Childhood Obesity

CHILDHOOD OBESITY

Parent's lifestyle, upbringing and home environment is a major cause for child obesity. Through the past few decades, childhood obesity is on the rise and it now a very hot topic of debate. Like any other disease or condition, child obesity also has its factors. The most common and influencing factor is home environment. Other factors include diet, genetics, the lifestyle, culture and even physiological issues. Children have no sense of health and being obese. They are often unaware of the long term damage it may do to their bodies. The problem with our cultures is that parents are also unaware of the risks attached with obesity. They themselves do not keep a healthy diet. Therefore they are not watchful of what their children eat. Obese children are often those who become overweight adults. This is an ongoing cycle in which no one cares what the other person is eating. Obesity is the root of majority of the diseases and it often leads to death. So it is better to control it during childhood, when it is just the start.

The children of today have a very different lifestyle as compared to our ancestors. It is the reason that child obesity is a new term and concept for the elderly people. Most of the day is spent in school. Then there is homework and computer for the rest of the time. The little time that is still left is dedicated to the television. There is no physical exercise involved in the daily routine of the average American child. Also, as the pace of the world has become so fast, parents are forced to offer ‘fast food' for dinner and lunch to the children. The Nintendo Company has launched their latest game console Wii. This requires a person to physically do motions to play. Although the thought and creation is great, but there hasn't been a drastic change in the child obesity rates of the nation. Wii still needs time to make a difference.

Children learn and copy every action from their parents. But now, the parents themselves are not educated about the proper eating habits and requirements of the body. The children learn to eat the same junk food that they see their parents eat. Kweethai Neil of The Diet of School-Aged Children says that adults are generally careless in taking care of themselves (Neill). And this unintentionally and eventually leads to being careless about their children as well. Kweethai further says that she considers that is very important to understand the significance of a healthy lifestyle and exercise. If we change our habits then we can also save our children from falling victim to being obese.

Genetics are also a major factor for being obese. This supports the theory that mostly parents are to be blamed for fat children. A study was carried out to learn about the role of genetics in child obesity. The results showed that 80% of the children who have two overweight parents were also overweight. And those people who