Are obese and overweight children (now 1 in 5 kids) the result of mothers working full time, daycare, fastfood?
White Hare asked: Maybe these kids comfort themselves with food because they have attatchment disorders? rrm38: I think this is precisely the case. I ...
White Hare asked:
Maybe these kids comfort themselves with food because they have attatchment disorders?
rrm38: I think this is precisely the case.
I would like to add to the fact that example is the best, perhaps only teacher. Whether your mom works, part time or full time, or stays home all day, the kids emulate what the mom does and they eat how the mom eats. If mom eats garbage, so do the kids, if mom is inactive, so are the kids.
Steve
Maybe these kids comfort themselves with food because they have attatchment disorders?
rrm38: I think this is precisely the case.
I would like to add to the fact that example is the best, perhaps only teacher. Whether your mom works, part time or full time, or stays home all day, the kids emulate what the mom does and they eat how the mom eats. If mom eats garbage, so do the kids, if mom is inactive, so are the kids.
Steve
maybe they just haven’t been taught the basics of healthy eating.*
Because this is America. Yay Cheeseburgers! Whoo Hoo! Kick ass! Go get a hummer now
Recess time in school no longer allows kids to run for fear they might get hurt
I saw that on Tyra the other day, could be.
Also slower metabolisms and little exercise. I beg my 17 year old to jog with me, and she shrugs me off. I can’t be there all day with her. I have started buying her more fruits and low cal meals for the day, and she still goes to fast food with her friends. Poor thing is about 30 pounds overweight.
for the most part…but food is ALOT more unhealthier than it was even 15 years ago…plus you got advertising and stuff…
I think that convenience food in general is the cause of childhood obesity.
Weeeellll, I had a stay at home mom and all she did was kick us out of the house all day or make us fetch her water and do the chores. But yeah, it kept me skinny. lol
No seriously, I doubt it’s just this. I think it’s the form of entertainment with today’s kids. And it’s hard to put broccoli in a kid’s mouth when he gets a free toy with a cheeseburger and fries.
Even still, single professional working mom, Mickey D’s and all, I’ve got a healthy, thin child who’s pretty huggy.
I’m adding (to be fair): My child went to pre-school when he was 4 but otherwise hasn’t been a day-care kid. I work from home most of the time and he’s sitting 8 feet from me now except for when I kick him out of the house or make him fetch me some water (kidding about the water).
No.
It’s the result of too many calories and not enough exercise.
If anything is to blame it’s tv, videogames and computers. Kids who’s mother is working can go outside and play instead of sitting in front of a tv or computer.
The poor (especially w/o a car) are usually stuck in neighborhoods that have crappy grocery stores. The stores are loaded with high car/ high fructose foods. Great fillers, and cheap to buy. You find some of the fattest kids in America in the poorest neighborhoods! Also, food stamps you can buy pop and chips. Lawmakers have bowed down to the food lobby to block the purchase of ‘empty calorie foods’ using food stamps. That is why we have WIC. WIC only allows the poor to buy certain healthy staples for mom and kids. Rich kids sit at home snacking on junk to pacify them while they play video games. Add to the fact that working moms love the fast food drive thru, and you have a recipe for disaster.
I think it has more to do with access to menus that serve fast food and proximity of fast food places to where the children live.
I live in a small town of less than 700 people. The majority of the kids in our school have a school cafeteria where one entree is served for the day. There is no choice for burgers or fries or countless other options. It is a planned menu throughout the month and adhered to. The meals are well balanced and nutritious and we have an excellent school cook in charge of it all, and she makes sure the food tastes good too.
The other thing is that we have no fast food restuarunts here. There are a couple of family style restaurants, but they are sit down at the table and no drive through, although they do serve to go orders.
Also, there are a number of sports activities for these kids to do here. We are a huge basketball town and kids as young as kindergarten are taught the game. There is also T-ball/softball/baseball, wrestling, tennis, volleyball, football, golf; both organized by the school and organized by parents. There is a great emphasis on getting kids physically active before the age of ten….with the reason being that kids who are active before that age, are more likely to be active adults.
Someone was commenting to one of the school teachers that they were amazed at how few kids in our school were obese. I beleive these are the reasons why.
Furthermore, if kids are in daycare and the provider is licenses, the USDA will reimburse them for the meals they serve as long as they are nutritious and well balanced. It’s a federal program and so available nationwide. I participate in this as it is a nice check that I don’t have to claim on my taxes.
I do think when you have two parents who work outside the home and are tired when they come home from work, that’s it’s very easy to just get some take out, however, I think this is changing with the economy right now. A lot of people are out of work and if even if they aren’t, prices are dramatically increasing. There is a growing trend for homemade meals that even large supermarket chains are cashing in on. Some of the bigger ones are offering meal recipes and suggestions where all the ingredients are equal to a dollar per serving. Because people are making more of their own meals, they are also sitting down to dinner together…and that’s a good thing for a kid both emotionally and physically.
So, the short answer is in some ways, perhaps, but not for the reasons you may be concluding.
It’s the result of lazy parenting. I work full time and am a divorced mother of two very healthy daughters who are nowhere near overweight. They eat home prepared meals consisting primarily of fresh organic foods, and don’t even care to eat fast food or in restaurants. They’re actually pretty grossed out by much of what their friends eat. Working isn’t an excuse for not providing children proper nutrition, and it’s not only working mothers who feed their children garbage. My sister-in-law doesn’t work and her five year old daughter wears the same size pants as my 10 year old daughter. Happy Meals and sweets are staple foods in their home. My 12 year old daughter has a friend who wears larger pants than I do. Her mother doesn’t work and very rarely cooks. When she does, it’s frozen lasagna or Hamburger Helper. Otherwise, it’s drive-thru food. My mother caters lunches to a private school in the area. She was asked to provide more “greasy” type foods like pizza and such because so many of the children refused to eat the healthy vegetables. The school’s administrator really wanted to make sure the kids ate because, according to her, school lunch was the only meal some of the children received every day. Pure laziness… and nothing else… is the cause of the obesity epidemicic among our children.
When you allow kids to play xbox 24-7 with a bag of chips next to them, what do you expect?
Yes, this is a very big problem with our youth these days.
I can’t say it is because mom’s usually have to work to make ends meet. Look at the TV commercials, video games, just indoor things. Many are latchkey kids and are not allowed to go out until the parent gets home for safety reasons.
I don’t think it is a detachment thing but a convenience thing.
I am a stay home mom and cook a full dinner every night. I feed six and it is not easy. To purchase fresh veggies and have a well balanced meal is not cheap. So money is another factor. For the time it takes me to cook and go to the store and pay outrageous amounts of money I could have gone to a fried chicken place and saved a lot of time and money. Also when my children was younger they played all sports and was hardly in the house. Even today they are usually out doing something after work.