Childhood Obesity

Childhood Obesity

Childhood obesity is a serious concern for youth today. Within the past 30 years childhood obesity has more than tripled. Four out of ten children are considered to be obese (Ogden CL 2010). Often when one sees overweight children, one will hear parents making excuses for why their child is overweight. For example one will hear a parent say "she is just big boned, or she will grow out of it, it's just baby fat" these are nothing but excuses. Parents are in denial when it comes to their child being overweight or even obese. If parents today do not start taking this issue seriously, then that could be taken as a form of child abuse due to the long term health factors that childhood obesity can cause.

A main claim that researches are finding is that parents are a cause of childhood obesity. In an article on ABC News by Alyssa Newcomb 2011 she followed a story about a 200 pound third grade boy that officials took from his mother and placed in foster care. Officials learned of the case after the mother took her son to the hospital for breathing trouble. What parents do not understand is that this condition can lead to serious health factors if not death in an obese child. Authorities are starting to become aware of the families and are charging the parents with abuse.

Parents today have become fearful that their children will be taken from them if they are severely overweight. A three-decade rise in childhood obesity rates has meant that related abuse and neglect cases are more often making their way into the courts. According to a 2008 report by the Child Welfare League of America, "California, Indiana, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas have had to determine whether morbidly obese children whose parents are unable or unwilling to control their children's weight against medical orders are properly considered abused or neglected." (Amina Kahn 2009).

People have tried to blame obesity on genetics instead of the lack of parental care. This only plays a small role in a child's weight. "What genetics does is set the weight range for one's weight, not be the excuse on why the child is overweight" said James O. Hill, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado in Denver. There are treatment centers set up for parents with overweight children to participate in and put the child on a physically active and healthy plan. Treatment studies have demonstrated that intensive involvement of parents in interventions to change obese children's dietary and physical activity behaviors has contributed to success in weight loss and long-term weight maintenance (Coates et al., 1982; Kirschenbaum et al., 1984; Epstein et al., 1990, 1994; Golan et al., 1998; Golan and Crow, 2004).

Erika Blacksher (2009), a research fellow at the Hastings Center in Garrison NY, stated that some factors are hard for a parent to control. It is unfair to hold parents accountable for living in an unsafe neighborhood or not being wealthy enough to provide their children with healthy foods all the time. These factors are a concern, but not a big enough reason to why a child is overweight. It puts the blame at the door of parents - especially mothers - who are often overweight and fail to promote a healthy lifestyle or recognize their child has a problem. Poor parenting skills, such as letting children watch TV in their bedrooms or eat dinner on the sofa are also said to be responsible. The Growing Up in Scotland report prepared by the Medical Research Council also reveals that one-third of youngsters spend at least three hours in front of a TV or games console every day and that the child of an obese mother is twice as likely to themselves be overweight than those whose mother is of healthy weight (Michael Blackly 2012).

When putting a child on a "diet" plan the whole family needs to come together and participate as a whole and not single out the child that is overweight. The child will become more successful with the right eating habits and physical activity if that child is partnered with a parent or parents in the program. With America's society today people have become lazy, or a single parent has to work a full time job and is not always home with the child. This is resulting in children doing what they want and eating what they want. Parents need to set the right example for their children with the right eating habits and physical exercise, instead of letting them watch T.V. or play games all