Childhood And Obesity: A Dangerous Couple

Childhood and obesity is a discussion that is all around these days. It's a regular news item and a real concern for a lot of people. Just look around and it's not hard to spot overweight children.

In fact it is hard to understand how things are getting worse every day. One day I watched a TV show focusing on childhood obesity. The panel consisted of doctors, dietitians, fitness trainers and nutritionists. Of course they all agreed on the seriousness of children being overweight. They were also discussing the dangers of childhood obesity.

Talks turned to the measures that can be taken by the government, food manufacturers etc. These could be things like more gym classes in schools, a better quality of food for student's meals and the government teaching people on health subjects. These are certainly valuable ideas but unfortunately the role of the parents is vital here and no one seemed to bother. Why not?

It is true that when we were young we were a lot more active. We behave differently on the playground for example. We were sweating on the street playing football. This is where the responsability of the parents comes into play. While it is in most cases not safe anymore for children to play on the streets parents should engage their children to exercise together in the garden or a playground in the neighbourhood. These exercises don't have to be professional workouts.

Another important factor is the food kids eat daily. First of all there are the meals served in school's cafeterias. When a parent of an obese child has any doubts about the quality of those meals then why not prepare a lunch yourself, pack it and let your kid eat this at noon.
Second when your kid suffers from obesity then simply don't buy any junk food anymore. When it's not freely available at home the calorie intake will reduce automatically. I'm thinking of fast food items like chips, chocolate, cookies, cola etc. These are simple measures that can help a lot in solving your children's obesity problem.

Parents have a big responsability when it comes to children and obesity. Being a good parent for an overweight child, and in fact every child, involves cooking healthy meals, avoid places like McDonalds and going out and playing with your children which will burn calories. It can be a matter of life and death for your kids when they grow older!