The children of today are becoming more obese, for the fact that they are
obtaining laziness. They are spending more time in front of the television then
they are getting their daily exercise. Their growing bodies need exercise to
lose baby fat before it gets to be a serious problem. The growth of technology
has formed a major impact on the obesity of today`s children. This technology
has substituted normal childhood play exercises with computer games that take
less physical effort. Because of technology in today's society the problem with
child obesity has become tremendously intensified. First, what is child obesity?
The term child obesity means a child is a person between birth and puberty and
obese is extremely fat: corpulent (The American Heritage Dictionary 265,856).
This disease is caused due to a lack of exercise and over-eating by a child.
Child obesity can cause many medical problems for a child that suffers from such
a disease. Obesty is a widespread disease that is growing incredibly worse as
technology increases. Furthermore, it is obvious that the lack of exercise has a
major part to do with child obesity; scientists blame the television for a
substitute to outdoor sports. Kids are spending more time watch television than
they are doing physical activities. The findings strongly support the notion
that the most important lifestyle factor in childhood obesity is television
watching (Monmaney). The television brings the child`s imagination to life,
giving them entertainment to do without the running and exercising of outdoor
sports. The more television a child watches the more obese the child will get.
Next, the problem is getting so out of hand that the government is going to have
to start getting involved. Satcher and Shirley Watkins, the undersecretary of
agriculture for food, nutrition and consumer services said that, "'TV
increases obesity, stifles creativity and shortens attention spans among young
people'" (Bauder). This is their reason for joining the campaign for a
"TV-Free America." It is estimated that an obese child watches an
average of four hours and nine minutes of television each day. That is four
hours that a child could be bonding with their family or taking action in some
physical activity. Thus, problem with child obesity starts as young as infancy.
If the child's parents do not stress exercise the child will find an alternative
way to occupy their time. For example, playing a game cartridge rather than
shooting hoops or flying a kite. The game cartridge provides cheap entertainment
with very little fitness involved. "Ross Andersen recommends that parents
find alternatives to watching television for their children" (Joseph). A
parent should do anything possible to get their kids away from the television.
Ether by making daily plans with timed intervals limiting the amount of
television the child can watch or signing them up for YMCA sport activities.
Even if the parent has a busy work schedule, make time to benefit the child.
Although, there are numerous amounts of prescription drugs for child obesity,
the side affects are too risky for the younger child. The easiest way to solve
this well-known disease is by stopping the problem before it starts. If you can
intervene with overweight children before they are fully grown, you can often
help them grow into their weight and prevent them from becoming overweight
adults. Some overweight children don`t need to lose weight as much as they need
to gain weight at a slower rate. (Discroll) Moving on, some children do not need
to lose weight, but need help growing into the weight they already have. They
can use help to slow the rate at which they gain weight, making it easier for
them to grow into it. Plus, the health risk faced by children with the disease
of child obesity is immense. More than 70 percent of all cases persist into
adulthood (Mellin). Obesity during adult years is associated with increased
rates of diseases such as hyperinsulinemia, coronary heart disease, angina,
atherosclerosis, various cancers, orthopedic problems, and gout along with many
other short-term and psychosocial consequences of obesity in children. Thus,
with the technology in today`s society the problem with child obesity has
largely intensified. The management of obesity and overweight in children is an
important issue. Before obesity can be treated in children, it would be helpful
to have a marker to identify children who would likely become overweight or
obese in adulthood. The parents and children can get a jump on what they need to
do to beat this disease. The fight will not be easy but with the encouragement
of the family they will be able to beet it together.