Obese And Underweight Kids – How Do We Do Something About It?

Am I the only one who is utterly shocked that children as young, well they are so young they are not even walking are overweight. Kids who are only 6 or 7 worried that they are too fat and are dieting even though they are an ideal weight. What has happened and more importantly what is being done about it.

Let’s take the issue of kids being overweight, surely some responsibility must be taken by the parents after all who feeds the children well in most cases the parents. Of course some children as is the same of adults do have a medical condition. This article in not about them it’s about the very worrying fact that obesity in children is on the rise. Is it down to what children eat or the fact that sitting in front of the T.V. is more fun rather than playing outside. Society has certainly changed and while I am not out to have a go at anyone are we all dismissing this as not our problem. Indeed I have come across cases where a child has been got at by parents for being to thin when in reality it was the children around them being obese making the children seem too thin.

On the other end of the scale we have the children who are not anorexic but are aware of what they are eating, asking themselves whether they are too big or too thin. Surely they should be out enjoying life not thinking of these things and going on diets. What will these children go on to think and act when they are an adult. Well I don’t think the outlook is good in my opinion they will grow up obsessed about dieting and missing out on life.

Who is too blame? Well as I said as parents we are responsible, we need to be aware of what we are feeding our children and if we are not sure ask for advice. Schools need to educate children on food. We have recently moved to an area where the school is only just implementing a healthy snack – which was a shock to me. The other problem we have is the media and celebrities, while I admire people like Victoria Beckham – what message is she sending out to kids? I have no idea how she is still alive on what she eats, but that is another story.

The one thing we can all do, even if we are not particularly hot to trot on the subject of food and that is exercising, a swear word to some but all to easy to do, and what is more means quality time with our kids. For example get out on that bike, and if it is raining and you can afford it get yourself a Nintendo wii and get on the boxing game, a workout and a half, but more importantly fun! The list is endless of exercises we can do to keep our child at a healthy weight.

We need to take action now before it really does become a problem – or is it too late already?