Buy Walking VideosChildhood Obesity Is Not A Marketing Issue, It’s A Parenting Issue
Adrants hit the nail on the head in this article about childhood obesity:
“Who is the one person that is most influential in a child’s life and who is charged with that child’s education and upbringing? Any guesses? Not sure? We’ll tell you. The child’s parent. Yes, parents. Parents are the primary person in their child’s lives and the ones who should be charged with educating them on proper eating habits.”
Children will do what the parents do. There is no stronger force in a child’s life than parental actions. The way you eat has much more effect on your children than a million television commercials. If you want some tips on how to help your children to eat healthy, here is an article:
You have an imense amount of control on how your child perceives food and exercise. Far more than all the advertisers in the world.
Update 03-24-07 12:46 pm: I also found this EXCELLENT article explaining why it is such a fight to get children to eat certain foods and what you can do about it:
Finally, the most important ingredient is you. In fact, the strongest predictor of fruit and vegetable consumption by children ages 2-6 is the amount of these foods that are consumed by the parents. It makes a lot of sense. Why would a child want to eat a food that no one else wants to eat? You, yes, you have to eat your vegetables, too. This role modeling is important, both for direct learning, “this is what we eat,†and indirect role modeling, “new foods are a fun adventure, it is healthy to eat well, and these foods are enjoyable.â€
Don’t give up on them just because they say they don’t like it. Repeated exposure to healthy food creates increased ability to tolerate it.
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March 24th, 2007 at 6:38 am
As a parent of two young boys (10 and 5) I experience this struggle daily. I have tried to instill healthy food choices in both of them and in our home, that is all they will have. However, in the grand scheme of things, they spend more time at school than at home. With my youngest especially, they provide food at his daycare. While it’s not pop and chips, it’s not exactly the food I’d have him eating and it’s very simplified. So supper times at home have become battle grounds because he only wants to eat the plain kinds of foods he eats at daycare. I don’t give in and try to be creative, etc. Yet it is a struggle. I can only hope that eventually my healthy food values will be the ones he chooses as he becomes older. My oldest was never in daycare, wasn’t exposed to the same outside influences as a young child and has always been a healthy eater and is more resistant to the food influences in school. So yes, while I agree parents need to be the backbone for children with healthy food choices, often times our children are not with us as much as we would like and there is definitely influences from others and the media which can make the job tougher. It would be nice to have my message reinforced in the media and system and make my job as a parent a lot less stressful.
March 24th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
I can’t agree more! My children are part of what has inspired me to join weight watchers, go the the gym, make healthy eating choices. I don’t want them to go down the same path that I have.
March 29th, 2007 at 11:56 am
If you want to read an interesting first-person account of childhood obesity, check out:
http://www.orato.com/node/2009