http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041230/ap_on_he_me/fit_childhood_obesity
This Rots. You better watch what you give to your kids more.
This Rots. You better watch what you give to your kids more.
Obesity Rising Among U.S. Preschoolers
- Thread starter kleenex
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
jkath
Hospitality Queen
I didn't read the link, but needed to comment - luvs, you are right.
I see it so often at son #2's elementary school. The parents send their kids lunches consisting of a 2-liter soda, a bag of chips, and a big sandwich (usually consisting of processed cheese with condiments)
No fresh fruit, no veggies, no meat, no whole grains, no milk....
don't they know they are affecting not only their child's size & medical health, but also their learning process?
I see it so often at son #2's elementary school. The parents send their kids lunches consisting of a 2-liter soda, a bag of chips, and a big sandwich (usually consisting of processed cheese with condiments)
No fresh fruit, no veggies, no meat, no whole grains, no milk....
don't they know they are affecting not only their child's size & medical health, but also their learning process?
norgeskog
Washing Up
I saw a special on this very issue recently. It seems that too many parents are in a hurry and feeding their kids drive thru burgers and fries for dinner because it is quick and easy. Not a good idea, according to the program. Also, no balanced diet, or control over the lunches at school when they give the kids cash for the lunch. It goes into the candy, chip, and soda dispensers rather than the lunch line. I always packed my daughters lunch, except once in a while she asked to eat at the cafeteria. To this day she still has excellent eating habits and is not heavy.
OK, got to comment here. While some of the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the parents who don't offer their kids good things, the other part of the equation is our sedentary culture. We watch TV, play video games, hang out in front of the computer...kids are not out being active very much anymore. And we are not giving them a very good example.
I am no better than anyone else when it comes to hanging out and vegging. But I am working on giving my kids a better example to follow. We go out tobogganing together, skating, and building forts and things.
These days kids hardly ever do any sport unless it is organized. Gone are the days of pick up football, softball or hockey. My kids had no idea what going out for a catch was when I suggested it a few summers ago. And now we are trying to educate each one of their friends that comes over. The kids love it. They all WANT to be active, but feel like they need to be Olympic athletes if they want to play. This way...they can just run around and be goofy and have fun. Ok, sorry...off my soapbox now...
I am no better than anyone else when it comes to hanging out and vegging. But I am working on giving my kids a better example to follow. We go out tobogganing together, skating, and building forts and things.
These days kids hardly ever do any sport unless it is organized. Gone are the days of pick up football, softball or hockey. My kids had no idea what going out for a catch was when I suggested it a few summers ago. And now we are trying to educate each one of their friends that comes over. The kids love it. They all WANT to be active, but feel like they need to be Olympic athletes if they want to play. This way...they can just run around and be goofy and have fun. Ok, sorry...off my soapbox now...
Coco
Senior Cook
I need to respond to this:
I have a 2 year old, and a Bernese Mountain Dog puppy. (for those of you who are not familiar with the breed, they are BIG and ACTIVE.
I work between 45-50 hours a week.
My husband has recently(3 months ago) started a new job where he works long late hours, (often 2pm- 5am). When I get home from work I go for a run with the dog to tire her out, (and also because I eat a a lot and need to watch my weight
)
Every single meal I cook is from scratch. It takes tremendous effort, I cook long hours in advance on the weekends, but it is absolutely worth it, as a mother, and a foodie.
I am proud of this as you can tell, but I also acknowledge that not every parent is able to do this. Parenting is a hard road, we all do our best at it.
As an aside, sometime my husband notices that our neighbours decorate their house more elaborately for Christmas, or I get "feedback" from my in-laws, that I am a bad mother because I didn't hire a dog and pony show, Bozo the clown, or Cirque de Soleil for my daughter's 2nd birthday. I always say to my husband: "Plenty of people have an elaborate birthday party and go into debt buying huge amounts of toys and other stuff all year around, but feed their kids McDonalds 3 nights a week. We are different, less toys, more healthy food and eating habits."
After that lecture, he always calms down and ignores what the "Jones'" are doing!
(Ok, sorry about the tirade, but healthy eating for kids is a real sore point with me. )
Thanks for listening/reading....
I have a 2 year old, and a Bernese Mountain Dog puppy. (for those of you who are not familiar with the breed, they are BIG and ACTIVE.
I work between 45-50 hours a week.
My husband has recently(3 months ago) started a new job where he works long late hours, (often 2pm- 5am). When I get home from work I go for a run with the dog to tire her out, (and also because I eat a a lot and need to watch my weight
)Every single meal I cook is from scratch. It takes tremendous effort, I cook long hours in advance on the weekends, but it is absolutely worth it, as a mother, and a foodie.
I am proud of this as you can tell, but I also acknowledge that not every parent is able to do this. Parenting is a hard road, we all do our best at it.
As an aside, sometime my husband notices that our neighbours decorate their house more elaborately for Christmas, or I get "feedback" from my in-laws, that I am a bad mother because I didn't hire a dog and pony show, Bozo the clown, or Cirque de Soleil for my daughter's 2nd birthday. I always say to my husband: "Plenty of people have an elaborate birthday party and go into debt buying huge amounts of toys and other stuff all year around, but feed their kids McDonalds 3 nights a week. We are different, less toys, more healthy food and eating habits."
After that lecture, he always calms down and ignores what the "Jones'" are doing!
(Ok, sorry about the tirade, but healthy eating for kids is a real sore point with me. )
Thanks for listening/reading....
Coco
Senior Cook
P.S. to Kitchenelf......you knew I would be all over this topic!
Pam Leavy
Senior Cook
Good for you Coco!
Our life is a bit different here, but Dutch people and Dutch children are also becoming heavier.
There is still lots of bike riding as a means of transportation.
We have three mcDonald's in the town I live in. One burger king and we just heard last week we will be getting a KFC.
It does not matter, we can't afford to eat there often. If you go to Amsterdam it is just full of the fast food places.
I was lucky enough to be home when the children were small. Now that I work it is a struggle to put fresh healthy meals on the table each night, but we do. (most nights) Last night we had hamburgers with fried onions on french bread. No fries. Tonight lasagna with a green salad.
I love my crock pot.
At the school I work at the children are not allowed to bring cookies or candy to eat. Chips are considered a treat and not a lunch ingredient.
When a child has a birthday they are encouraged to bring a healthy treat if possible (fruit kabobs, etc). the next choice would be chips rather than candy. It does not always work, of course.
When I was a girl we had school lunches, period. No choice. It was always a balanced meal. Why don't they go back to that?
Pam
Our life is a bit different here, but Dutch people and Dutch children are also becoming heavier.
There is still lots of bike riding as a means of transportation.
We have three mcDonald's in the town I live in. One burger king and we just heard last week we will be getting a KFC.
It does not matter, we can't afford to eat there often. If you go to Amsterdam it is just full of the fast food places.
I was lucky enough to be home when the children were small. Now that I work it is a struggle to put fresh healthy meals on the table each night, but we do. (most nights) Last night we had hamburgers with fried onions on french bread. No fries. Tonight lasagna with a green salad.
I love my crock pot.
At the school I work at the children are not allowed to bring cookies or candy to eat. Chips are considered a treat and not a lunch ingredient.
When a child has a birthday they are encouraged to bring a healthy treat if possible (fruit kabobs, etc). the next choice would be chips rather than candy. It does not always work, of course.
When I was a girl we had school lunches, period. No choice. It was always a balanced meal. Why don't they go back to that?
Pam
Claire
Master Chef
This doeesn't surprise me much, watching my sibs and freinds with their kids, and I think they're better parents than most. Still, it has become unfashionable to insist that your kids sit at the table and at least down a spoonful of something nutritious. The pre-schoolers I watch run around with a bottle or sippy cup of apple juice and a favorite snack (cheerios or goldfish or ...) all day. It really doesn't matter how nutritious it is, the fact is that they never know the feeling of "I'm hungry" before they eat. AS they get older, it only gets worse. I've seen teenage girls insist they are vegetarians; which seems somehow to give them license to live on fast food french fries and doritos. When I've asked my friends about this, their response has inevitably been, "Well, they're going to eat that crap at their friends' house, so why bother here?" If I had kids, I'd find this scary. As it is I'll be long gone when this generation hits the age where their nutritional habits catch up with them, social security is gone, and our already sorry health care system falls through completely. Onset Diabetes (I'm unsure of the technical name) is starting to onset early, instead of being a disease of the older generation. It's pretty pitiful. I'm overweight, I admit it, but wasn't as a child, and every pound was put on with great, real, food.
jkath
Hospitality Queen
..which is why I'm very proud to say my kids are healthy eaters. This was learned from my family growing up. We always have a nutritious meal, and only 2-3 desserts/week. My kids are fine with it, as it's the only way they know. Yes, we do fast food, but about 2x/month. A lot of kids won't eat veggies, because they aren't offered. Mine love them!
Here's one small light at the end of the tunnel:
A bill was passed, which was instated in January 2004 in the state of California. No public schools may sell unhealthy, sugar-filled foods from 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the school day until 30 minutes after the last bell rings. Fortunately, the high schools lost their soda machines, but sadly, bake sales became a thing of the past. All in all, it's good......in theory.
You should see the list of "nutritious" foods! Egad! Somehow Pop-Tarts made it onto the list of "healthy"! Granted, candy bars are out, but.......
Here's one small light at the end of the tunnel:
A bill was passed, which was instated in January 2004 in the state of California. No public schools may sell unhealthy, sugar-filled foods from 30 minutes prior to the beginning of the school day until 30 minutes after the last bell rings. Fortunately, the high schools lost their soda machines, but sadly, bake sales became a thing of the past. All in all, it's good......in theory.
You should see the list of "nutritious" foods! Egad! Somehow Pop-Tarts made it onto the list of "healthy"! Granted, candy bars are out, but.......
Coco
Senior Cook
I also have another theory about why obesity is becoming more prevalent with kids. Like Alix, I do believe that we have a sedentary culture, (it's ironic that I say that as I sit here in front of the computer.
But I also think that getting your kids to exercise is a lot harder than it used to be. When I was kid we ran around playing Kick-The-Can, and climbing trees before dinner. These days, depending on where you live, you can't let your kids go out unsupervised, for fear of kidnapping, assault, etc.
A major road near where we live goes directly to my old high school. Between 8:30am and 9 every weekday morning there is a huge traffic jam of parents taking their kids to school. Same thing at the elementary school. When I was kid, we walked 3.5 kms to school, because, it seemed safe in those days to do so. Now, I don't know anyone who lets school-age kids walk to school, or play unsupervised. I think this is definitely contributing to unhealthy weight gain in kids. Tree climbing(in cities, at least), has been replaced by TV and Internet. These changes aren't bad, but I guess as parents we need to make concentrated efforts to go out with our kids and make them run around!
But I also think that getting your kids to exercise is a lot harder than it used to be. When I was kid we ran around playing Kick-The-Can, and climbing trees before dinner. These days, depending on where you live, you can't let your kids go out unsupervised, for fear of kidnapping, assault, etc.
A major road near where we live goes directly to my old high school. Between 8:30am and 9 every weekday morning there is a huge traffic jam of parents taking their kids to school. Same thing at the elementary school. When I was kid, we walked 3.5 kms to school, because, it seemed safe in those days to do so. Now, I don't know anyone who lets school-age kids walk to school, or play unsupervised. I think this is definitely contributing to unhealthy weight gain in kids. Tree climbing(in cities, at least), has been replaced by TV and Internet. These changes aren't bad, but I guess as parents we need to make concentrated efforts to go out with our kids and make them run around!
When my daughter was very young, she only liked certain foods, which I'm certain is not uncommon. For the longest time she was hooked on macaroni and cheese from a box. Now that she is 13, she understands what foods are good and bad for her. She still loves mac and cheese but we make our own version, which does not contain all the sodium that the box version does, and we add corn to ours. Basically as kids get older most realize what foods are good and healthy.
I used to let my daughter have school lunches, but have you ever noticed how unhealthy school lunches are? Burgers, fries, chicken nuggets that are fried in batter, hot dog, etc. She now takes lunch from home everyday and likes salad alot. She also likes cole slaw for her lunch. She brings a pepsi 1 and a low carb snack, and sometimes (against my wishes) she eats a slim fast meal bar for lunch. I dont consider slim fast bars as food.
She exercises alot more that she used to and is active in various sports at school. Sure she likes to watch tv, and go on her computer, but thats ok with me as long as she is eating healthy, exercising, and keeping up her grades at school, which she is.
I used to let my daughter have school lunches, but have you ever noticed how unhealthy school lunches are? Burgers, fries, chicken nuggets that are fried in batter, hot dog, etc. She now takes lunch from home everyday and likes salad alot. She also likes cole slaw for her lunch. She brings a pepsi 1 and a low carb snack, and sometimes (against my wishes) she eats a slim fast meal bar for lunch. I dont consider slim fast bars as food.
She exercises alot more that she used to and is active in various sports at school. Sure she likes to watch tv, and go on her computer, but thats ok with me as long as she is eating healthy, exercising, and keeping up her grades at school, which she is.
honeybee
Senior Cook
I remember our sitting down at the table eating lots of veggies. I have fruit in the house all the time. My kids are 20 (still lives at home), 22 (visits over Christmas and lives 200 mi. away), and 25 (lives with his girlfriend 8 mi. away). My youngest touches very few vegetables (he used to LOVE my homemade split pea soup) and likes fast food, eating it probably 6 days a week. My oldest eats pizza and/or fast food more days than not. My daughter is obese. Figure this out.
