 year old girl weighed 25 stone. It that situation i do find myself asking "how could her parents let her get into that state". I fully understand that some families are big-boned ( i mean, my family is hardly skinny) and that schools and governments should be doing more to promote healthier eating, but at the end of the day your parents are the ones who bring you up, and start your eating habits. I love the occasional junk food as much as the next person, but i couldn't eat it constantly because my body is just not used to it. But then again parents cannot always be blamed if they are not aware of how much unhealthy food their child is eating.
Forensics_annie
Witness
I agree. Even though there are lots of factors here, the highest is still the parents.
korbjaeger
Pathologist
There's loads o' blame to go around. Parents bear much of the responsibility, part can't be helped because it's in the DNA. You look at the photographs/sepiatones of the women in my family back to my great-greats, and we are a zaftig bunch. Part can be affected by the parents, however, in educating their children as to healthy habits, supplying them with a healthy diet and encouraging active play and exercise.
Schools should help but they're falling down on the job. I applaud those who are changing their cafeterias and snack machines to offer healthy foods. Not all are. Also, physical education instructors bear a HUGE amount of blame when they fall into the habit of favoring the athletic few and shaming/humiliating those who need their attention and encouragement to be more active. Fast food places? Look - they're in it for a buck. They're being pressured to offer healthy alternatives now, and that pressure should be kept up...but anyone who thinks McDonalds is going to abandon those bland, calorie-heavy, nutrient-light basic burgers hopes in vain.
The media bears an immense part of the problem for encouraging a generalized and unrealistic (and often unhealthy) "ideal". They are abetted in this by the pharmaceutical companies, diet food programs (Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, etc.), unscrupulous psychologists/counselors and doctors, cosmetic surgeons, and the fashion industry. I refer to this conglomerate as the "Low Self-Esteem Industry". There's billions of dollars to be made in making people feel inadequate. After all, if we were all healthy weight, active, well-adjusted emotionally and dressed to flatter our own body types, think how many people would be out of business...
I'm never gonna be rail-thin. I almost destroyed my health trying, and ironically ended up heavier than I started out. My solution? Stop "buying in". Make health the #1 priority. That means eating a diet that is balanced correctly for your metabolism, enjoying physical activity on a regular basis, getting plenty of water and rest, dressing to present YOU (not some magazine model), and above all...loving yourself enough to know that doing the above is good for you, makes you healthier and happier, and that this "ideal" being pushed on us all is meaningless. Ladies - if your healthy, best dress size is an 8, and some guy won't date you because he won't take anyone above a 6...forget him, and leave no trace of him in your memory. Anyone that superficial is too far down the intellectual food chain for your consideration. Trust me - you'll be a lot happier with someone who appreciates your healthy body, confidence and positive attitude.
We can affect ourselves, and we can affect our kids. Everyone else? That's a little dicier...but education and encouragement need to replace shame and ridicule. Trust me - this "old broad" has seen both the positive and the negative.
Schools should help but they're falling down on the job. I applaud those who are changing their cafeterias and snack machines to offer healthy foods. Not all are. Also, physical education instructors bear a HUGE amount of blame when they fall into the habit of favoring the athletic few and shaming/humiliating those who need their attention and encouragement to be more active. Fast food places? Look - they're in it for a buck. They're being pressured to offer healthy alternatives now, and that pressure should be kept up...but anyone who thinks McDonalds is going to abandon those bland, calorie-heavy, nutrient-light basic burgers hopes in vain.
The media bears an immense part of the problem for encouraging a generalized and unrealistic (and often unhealthy) "ideal". They are abetted in this by the pharmaceutical companies, diet food programs (Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, etc.), unscrupulous psychologists/counselors and doctors, cosmetic surgeons, and the fashion industry. I refer to this conglomerate as the "Low Self-Esteem Industry". There's billions of dollars to be made in making people feel inadequate. After all, if we were all healthy weight, active, well-adjusted emotionally and dressed to flatter our own body types, think how many people would be out of business...
I'm never gonna be rail-thin. I almost destroyed my health trying, and ironically ended up heavier than I started out. My solution? Stop "buying in". Make health the #1 priority. That means eating a diet that is balanced correctly for your metabolism, enjoying physical activity on a regular basis, getting plenty of water and rest, dressing to present YOU (not some magazine model), and above all...loving yourself enough to know that doing the above is good for you, makes you healthier and happier, and that this "ideal" being pushed on us all is meaningless. Ladies - if your healthy, best dress size is an 8, and some guy won't date you because he won't take anyone above a 6...forget him, and leave no trace of him in your memory. Anyone that superficial is too far down the intellectual food chain for your consideration. Trust me - you'll be a lot happier with someone who appreciates your healthy body, confidence and positive attitude.
We can affect ourselves, and we can affect our kids. Everyone else? That's a little dicier...but education and encouragement need to replace shame and ridicule. Trust me - this "old broad" has seen both the positive and the negative.
Forensics_annie
Witness
exactly my point!
ladyhunter
Head of the Swing Shift
as I was thinking about this more, I also came to this conclusion
kids know when they have had enough to eat. We adults 'sometimes' don't, that leads to over eating.
In our American society we still idealize food and use food for reward and comfort. It's funny, we can produce enough food to feed most of the world, and yet children in the world go hungry every day.
I'm not trying to turn this into a political or social argurment, it's just an observation, but as I was saying, American children are becoming obese while children in other countries starve. Kind of sad isn't it?
Who's to blame? Parents? the media? society?
Probably all of the above
kids know when they have had enough to eat. We adults 'sometimes' don't, that leads to over eating.
In our American society we still idealize food and use food for reward and comfort. It's funny, we can produce enough food to feed most of the world, and yet children in the world go hungry every day.
I'm not trying to turn this into a political or social argurment, it's just an observation, but as I was saying, American children are becoming obese while children in other countries starve. Kind of sad isn't it?
Who's to blame? Parents? the media? society?
Probably all of the above