« | Main | Rights for Terrorists - Low Voter Turn Out Expected »
September 29, 2006
Obesity Is Child Abuse
by Jack Lee
Child abuse can take many forms and any one of them can be incredibly destructive and unhealthy for a developing mind and body, this includes raising unfit and overweight kids.
The topic of obesity came up the other day while I was having coffee with a friend of mine who works for a school district in Butte County, and he was telling me about this really sad case of an 11 year old kid that is so out of shape and overweight, he couldn't do even the least challenging of exercises in his PE class. Apparently this kid is so heavy, he's developed male breasts and this has caused no end of kidding and humiliation for him. According to my friend, he felt the boy was suffering from a severe lack of self esteem. I have no doubt about that! And likely there is a lot more that is troubling this child. Just hearing about his weight tells me he must have an eating disorder and that belies other problems in his emotional make up.
Something is seriously wrong with the way we raise our children if the rate of overweight and obese children has doubled in past 20 years. Not only is this unhealthy, but can you imagine the stigmatizing an overweight child must feel in today's society? To raise a really heavy child borders on the cruel and how parents could allow this to happen and fall back on "Oh, I didn't know an extra 50 pounds was that bad!" That is to be totally oblivious to the point of criminal indifference! This is just another form of child abuse. The obese child will have a 90% chance of being an overweight adult. They may never recover from their food disorder that could lead to an early death. The current high rate of obesity is affecting and endangering far, far, more kids than any other risk. Yet, this problem, that hurts so many, gets so little attention, its like we're in denial!
A recent study says, we can expect future generations of our children to burden our healthcare system with huge increases in:
While parents are the primary people responsible for their child's weight and health, it's not entirely their fault. Part of the problem is the age we live in, we have too many sedentary diversions like TV and video games, computers, computer games and the Internet. There's also been a decrease of available parks and play areas and decreases in resources for physical education activities at many public schools. We have let the costs associated with the general education of a child grow exponentially compared to the physical fitness program money until there is a huge parity gap.
Healthcare Central on the web had this to say about overweight Americans:
The epidemic of obesity sweeping America
is the prime culprit behind recent sharp
increases in Medicare spending
is the prime culprit behind recent sharp
increases in Medicare spending
This is why I urge every parent to take this warning seriously because the long range consequences are deadly serious for their child. Morbid obesity does enormous psychologal and physical damage. In fact, if you were doing this much damage through corporal abuse (beating your child), you can bet Child Protective Services would be all over you. So take the hint, do the right thing... give your child a decent chance for a long and productive life and help them stay in shape and keep the weight down through good eating habits. For more information I suggest you read about Child Obesity at this site.
We have a problem here folks and there is no quick fix like a fat pill where you can melt off the pounds. However,
there is a fat vaccine in the works and that does look promising, click here for more information. For now the only sure cure for obesity in children or adults is diet and exercise. All the other gimmicks that promise to target belly fat or help you accelerate weight loss is just a bunch of hogwash. Let me say that again and louder...ONLY DIET AND EXERCISE WILL CAUSE YOU TO LOSE WEIGHT.
NOTE: If there is enough interest in this topic, I have contacted one of the top experts in Californiia on physcial fitness and she is willing to provide you with some free professional advice right here, if we have at least 50 people who respond in comments to this article. We won't post anything and you need not give me your correct email address, just tell me you want to know more.
Her time is extremely valuable and she has offered it, but only if there is a true need.
She is a motivational speaker and runs her own Pilates Cardio Camp in San Jose. Please send me a brief note in comments and we'll see if have enough response to get this professional speaker to give us some tips.
PARTING SHOT...
Posted by Post Scripts at September 29, 2006 05:46 PM
Comments
Jack, The cartoon is priceless but the subject matter, as you have noted, is quite serious. I would hesitate to use the word "child abuse" because of the slippery slope it invites. If we could depend on citizens being reasonable then perhaps the words would "do no harm' and instead "do some good". But we can't. People have completely distorted the meanings of words. Once upon a time we could rely on judges and the law for "reason" but we can't even depend on them anymore.
I'm not sure what the long term answer is or should be, but I suspect that regulation, law suits and social indoctrination will happen in any event, especially if we invoke "Child abuse" as a clarion call.
Recess doesn't cost a thing...recess with teacher led calisthenics, foot races, or other aerobic activity doesn't cost anything either.
Reaching out to offer parents some help is certainly a good idea and I applaud your efforts to do so here.
Posted by: Tina at September 30, 2006 10:19 PM
The term "child abuse" is really strong, I know, but it's still pretty accurate. If they have kids in this category, then I hope they (parents) will be shocked/offended enough to DO something about it, SEEK professional help, whatever it takes to keep their kids safe. Nobody here wants to impose laws on anyone, but if a kick in the pants works, well....
Posted by: Jack at October 1, 2006 08:31 PM
I also want to help kids, yet so far I haven't found a venue. I graduate with a BA in health and wellness promotion next month. Any ideas?
Posted by: LeAnn at April 27, 2007 02:52 PM
How can feeding kids a steady diet of colas, french fries, chicken nuggets and pop tarts be regarded as anything BUT neglect/abuse? We treat our pets better than that!
Posted by: Lela at April 10, 2008 10:18 AM
Good point Lela. I imagine the children who are eating these foods have parents who ignorantly do the same...and feed their pets from their the unbalanced table as well.
Abuse is a word I don't think it's wise to water down. Neglect would suffice but it still encourages government intervention into personal family matters. How far are we willing to go with respect to personal choices? It's something to be considered as we look at this problem.
Our parents survived the great depression, some on beans and bread. Many of them lived longer lives than previous generations.
Posted by: Tina at April 10, 2008 11:35 AM
These pictures are very rude and disrespectful...
Editors note: This is reality. Denial is not a good substitute for reality.
Posted by: Alexus at October 2, 2008 08:53 AM