Why are kids obese??

meerkat70

Very true but there are sometimes very busy parents out there that dont always have the time to cook.

I don't buy this. I work 12 hour days most days, and still manage to cook us dinner pretty much every night. It's not that hard to cook fresh food.

To the OP, I think it's more about sedentary lifestyles than it is about food. We've grown more and more 'protective' of our children, and consequently they play out less, are less physically active, and spend more time plugged into electronica.

janeite1990

If you keep lots of healthy choices in the house and limit junk, kids will eat the healthy stuff gladly. My three kids love plain popcorn, turkey pepperoni, all fruits, all veggies, and lean meats. Sure, they'll eat the junk if that is what we have, but it is never a problem to say tonight for dinner we are having baked chicken, lima beans, and brown rice.

People are lazy and don't want to hear their kids complain and whine. My kids don't drink sodas except for special events, which occur maybe once every month or two. I know plenty of people who give their toddlers Coke and then don't understand why the kids are hyper and fat.

avalonms

Too many calories ... Not enough exercise.

Kell_Smurthwaite

Many parents think they don't have time to make healthy home-cooked meals so they feed their kids junk instead. Fact it, it's cheaper and easier to make homecooked stuff than you might think, especially if you have a slow cooker and/or cook in bulk. I make huge batches of bolognese with veg hidden in the sauce, and then freeze individual portions, either as it is, or as individual lasagnes, and do the same with chillis, curries, stews and soups. It's the easiest thing in the world to pull a portion each out of the freezer in the morning to defrost and then whack it in the oven to heat up for dinner. And if all three of us want different things, there's no bother in defrosting three completely different meals - all I have to do is add the pasta or rice or whatever. It takes no time at all. I also make my own chicken nuggests made with actual chunks of chicken, dredged in flour, dipped in egg, and then rolled in breadcrumbs. I then freeze them as they are and bake them with a little low-cal spray oil. Much better than the reconstituted "chopped shaped chicken" crap that comes in packets, and I can season them to our own tastes too. I usually add a few herbs and maybe a touch of paprika ot the coating - it's delish. Fish takes only a few minutes to cook, and is great to keep in the freezer - you just take it out of the freezer in the morning and by dinner time it's defrosted and ready to pop in the oven or to poach in a little milk, or however you like to cook it.

If paernts educated themselves about food and led by example, there wouldn't be nearly so many fat kids. There wouldn't be so many fat adults either. I'm trying to re-educated myself about food choices and teach my son to make healthy choices by leading by example. I want him to grow up with it being natural to him.

We also encourage him to be very active - we walk EVERYWHERE (honestly, he's 3.5 years old and thinks nothing of a 3-5 mile hike!). Kicking a ball about in the park, racing in the garden, doing drama workshops - it all adds up. He has fun and burns off some of that energy - he sure does sleep at night! I figure if we instil an active, healthy lifestyle in him from the very beginning, he stands a much better chance of keeping it up as he'll know no other way.

grinch031

Part of it is with more obese adults reproducing, the more they pass down their genes that predispose their children to also becoming obese. Also obese parents are choosing the wrong foods to feed their children, making their children obese as well.

Jdo79

Wow, never saw so many perfect people in one place before....

blueandigo

Because their terrible parents fatten them up because they think that **** is cute. It's aboot as cute as a naked old man.

cloud2011

I don't think the answer is the same for every kid. I think it's just like adults, different reasons for different people.

I have two kids, one is very thin, was underweight at one point. The other, battling at the top of the weight chart but has thinned out as a teen, but still has to watch the weight/food.

I didn't parent either one differently. I breastfed both of them. Tried to get them to try different foods (thin child is pickier by far!)

The only thing I have noticed is that snacks are offered to small children in so many different contexts...it's as if you could eat all day as a little kid. Even choir practice had a snack at one point! Soccer, snack. Scouts, snack.

My thinner child actually doesn't eat as healthfully as my other child. So thinner isn't always healthier either.

Elizabeth_C34

Why are kids obese? Because their parents are. Apples don't fall far from the tree, and if mom and dad are sitting on their bums and eating a bag of Doritos in front of the TV, most likely, the kids are thinkin' that's normal. It starts and ends in the home.

dododo123

Burgers are tastier too. Just sayin.

saragato

Cooking at home is cheaper than both of those options. Just sayin'.

Very true but there are sometimes very busy parents out there that dont always have the time to cook.

Or in my cuzns case... shes a single mom that DONT know how to cook...

Except for throwing stuff in the microwave or oven.

Poor kids. "/

The beauty of cooking is that it is pretty darn easy to learn how to cook.

Unless you're someone like me who can't read measurements even when they have measuring spoons/cups at their disposal. I'm 22 and all I can cook is pre-packaged chicken soup. I made gumbo once but my mother pre-measured and cut everything (I'm also not good with knives) and gave me instructions the whole process.

Point being, not everyone can cook, not everyone has the TIME to cook, and if you have a major picky eater (for example my cousin who only ate cut up hot dogs and ketchup for half a decade) then it's just easier to crab something from a restaurant or something frozen and hope for the best. Not to say it's a good choice to make but I don't recall a contract when you get pregnant stating you must feed your children healthy things 24/7.

TourThePast

You are a bad parent if you let your children play outside and don't have an eye directly on them 24/7. Seriously, go on a parenting forum and tell people you let your kid ride its bike around the neighborhood and see how quickly you're run off. So it's the pedos making our kids fat.

Why are kids obese?

Because parents have NO understanding of statistics and risk (hint - your fat kid is a bajillion times more likely to die of a heart attack aged 40 than be kidnapped or sexually abused as a child) and are more worried about what people on an internet forum think, than they are about having physically and mentally well adjusted children.

saragato

Why are kids obese? Because their parents are. Apples don't fall far from the tree, and if mom and dad are sitting on their bums and eating a bag of Doritos in front of the TV, most likely, the kids are thinkin' that's normal. It starts and ends in the home.

Not always true. I had a best friend who was overweight and her younger sister was overweight. Both parents were of healthy weight for their heights. Yes junk food was kept in the house but that was a matter of spoiling the younger child who demanded these things. Nearly every meal they had was home cooked and far healthier than I had but the mother didn't work so she had the time to make better things. But really you don't have to have the habit yourself for your children to pick it up. If your kid sees another kid eating a twinkie, they may want one too. If your kid goes to a friend's house to sleep over and the family eats junk, they may want it too. Other people can just as easily influence them.

HonkyTonks

It's partly the lack of physical activity, kids don't go and play outside anymore, at least not like they did when I was a kid. I remember spending my youth cycling around, walking in the bush and building big fortresses in there, I was always outside. We didn't have play dates, I would just knock on my friends doors and go "can __ come out and play?"

With food choice s- sometimes ignorance on the parents part (people don't understand calories in vs calories out particularly well, and there's SO much misinformation out there with regards to nutrition), and sometimes it's just laziness on the parents part.

By the way, I was an obese teenager and it was nothing my parents did or didn't do. I was depressed and ate food for comfort. They always cooked healthy home cooked meals, and encouraged me to play sports, but I was unhappy.

angelaclassact

Kids AND Adults are obese because of that mentality.

You can MAKE a salad for cheaper than $4.99....

Cook with raw ingredients.

TourThePast

You can MAKE a salad for cheaper than $4.99....

Cook with raw ingredients.

Or just eat raw ingredients. Are people really that stupid or lazy that they cannot wash a few pieces of vegetable matter under the tap and add a few nuts? *shrug* Maybe they are that stupid or lazy!

Should people who are really that stupid and lazy really breed?

2swtdee

It is really sad because I see little kids who are shopping in the adult sizes because they are to big for children/jr, breathing hard when walking a short distance. It is the parents fault becuase they are the ones who buy the food and feed the children. I remember when I was a kid you didn't see any fat kids becuase everyone was outside playing, your pusnishment was to stay in the house. Now days kids think going outside to play is punishment it really is so sad.

InnerFatGirl

Because some people who have kids are too selfish or weak to deny their children unhealthy foods or they overfeed them for whatever reason. Ignorance I guess ..

Arwhite1865

It's not always that kids are sedentary/not active enough. Sometimes kids just consume too many (low quality) calories to make up for it, even if they are active on the ideal level. I've had weight issues since I was 8 and it was purely a problem with food. My brother and I (twins) were very active as kids. I was a swimmer; he was in karate. We were always outside riding our bikes or running around outside with friends. Our school was big on keeping students active - we had recess, walked to the park often, and played outside nearly every day after school in the school's yard when the weather allowed. My brother and I were still overweight - not severely, but enough that we were aware of the fact that we were bigger than other kids.

Our problem was that we had a dad who tried too hard to be our friend, rather than our parent. He said "yes" too much, and that included when it came to food. We ate whatever we wanted and however much we wanted. My mom was more of a parent and always tried to get us to eat right, but it's hard to do that when the other parent isn't on the same page and the kids have that one parent who they can go to for a guaranteed "yes". Of course, being kids, we didn't have a solid concept of "junk food" or what eating too much does to your body, or even what "eating too much" meant. Even if we did, we were young kids and most kids only care about the here and now, so we probably wouldn't have cared.

So, yes, activity level is the problem for some kids, but it can also be a matter of parents not caring enough about the quality and quantity of their children's food. It's probably more often a combination of both eating habits and activity level. It's a fact that kids today are both exercising too little AND eating too much of the wrong foods.

meerkat70

Wow, never saw so many perfect people in one place before....

Defensive much?