Preventing Childhood Obesity is the Parents Responsibility

It seems in this world now, that we focus our life and conversations on being politically correct. Even in serious situations, we seem to be afraid to speak out. This country has a lot of problems and health is in the top three.

The CDC states in their report that 39.8 million Americans are obese with more than 57% of adults being overweight. 11% of our children are obese and 50% of American women are overweight or obese. This in itself is a crisis. Now look at the diabetes figures.

Data from the 2007 National Diabetes Fact Sheet (most recent information available) states that 23.6 million children and adults which is almost 8 % of our population have diabetes. It is estimated that 57 million are pre-diabetic and there are 1.6 million new cases in people over 20 every year. In our young people, 186,000 have diabetes. One in every 400 to 600 children and young people has Type 1 diabetes. This is not ok. This is a national crisis now and a greater health crisis in the future if we don't get it under control. Our health is not getting better. We are just living longer with drugs. These figures do not show a healthy quality of life. They are death statistics in the making.

We all have a choice when we eat. As with all choices in our life, it will impact us. We as Americans are not making good choices for ourselves or our children. This will relate later to living a life based on drugs for diabetes, drugs for heart problems, and other diseases. These drugs are bad for the immune system, bad for the liver, and bad for the heart. You will not live the quality of life you wanted going this route. You will die earlier and will have a lessened quality of life before you die.

Being obese and diabetic affects every aspect of your daily life and your relationships. It limits your life in every respect and shortens your life span. The only way to correct this trend is by the conscious effort by every person in this country. We need to turn the health of this country back to exercise, healthy eating, spending time away from the television, and away from the refrigerator.

Parents need to take the first steps in turning this around. Mothers are usually the grocery shoppers in the family. By your example, you are setting the direction your children will continue. The UK did a family national study. This study showed that when children have two obese parents, they were 12 times more likely to be obese. The study showed that the mother being obese did impact both the child's view of food and their eating habits. This has been shown in other studies as well.

It is estimated that the obesity in our children will shorten their lives by many years. Many of these kids have clogged arteries, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol before the age of 20. This is not even taking into consideration the thousands already diagnosed with diabetes. This country with its fast food-processed food life style are killing our next generation. They will plagued with diseases at an early age, dependent on drugs to keep them alive, and have a lessened quality of life now and in their future.

The parent's role is to guide children in moral, ethical, and life style behaviors that lead to a healthy mind and body. What happened to that responsibility and its implications? What happened that we seemed to ignore the impact we have on our children. I see children who have no respect for their parents, who cuss at them, talk back, disobey, and this trend is getting worse. Along with sloppy training of the kids behavior has come sloppy diets based on junk food, processed food, and high calorie snacks. I am appalled when I stand in line and half the food bill is junk food items. I see children so fat by 5 years old that they can hardly move. This all goes hand in hand.

Parents You Are Responsible For Your Child's Obesity Problems.

Parents you need to admit that you are not a good example for your children and that it is impacting their health now and in the future. You need to realize that if you don't change your own health you will be dependent on drugs that will kill your liver in the end. You need to do what is best and your responsibility to your children. That responsibility is to give your children healthy meals and get them out of the house and away from the TV screen. It is your responsibility to say no to sugar laden cereal and cookies. It is your responsibility to turn off the TV and have them play outside. You have to have the courage to unplug the TV if necessary to get the job done. Parents need to act like parents not friends. Your child is going to be mad when you cut off his TV time but will be grateful later. They won't like it when you say no to some of the junk foods they want. Parents need to stop trying to be friends with their child and lead. Lead them in the path they will appreciate later. You are the one who must make the difference in your child's life now. If you do not change your life which is impacting their life, you will be directly responsible for their ill health and shortened lifespan. Turning this nation around is possible one family at a time. Let this change start in your family today.

References:

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/o/obesity/stats.htm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100420/hl_nm/us_parents_obesity

http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/diabetes-statistics/