Obese Children

I just read that 44.4% of Mississippi's children are obese! That is nearly half! That is mind boggling to me. I would call a state of emergency.

I also watched an older episode of Dr. Phil yesterday about a four year old who weighed 155 lbs. Discusting.

So whose fault is this?

I think it is mostly the parents fault. (Where most of the problems with children sit) While I can some children being pre-disposed to over-eating or weight gain, the parent has the final say of what the child eats most of the time.

But what is a parent supposed to do if the school lunches are so poor? I remember my school offered Dominos and Chick-fila for lunch! I could easily get a slice of pizza and a coke for lunch, every day. The 'healthy' options were almost always over processed veggies in a tin can or fruit covered in syrup.

Seems our children are doom if we don't come up with better food production solutions.

The parents are likely obese, too. We can't really just blame the schools. I agree that this should be treated as a national state of emergency!!!! Fast food and food production companies have made calorie dense, nutritionally poor food the cheapest option. Obesity is much more prevalent in lower socio-economic areas, like Mississippi. Their schools can barely educate their kids in the basics, let alone nutrition. :brokenheart:

Thanks for bringing up this topic!

This scares me to death! I am so overweight and my little girl is starting to eat more and more. She is NOT overweight at all but i don't want her to become overweight.

THIS IS PARENTS FAULT!!100%

Its the choices we give them. This post made me think about all the crap i really let mine eat.


Thanks.

april - I'm not just blaming the schools but I think that is a big factor, especially because parents have less control when a child eat outside of the home. Schools should offer least choice in cases where they can only afford poor choices.

Offering fast food to children every day is unacceptable, in or out of school. Americans pay very little for food in the first place compared worldwide. Shouldn't we be willing to pay more for our health?

When I was in Elem. School, my lunch was packed everyday. I would have a lunchmeat sandwich, maybe some chips, carrots, fruit... When I have kids, they won't be eating many school lunches, I know that!

I think the blame is 100% on the parents. But, to be fair, schools don't teach much about nutrition these days. My fiance is a teacher. He teaches phys ed and health. He saw how poorly kids in his classes ate and put together a nutrition unit for the kids. For an assignment he had the track everything they ate for a week, so they could analyze it afterwards in accordance to Canada's food guide. Some of the kids (high school students grade 9 and 10) didn't have single fruit or vegetable in an entire week's time. It was shocking, truly. A lot of them were pretty horrified by their choices, and they then had to make choices to balance out the food choices they had made. I think educating children about good nutrition in schools can HELP with obesity rates. However, in the end, it is up to the parents to buy the food their kids eat. If they buy junk, their kids have no choice but to eat it, right?

That's awesome that your fiance did that.

growing up i always had a packed lunch. my mom would make home made wheat bread and them make pb&j sandwiches, or she'd pack up some beans and rice, or homemade vegan mac & cheese. That's why I was so fit and healthy growing up. it wasn't til i moved out that i gained weight. my daughter and baby on the way will both have packed lunches. i've never liked school lunches anyways. they always taste like butt. :laugh:

As a mom, it is my full responsibility to keep my kids healthy. Period.

As for school lunches, we do have a say. Parents can demand healthier foods, though getting involved with your child's school and asking nicely usually works better. Schools have contraints they have to work under too, such as time and money.

Ultimately, I decide if my children eat pizza and a coke everyday or not because I talk to them about how what they put in their body affects their health. So much so that my four year old now questions everything and if it will help him grow, make his teeth healthy, give him muscles, etc. He will drink milk and go look at his teeth in the mirror or flex his little arm immediately after to see if his muscles are bigger, lol. Kids do listen.

Also, I have the money, I control the food. My kids know that if they use their lunch money to buy cookies at the snack bar, I am going to find out, because I have gone and introduced myself to the carfteria staff, volunteered for things at school, and just made myself known to the school staff, as a parent. I think so many parents just send their kids to school and expect the school to do the rest. I also think some schools like it that way. I have had a few of my children's teachers make it clear that they felt my role in my children's education was at home and what happened at school was theirs to control. I disagree. Schools and parents partnering is the best thing for kids, in all areas, including food.

My kids are mine to protect, even from themselves. I think so many parents are so afraid of making their children unhappy by denying them the fun foods or video games, that they are "loving" them into obesity.

Yep, it's REALLY sad. I watch some kids around me with no nutritional sense at all, and parents who over-"treat" their kids with garbage. My kiddos do get "treats" but they are things like cookies I make that have almost no sugar (and no refined sugar, just agave nectar), whole oats, chickpeas (they disappear in cookies), nuts & fruit. They don't feel deprived of the tasty enjoyments of life. I also teach them savouring and control by having a bar of dark chocolate around sometimes and we'll each have a square or two, REALLY enjoy it slowly, then put it away for another time. My husband told me yesterday that while I was at my 1/2 Marathon training he cut some watermelon for the kiddos and my daughter (at 4.5) told him they had a lot of lycopene (a powerful antioxidant) in them. That made me SO happy because we talk about nutrition and they learn!
Kids learn what they witness, most of all. So many people in North America have zero understanding of what constitutes healthy food. So sad.

I remember in elementary school, we didn't have a lunch hall. So we all ate of packed lunches in our classrooms. Ity wasn't until you where in the final year( my elementary went up to highschool, so year 8) that you could get a form for your parents to sugn that said you could leave the property to go somewhere else for lunch, and only on fridays.

Highschool was highschool, if you wanted to make the 10minute walk you could go to McDonald's or the chip truck( mmmmm fresh fries) down the road. Or even the little polish bakery/deli. I almost always had a packed lunch. except fridays if I had the money I get some stuff from the vending machines.







As for the parents making choices, some don't. They just let thier kids decide. I saw one show( i think it was: honey we're killing the kids?) and the parents just gave thier sonexactly what he asked for. The family doctor called children's aid on them! The son was morbidly obese and had SCURVY at this day and age!!

So it is okay for school to offer poor choices? It is okay for schools to take the cheap way out?

It is not wrong to blame schools for part of it.

I knew many children in poverty whose parents both worked hours which prohibited them from making breakfast and dinner. They would get breakfast (crappy high-fat meal) from school, lunch from school and had to get a fast food dinner or microwave something. Some parents do not have the luxury of making meals for their children and must rely on the schools.

The school is the steward of our children and should be more responsible as well.

None of that gives parents an "out" for not making good choices themselves. Im a working mother and my husband works, we are involved in church and sometimes we just dont have the time! But its still our fault if our children eat crap!.......just my opinion!

I have to say (at the risk of sounding very controversial and pissing some people off) that if parents are SO BUSY that they cannot find the time to make sure their children's nutritional needs are looked after for even ONE meal a day, why on earth did they become parents in the first place. Love, nutrition and safety are the three paramount responsibilities of parents and there can't be anyone so busy that they can't find some way to get some decent food into their child. That said, it is also ridiculous that schools should be anything but the most optimal nutrition possible. It's awful that they cheap out and go for junk. But it's not just kids in North America who are obese... it's population-wide. If the adults were so worried about nutrition or thought so poorly of the junk foods their kids are being fed in schools there wouldn't be an obesity epidemic in the first place. When the blind are leading the blind solutions can be a lot harder to come by.

My opinion, Parents 100%.

The kids are not becoming obese because of this one meal a day from school.
How long does it take to pour a bowl of cereal and pour milk?
Make 2 pieces of toast with some fruit. Make lunches the night before.

I've seen many kids have money when they go to school.
<Dad or Mom> Here son, here's $10 to go buy lunch today at school as we don't have time to make your lunch.
I used to do a paper route and had my own money since age of 8/9. I didn't like the lunch that my mom gave me, I threw it out, and bought the school's lunch.

My point. If the kids don't have any money when they go to school, they won't buy schools lunch. What do kids need money for at school anyways?

After school, on weekends, it's parents responsibility to make sure there's healthy choices for their kids, both nutrition and physical activity.

I can't remember the show, but I watched a mother who said she was going to try and be more active in her kids lives, and took them to the park. The two boys, didn't know what to do with themselves. They hung around the bench that mom was sitting at. They were "lost" to be outside and enjoying themselves.

the parent has the final say of what the child eats most of the time.

But what is a parent supposed to do if the school lunches are so poor? I remember my school offered Dominos and Chick-fila for lunch! I could easily get a slice of pizza and a coke for lunch, every day. The 'healthy' options were almost always over processed veggies in a tin can or fruit covered in syrup.


Pack your children a sack lunch? Help kids exercise--bike rides, sports, playing catch in the yard. Red light, green light, etc.