You Can Make a Difference
Parents today know that we
have an obesity crisis among our children and adolescents. The epidemic has risen to its highest level
than any other time in U.S. history. In
fact, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) states that 17% of children and
adolescents are either overweight or obese.
In an article from the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), Dr.
Goutham Rao reports that 13.9 percent of children two to five years of age,
18.8 percent of children six to 11 years of age, and 17.4 percent of
adolescents 12 to 19 years of age are obese.
Healthcare costs were estimated at 71 billion dollars during 2008-2009 (Education, Summer2012). Obesity does not discriminate. It affects people of all ages and cultural
backgrounds. For example, the state of
Georgia childhood obesity rate is 37.3%, compared to the second highest of 44%
in Mississippi, with the lowest percentage of 23% in Minnesota and Utah (Childhood Obesity Trends, 2007). These
are staggering statistics and a call to action because it indirectly affects
every American in the country.
As
parents, we are the driving force in the lives of our children and must set
good examples in the environment in which they live, eat, and breathe. In order to make a difference in decreasing
the rate of overweight and obesity, the change has to come from within the
confinement of our homes. Although this
crisis started long ago for reasons we might not understand; and yet, does it
matter? Because each of us have a unique opportunity in which we can began to
make a difference in the lives of children.
As a child growing up with 11
siblings, we lived in a three bedroom house with only one bathroom, and one
television set in the living room. Can
you imagine having only one bathroom in today’s society? At that time, there were only three networks:
ABC, CBS, and NBC, and they all went off the air at 10:00p.m.
I know things are a lot
different today. I think technology is
on the verge of being dangerous for children.
When I say “dangerous” just look at the obesity rate in this county
among children and adolescents. If we
choose to ignore that there is a problem with the amount of time children spend
in front of the tube, then years from now, our children will be wondering the
same thing we’re wondering today…obesity and how did we get to this
crisis. If your child has a television
in his/her room, and is spending more than 7 hours a day watching music videos,
their favorite movie, TV show, or playing video games, they are spending too
much time in front of the television.
In fact, the Center for
Disease Control (CDC) states that children between the ages of 8- to -10 spend
an average of 7.5 hours a day using entertainment media. A study conducted by the American Academy of
Pediatrics (2001) revealed that 32% of 2- to 7-year olds and 65% of 8- to
18-year olds have television sets in their bedroom. The more time our children spend in front of
the television increases their chance of weight gain and will likely spend less
time on physical activity.
There was not a lot of TV
watching back when I was a child. Some
of my childhood activities consisted of things like waxing and buffing the
hard-wood flooring. I didn’t care much
for moving everything from one room to the next, nor the sometimes painful act
of waxing, but gliding across the floor with a rag underneath my feet was like
ice skating on a frozen lake.
Some of my fun in the sun
activities included things such as jump rope, bike riding, hop scotch, playing
jacks, swimming, hide-in-seek, tree climbing, racing, and dodge ball, just to
name a few. When my siblings and were
bored or stuck inside the house, we created various games like counting the number
of vehicles, or a made up pick a number game.
Childhood experiences such as these are part of my belief that
collectively, we can and must get back to the basics of helping our children to
grow up in an environment that encourages growth and influences healthy
behaviors.
As a parent myself, I don’t
feel that children should be deprived of enjoying what makes them happy, and
they really don’t have to. But as
responsible and caring parents, our job is not to be our child’s best friend
(not to say you can’t), but to be one with power and the authority to
positively influence your child’s behavior.
If we limit their screen time; ditch the television set in their
bedroom, get them involved in some form of physical exercise, and set up some
ground rules for healthy eating habits, then this will be a great first start.
The biggest challenge for some
parents may be getting younger children to eat newer or certain foods. According to the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) Factsheets, Tips, and Advice, children will learn and love a
variety of foods when they’re served often and with other foods. They’re likely to try a variety of food when
seeing other children or grown-ups eating these foods or when they’re prepared
in different ways. My personal favorite
is letting the child chose the foods to try themselves (USDA.gov).
Adolescents on the other hand,
enjoy foods such as cheeseburgers, pizza, fries, chips, cookies and sodas. According to the Dietary Guidelines for
Americans (2010), foods that are high in fats (saturated and trans acid fats),
added sugars, and refined grains may increase the risk of chronic
diseases.
Consuming a McDonald’s
cheeseburger for example, will give you 330 calories with 30%g of saturated
fat. When you add medium fries, you’re
also adding 453 calories and 19%g of saturated fat, plus a 150 calories and 41g
sugar if you add a small coke. I’ve spoken to parents who can, and
others as well, clearly see that their child is overweight; and yet, they
refuse to acknowledge that there is a problem.
Some parents may fool themselves into thinking their child is just going
through a phase and will grow out of it.
Suppose they don’t grow out of it.
Let’s suppose they continue to gain weight, then they get teased about
how fat they are becoming, grades drop, friends are scarce, and then they shift
inwards where food becomes their comfort and best friend. Who’s doing the most harm to whom? If this is you, then you’re part of the
problem, not to mention the psychological pressure you’re putting on your
child.
Similarly,
writing this paper takes me back to an experience I had with a fat person. At the time, Jane (not her real name) never
bothered anyone. In fact, I think she
was a bit of a loner. Maybe that’s why
she was targeted. It didn’t help the
matter that she was also bigger than most other kids in my class. I was a bit of a clown and could always be
counted on to do something stupid.
It started one day while we
were having lunch in the cafeteria. Some
of my so-called friends had been teasing Jane, and they dared me to pour a
carton of milk on her. Needless to say,
she beat the crap out of me while my friends just stood there laughing
hysterically. I learned a valuable
lesson at nine years old. Jane was sad
because she was fat and didn’t have any friends. I felt bad, and she and I eventually became
good friends.
The
moral of the story is that there is a stigma and psychological effect
associated with children who are overweight or obese. In a book written by Bray, Bouchard, et al (1998), Goffman states that the stigmatized condition such
as a physical deformity is always apparent to others, and that “fatness”
carries a negative connotation whereas, “thinness” does not. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) further
states that the psychological stress of targeting an overweight or obese person
can cause low-self-esteem, hinder academic performance, and can even persist
into adulthood.
Education and prevention is
the key to making a difference in your child’s life. It is not the school, government, media, or
the food industry’s fault that our children are overweight or obese. That is not to say they didn’t help
contribute to the crisis. Contrarily, we
as parents are the first line of defense in ensuring the growth and health of
our children. We have to be accountable
for the standards we set within our own environment.
Changing our mindset and
patterns of behavior about eating healthy and being active must not start with
us looking to the government, our schools, nor anyone else to fix the problem,
but rather, start with the person in the mirror because that’s the one with the
greatest influence. Don’t wait until
your child is bullied because of their weight, or becomes addicted to watching
TV and playing video games, where you almost have to pay them just to get them
to exercise, or worse yet, stricken with an obesity-related illness, before you
decide to do something about it. Begin
today, to make a difference in the life of your child.
