Sunday, August 29, 2010

Who do you think is responsible for childhood obesity?

I just voted in a poll on the SparkPeople website. Who do I think is responsible for childhood obesity. I voted parents because they are the ones who are supposed to teach good eating habits from infant to adult. If you feed your children with the right foods they will learn good eating habits.

I also feel that the reason children are so fat is because they have become so spoiled with the technology of today. I mean don't get me wrong, I love my computer and video games but children shouldn't be allowed to be so obsessed. They should be encouraged to go outside and play with their friends. The parents should encourage their kids to get involved in an after school activity like soccer or football or karate.

My parents did not encourage me to play sports but they did allow me to play outside unattended. I would ride my bike through the neighborhood and jump rope and play hopscotch with my sister. We would roller skate up and down the sidewalk. We were constantly playing outside.

That is until I was 11 and was of working age and then I became the handy child for the apartment building. Painting, changing locks, plumbing, fixing electrical outlets, gardening... you name it, I had to do it. But when I was all done with that work I was allowed to play before dinner if there was time. On the days that there wasn't as much work to do around the apartments I was allowed to do whatever I wanted which was usually playing outside.

So, I don't blame the schools because despite the burgers, fries, pizzas and whatever else they served me during my childhood, I never gained any weight because that was only 1 meal out of the whole day. During the weekends and school breaks we would eat things like Peanut butter and jelly or Bologna sandwiches for lunch. For breakfast I would usually eat cereal but sometimes oatmeal (or malt-o-meal) and for dinner it was a well balanced meal with meats, grains and vegetables.

My mother taught me good eating habits but it was up to me to learn them and carry that on after I left the house. Unfortunately for years I let my cravings and laziness get the best of me but once I started to remember the recipes and food groups my mother fed me I started to eat them again and I have started to lose weight and all thanks to my mother may she rest in peace. I have lost 35lbs since the last week of May 2010 because I'm eating right.

I don't blame schools because it's only 1 meal a day.

I don't blame tv & video games because it is the parents obligation to give or taketh away.

I don't blame fast food because it is the parents who take the children to fast food. They don't have the money to buy their own happy meals.

I don't blame communities because how is a community supposed to teach your child good eating habits? That is the parents responsibility.

I don't blame advertising (commercials) because they are in it for the money. I can sit here and watch pizza commercials all day but I have the good sense to know that pizza is too fattening. Parents should tell their kids that pizza is good for special occasions like when you win that baseball game or when it's your birthday. Or when Mommy is too sick to get out of bed then we can order a pizza.

And since I took that poll, I see that 16,781 other people agreed with me which is 74% of people who took that poll.


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Who do you think is responsible for childhood obesity?


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