posted on March 11, 2006 03:43:13 PM new
50 percent of American children are going to be obese by 2010
According to a study published in the International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, rates of childhood obesity are expected to skyrocket in the coming years, with half of the children in North and South America obese by 2010.
Europe doesn't fare much better, with 38% of kids there expected to be overweight within five years. Even China will see its population of obese children increase to 20% in that period.
Like many of you have commented in past posts, we are seeing more and more obese people every day, no matter where we live, in the big cities, or small towns.
What is happening? It has to be fast food and lack of outdoor activity, don't you think. Two parents working, kids left to veg in front of TV's or computers.
Something has to be done about this big problem soon, imagine the need for health care services for this next generation.
Kick a kid in the pants and make him/her go out and play.
posted on March 11, 2006 04:01:03 PM new
My state has passed laws effective next school year regulating what kind of foods can be sold in school cafeterias and even what kind of goodies can be used for holiday parties, etc....bringing cupcakes on your birthday may soon be a thing of the past. No sugary crap in the cafeteria, no vending machines, no soda, etc. I wish we didn't have to legislate kids' diets, but their parents clearly don't care, or make excuses for them being "picky eaters", but lots of them will send a kid to school without breakfast. "We don't have time to make breakfast"..."he won't eat in the morning", bullsh!t...a parent who'd let a kid out of the house without eating is guilty of neglect as far as I'm concerned...what do you mean "he won't eat"?? Your first mistake was giving him a choice. Somewhere along the line in the school cafeteria biz we decided kids needed choices....bullsh!t again. There ought to be one lunch served to everybody, and everybody sits and sits till their food is gone. If parents don't like the school menu, they can send a lunch with their kid. As a result of this allowing choices, we've got a generation of picky eaters who gorge on crap when they're hungry instead of eating good meals to begin with. Most of the fat kids I know at school, and there are more and more of them, have fat parents. These kids aren't magically getting fat of their own accord, they're being allowed to get fat by the people who are supposed to be raising them.
Disclaimer: I like fat people. Some of my best friends are hideously obese and need those motorized carts that block the aisles in WalMart. Really.
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posted on March 11, 2006 04:14:36 PM new
Profe. I couldn't agree more with your post.
Spot on.
Choices..when I attended school, first of all you had to live over a mile from the school to be allowed to stay for lunch. To bad if you were just under that mile, you walked 4 times a day. We lived just under the mile mark and on the side of a mountain, so believe me we got 4 miles of walking in every day. We had an hour for lunch, so by the time we made it home for lunch, we ate our soup and sandwich and off we went back to school all within an hour.
Those who stayed for lunch at school were offered one meal, no choices, I'm afraid, no chocolate milk, snacks, sweets either. Those who stayed for lunch were given a half an hour to eat then out they went to the play grounds to work it off.
As kids, we were never in the house other than to eat and sleep.. always active and on the go.
That is a great move in the right direction for your schools, Profe.
A lot has been said about the poor being obese because the only foods that they can afford are starches. I don't believe it for a moment. I have stood behind people paying for their food with food stamps and it is all about choices.. pop and chips and kraft dinner (no offense Krafty) rather than lettuce, tomatoes, veggies, fruit etc.
Its a crying shame.
About the breakfast at home, I often wonder if it has something to do with the hour the kids have to be out waiting for the bus. I know near me, it is not light out when the bus picks them up..they probably don't feel hungry until later..but that's probably just another excuse.
posted on March 11, 2006 05:09:32 PM new
time has nothing to do with it..it's what a parent is willing to do for their kid. My son and I do over an hour of chores in the morning, have a real sit down breakfast, and then still have to drive a half hour to school to get there at 7:45 when I need to be at work. People who won't figure out how to have breakfast with their families either work nights and don't get home by 6 a.m. or are wimps, plain and simple.
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posted on March 11, 2006 05:15:18 PM new
My daughter was a teacher, Profe..teacher of the year in her district, a couple of years ago..not that I'm bragging on her or anything..
She worked in a inner city school district and said so many of the little ones came to school, dirty, hungry and would fall asleep at their desks, unable to stay awake. It's a bloody shame, many were being raised by grandparents, aunties, while their own parents were jailed or on drugs. It's all about the parenting.
posted on March 11, 2006 06:39:52 PM new
Sure it does, profe.
After having the police check all lunch bags brought to school by first graders...then the FBI will be going out to people's home to be sure they aren't baking birthday cakes for their children.
Then...they'll probably pass another law that their houses weren't sanitary enough for them to be doing ANY baking at all - so let's pass a law to STOP THAT TOO.
It just keeps going more and more in this direction all the time.
To deny more and more government intervention in our personal lives....is to live in denial.
What you may do in your home for breakfast is YOUR business...your choice. No one else's.
If they want to have a granola bar with skimmed milk or a donut with whole fat milk....that is THEIR business....NOT the governments nor those who wish to condone this 'big government' stepping more and more into our lives.
posted on March 11, 2006 09:40:37 PM newWhat you may do in your home for breakfast is YOUR business...your choice. No one else's
I couldn't agree more....you might think about that the next time you're first in line to lay the blame for children's lack of achievement completely in the schools' laps. If parents acted more like parents, we wouldn't have to do it for them. You may have noticed, I said in my original response that I wish we didn't have to legislate diets. But the fact of the matter is, kids are increasingly fat and unhealthy, and come to school ill prepared by their parents for learning. Something has to happen and it's not happening at home.
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posted on March 11, 2006 11:37:33 PM new
I lay the blame on the schools because they are and do spend way too much time mothering the kids...rather than teaching them the basics.
Are you telling us that in your state the poor kids don't get a FREE breakfast? Or a FREE lunch?
But the point I'm making is that this doesn't have to be dealt with by giving the gov. more control. Passing more laws. It could have been handled by the individual school districts themselves.
THEY could have done a different 'work around' that didn't include making new law to regulate it.
I read an interesting op-ed on this subject....if I can find it again, I'll post it.
posted on March 12, 2006 02:38:17 AM new
When I was a kid, I was never home. I was running around, going to the pool, hanging out with friends, having a fgrand ole time. that does not happen anymore. Parents don't seem to let their kids out.
At the end of the block of my mothers old house is the school bus stop. I could not believe the first time I was out around the time for the bus to arrive in the morning. There were 10-15 cars lined up along the street with parents. Some allowed their kids to get out of the car and wait at the stop with friends while the parents waited until the bus arrived, others had the kids in the car until the bus got there. When the bus arrived in the afternoon, all the cars were there again waiting
We are not talking about a bad neighborhood, or an area with main streets. We are talking about a planned community. None of those kids lived more than a 10 minute walk from that bus stop but those parents were not letting their kids go it alone. I never saw a kid walking to or from that bus stop.
I never saw kids out playing in the neighborhood. I walk about a mile to the post office and back every day and I never see kids. There is even a great park where the only time I ever see kids is when there is league baseball. If it weren't for the seeing them get on an off the bus, I'd have sworn it was an adult only community. You don'teven see snowmen in the yards after a snowfall.
I don't think it's just a matter of kids not being as active as they once were, it doesn't seem that parents are letting them.
All of those child abduction stats must have scared the bejesus out of them.
Gotta say you guys did give me a laugh though Mags and Prof. All that talk of impending school lunch programs and past ones just reminded me of my school lunchtime ritual. grab a Pepsi and head out to the designated smoking area to hang with friends. Guess they don't do that anymore.
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Never ask what sort if computer a guy drives. If he's a Mac user, he'll tell you. If he's not, why embarrass him? - Tom Clancy
posted on March 12, 2006 02:45:28 AM new
::To deny more and more government intervention in our personal lives....is to live in denial.::
But Linda, you don't REALLY want the government out of peoples personal lives. You still want it dictating who you can and can't marry, who can and cannot adopt, whether or not a woman should have to carry a child to term and so many other things.
At least be honest Linda. You want the government all over peoples personal lives. You just don't want it to cost you anything.
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Never ask what sort if computer a guy drives. If he's a Mac user, he'll tell you. If he's not, why embarrass him? - Tom Clancy
posted on March 12, 2006 05:47:22 AM new
Fenix, I see the kind of inactivity that you describe in my neighborhood where a child's life is tightly scheduled hour to hour. Walking home from school and possibly climbing a tree along the way has become an outrageous idea.
posted on March 12, 2006 05:57:07 AM newAt least be honest Linda. You want the government all over peoples personal lives. You just don't want it to cost you anything.
Well put. Anyone who thinks schools are "mothering" kids with free breakfasts because we want to hasn't thought things through. Schools don't make laws, and I know for a fact that my district never pushed for free breakfast legislation. That came from the federal level. But the facts are these:
Hungry kids do not learn well.
Schools are graded on how well their students pass standardized tests, and nothing more.
If we have to act In Loco Parentis to help students achieve, that's what we're going to do.
As I've said before, schools don't want to be substitute parents, they have no choice.
fenix, did they have a smoking area in your elementary school? I'm guessing you're talking about high school...HS students are old enough to decide on whether or not they want to eat, elementary students just aren't, in my opinion. You're right about kids not being outside. I notice that even here, among our newly arrived folks. Their kids don't have chores to do, and don't know how to go catch a fish or ride a horse, and so they're cooped up playing their video games or IM'ing each other after school, all the while probably drinking soda and snacking on cheeto's.
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posted on March 12, 2006 10:58:46 AM new
I fully agree a HUGE part of he problem is kids don't get the same amount of excerise that we did as kids. No doubt about that.
The schools COULD be seeing they get more at recess and lunch time.
I can also understand why parent of young children are doing what they're doing....driving them to and from school, not thrilled to let them 'just run free' like most of us did. Sexual predators are all over the place. All anyone has to do to verify that is go online and see how many live in their OWN neighborhoods. WAY too many. A HUGE problem that our society is not dealing with very well at all. No wonder parents protect their children more than ours did with us.
Again, there was NO reason for a law to be passed on this issue.
The school districts could have easily implimented these changes without the gov. getting involved AT ALL.
It's a waste of time, money and effort on everyone's part. I will change NOTHING. When the kids are out of school, they're going to eat and drink whatever they want to. It' like telling a smoker they can't smoke at work....it's not going to make them quit smoking once they aren't at work. It's WORTHLESS and more gov. intrusion. PERIOD.
posted on March 12, 2006 12:28:47 PM newThe school districts could have easily implimented these changes without the gov. getting involved AT ALL.
Yeah, that way it'd be easier to blame the schools for taking away kids' "rights" to eat crap.
I agree it's too bad that legislation needs to be made, I wish it didn't. But anyone who thinks fat kids aren't a national issue is fooling themselves. Fat kids will grow into unhealthy adults. Unhealthy adults will place an added burden on our medical insurance, raising rates for everybody, just like smokers, drug users, people who refuse to wear seat belts and all the other people who make dumb lifestyle choices. We're all paying for their right to be unhealthy directly or indirectly. That's an issue that isn't addressed by the simple notion of too much government interference, unfortunately.
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posted on March 12, 2006 01:24:17 PM new
profe...I don't think anyone would argue that we're all overweight...as a Nation.
But more gov. intervention is not going to make a difference...unless they continue on with the 'police' state as do as I sarcastically suggested they do in my other post.
It's MORE Big Brother....
And imo, it's not going to change a thing.
Education, awareness being pushed more might help a lot...but all this gov. regulation on fast food places...now in the schools....we're only growing government control over our lives, and it's QUITE sad, imo.
posted on March 12, 2006 01:34:30 PM new
Well with the way things are going now in the schools and education in general, 50 percent will be obese and the other 50 percent will be flipping the burgers, cooking the fries, pouring the sodas and serving them.
More and more whenever I get out and go driving around I see signs saying, Caution Slow Children Ahead and then i'll see other signs that say, Caution Slow Workers Ahead. Well it's good to see that at least all those slow children can find work when they grow up.
posted on March 12, 2006 01:43:29 PM new50 percent of USA children are going to be obese by 2010
This is good news as it means most of these people will die before they can collect social security or medicare; ergo there will be more in the pot for those that live to collect it. Health insurance premiums for fat people will have to increase to cover the cost of their medical care. It's also very Darwinian (not recognized in some state) in that the population will be culled over several generations of those that eat well beyond their calorific needs.
Conversely those that eat less than their calorific need tend to live longer. Research on populations that endured post-WWII rationing into the 50s reveals that this may be the reason for the sudden increase in life expectancy over the previous generation.
posted on March 12, 2006 03:17:22 PM new
lol....well....THAT'S certainly another way of viewing the problem.
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Kind of like some believe that when our elders get too old...and can't be productive people any longer or become a burden to their families....we should 'take them out of their misery too. To save those 'precious' resources for them.
posted on March 12, 2006 03:31:05 PM new
Show me a fat kid and I'll bet you they drink soft drinks one behind the other. This generation thinks you are suppose to get up in the morning and start drinking a soft drink. When I was a kid,that does wasn't done. McDonalds didn't sell 44 oz belly gushers back then either.
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Two men sit behind bars,one sees mud the other sees stars.
posted on March 12, 2006 03:40:06 PM new
I can agree with that too.
I believe it's because they need a little 'lift' like some get from their coffee in the morning. The caffine charge.
Maybe because they're not being made to go to bed at a more age appropriate hour.
So many of the little one's I'm around now stay up until their parents hit the sack....and that's pretty late for one that has to get up early to go to school.
So...maybe the can of soda is to help wake them up.
Who knows what some people are thinking.
posted on March 12, 2006 08:09:35 PM newThis is good news as it means most of these people will die before they can collect social security or medicare; ergo there will be more in the pot for those that live to collect it
