Childhood Obesity and What You as a Parent Can Do
A couple of causes of childhood obesity and what you as a parent can do to prevent it.
Childhood obesity has become a major problem in America. Many parents feel that theres nothing that they can do, and that they can’t stop it. However, in most cases the parent is often indirectly causing the obesity.
Here are a couple of contributors to Childhood Obesity, and what you can do to control them.
Unhealthy food
Not too much food, just unhealthy food. Growing kids need a lot of nutrients to continue to grow. But a common misconception is that growing kids need a lot of calories to continue to grow. This is not true. Soda has plenty of calories, but it won’t do squat for your son or daughter’s muscles and bones.
When a kid gets home from a long day at school, they’re probably going to be hungry. So if they go into the kitchen and the first thing they see is Oreos, chances are theyll grab them. But if those Oreos never came into the house, or were hidden somewhere so that they could be had on occasion, the child would most likely find a healthier alternative and dig in. So either make a good choice for your child by not buying the unhealthy foods in the first place, or put them out of reach and healthier foods in plane sight.
No Motivation to exercise
With all the TV shows on today, how many kids would want to just walk outside and play some basketball or climb a tree by himself? Probably not many.
Believe it or not, young kids want to be just like their parents. If a parent spends all day eating doughnuts and watching TV, then chances are the kid will too. But if the parent goes for a run every night and eats healthy, then their child will probably be asking to go with them one day and eating healthy. Some good ways to get your child outside and exercising with you is to go for a run and have them bike next to you (or run if you think they can), or just play catch outside.
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