Comprehensive Report Examines Policies and Practices Relevant to Childhood Obesity
By: Alia A. Alrasheed
Introduction:
Obesity is a term used to describe a person as overweight and at risk for being overweight, and it is used for children whose height and weight fall within a certain range on a chart referred to as the BMI (body mass index) (Delcampo, D. and Delcampo R., 2009, p 237). Unfortunately, the increase of childhood obesity is rising dramatically according to scientists and pediatricians who wrote books and articles to point out some of the crucial factors that contribute to childhood obesity in order to raise the awareness among parents and instructors. Moreover, as a future instructor for an early childhood school, I need to be well informed about the obesity epidemic among children, so I will have the knowledge to put it into action to control it or prevent it among my school’s children.
This research is dedicated to a friend of mine, Ayshah, and people who are facing this problem with a loved one. My friend Ayshah has five kids, and four of them are heavy, and accompanied with emotional problems and health problems. The mother would be more helpful to them if she knew how to help them to overcome their weight problems. Obesity is not only poor body image, but it also affects our students physically and mentally; large children often have, or might have, Heart disease, Diabetes, and high cholesterol and blood pressure. Compared to their peers they have low self-steam, poor physical performance, and less social life. Personally, I think obesity could be caused by many factors, but there are some factors that are more influential on a child’s health. In the infancy stage, parents are the first ones who are responsible for implementing a healthy life style; as the infant or toddler grows into a child her/his ecology circle expands larger. S/he will be then exposed to other elements that will impact her/his life style, which is media, and school.
Elements raise the risk of child obesity:
1. Parents’ influence
I noticed that books and articles are mainly focused on school-age obesity and prevention. I think parents have a high degree in managing their children’s nourishments and environmental experience in the early years, which have powerful and long-term effects on preventing obesity or causing obesity.
At infancy parents start making decision about their child in term of breast- feeding, formula, solid food, and table food. These decisions all referenced from parents culture, cuisine, and education. (Scott LaFee, 2005.). Although the awareness of the risk of childhood obesity is widely spread among parents in many cultures including Saudi Arabian culture, there are still people who refer to a “chubby” baby as a healthy baby, and they tend to follow their tradition of feeding frequently. They offer food or bottles to the child each time s/he shows some stress or anxiety. The parents’ country cuisine or food reference could also lead to obesity if their food contains high amount of sugar, fat, or salt because the child will consequently learn to love this food pattern and behavior for the rest of his life, which will limit her/his opportunity to try healthy food. Parents’ level of education could prevent overweight children. In many cultures, the more educated the parents are, the less they or their children to be overweight. Many educated parents are always the agent of healthy life styles in their families. They have structured eating time for meals and snacks with no TV on; and many have healthy and reasonable goals that form together with the parents, their child, and his pediatrician. Nevertheless, parents with low levels of education at the meal times might give their children huge portions with wrong food as well as discourage physical activity of their children and themselves.
2. Media’s influence.
The media has a tremendous role in leading our children to obesity. After researches and studies done on the relationship between children and the hours they spend on screen time, the researchers found there are an alarming sign between the two aspects. Children today spend about five hours a day watching TV, playing video games, which is the equivalent of full time job. (D. and Delcampo R., 2009, p 237).Big toddlers and school children start to show an interest in TV or internet games and spent their leisure time on it. In TV time, while the children are watching their favorite cartoons, and kids’ shows, which are supposed to be educational and supportive for the child’s development, the cartoons are interrupted every five to ten minutes by many commercials that advertise for junk foods such as, sugary snacks, high calorie happy meals, sodas, or chocolate bars.
It is scientifically proven that high exposure to junk food at an early age affects our children’s diets and references. The junk food companies have clever marketing to upgrades their products. For instance, in their advertising they connect it with happiness, joy, and superpower, which will motivate the children for a trial. They also might feature a current movie character such as Disney or Harry Potter. They might even make a contract with celebrities who have their images posted in the merchandise. (Sharna Olfman (Ed.), 2005 p. 124-130)
What if we exclude the commercials from the TV, or ask our children to stop watching it, and go for video games or internet games? Would this contribute to our children’s obesity? The answer is Yes. It is well known that time spent on screens could be damaging for our children’s health especially when they are snacking on unhealthy snacks and sweets all the while; they eat excessively, and skip meals because either they have a full stomach, or cannot cut the games or the shows. Generally, the screen time is very discouraging for physical activities. ”Scientists have found watching TV and videos lowers children’s metabolic rates below what they would be even if they were sleeping.” (Delcampo, D. and Delcampo R.,(Eds) 2009, p 240.)
3. School Influence.
It is a no brainer that parents could control their children’s diets and media exposure in homes if they put in special effort. However, school children now spend many hours in schools and after school programs. Unfortunately, many schools have low quality food sellouts and less focus on educating about health. A Professor of health at Purdue University and president of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education said “We’ve known for a long time that the body and mind work together. If kids aren’t healthy, their academic prowess is affected”. (Scott LaFee, 2005). Even though schools are required to offer fruits and vegetables under the National School Lunch Program regulations, elementary schools commonly offer their students junk food and soda; serve meals that don’t contain balanced foods. The economy crisis struck many organizations, including schools. Thus, they came up with an easy and a fast way to raise the schools’ budget; they placed snacks vending machines and made soda machines. Students now could purchase foods from one or more sources in schools other than the school’s unhealthy meals program. They have so many options of snack bars or sodas that contains little nutritional value. Nevertheless, healthier options were less widely available in schools. Obviously, The school’s food policy has a major influence on our children’s weight.
Some schools’ authorities believe educating about a healthy life style is the parents’ responsibility. Educational subjects that are offered over time in schools are always shifting. For example, sex and drugs awareness were not on the schools extracurricular before. Add to these what they eat and the state of their health. (Scott LaFee, 2005). Schools ought to be role models for our children. Unfortunately, schools’ food policies do not only serve our children low food quality, but also they send them the message that it is ok to eat it.
References Page:
1. Book: Sharna Olfman (Ed.)(2005) Childhood Lost: How American Culture Is Failing Our Kids. In Chapter: Big Food, Big Money, Big children by Katherine B. Horgen. Westport, CT. (pp. 124-130)
2. Book: Taking Sides: Clashing Views In Childhood and Society.(2009). In chapter 11 Is Television Viewing Responsible for the Rise in Childhood Obesity?. D. and Delcampo R.,(Eds) 8th edation.NY:McGrawHill.
3. Website: Another Weighty Burden: How Much Responsibility Do Schools Bear for Addressing the Obesity of Their Students? By Scott LaFee.(2005.10.00). From http://www.aasa.org/SchoolAdministratorArticle.aspx?id=7772
4. . International Journal of Obesity. (2010). Parental Influence on Children’s early eating environments and Obesity risk. Published online 2 March 2010 on www.nature.com/ijo.
5. Website: Obesity in Saudi children: a dangerous reality.(09-2010). from. http://www.emro.who.int/publications/emhj/1609/article15.htm
By: Alia A. Alrasheed
Introduction:
Obesity is a term used to describe a person as overweight and at risk for being overweight, and it is used for children whose height and weight fall within a certain range on a chart referred to as the BMI (body mass index) (Delcampo, D. and Delcampo R., 2009, p 237). Unfortunately, the increase of childhood obesity is rising dramatically according to scientists and pediatricians who wrote books and articles to point out some of the crucial factors that contribute to childhood obesity in order to raise the awareness among parents and instructors. Moreover, as a future instructor for an early childhood school, I need to be well informed about the obesity epidemic among children, so I will have the knowledge to put it into action to control it or prevent it among my school’s children.
This research is dedicated to a friend of mine, Ayshah, and people who are facing this problem with a loved one. My friend Ayshah has five kids, and four of them are heavy, and accompanied with emotional problems and health problems. The mother would be more helpful to them if she knew how to help them to overcome their weight problems. Obesity is not only poor body image, but it also affects our students physically and mentally; large children often have, or might have, Heart disease, Diabetes, and high cholesterol and blood pressure. Compared to their peers they have low self-steam, poor physical performance, and less social life. Personally, I think obesity could be caused by many factors, but there are some factors that are more influential on a child’s health. In the infancy stage, parents are the first ones who are responsible for implementing a healthy life style; as the infant or toddler grows into a child her/his ecology circle expands larger. S/he will be then exposed to other elements that will impact her/his life style, which is media, and school.
Elements raise the risk of child obesity:
1. Parents’ influence
I noticed that books and articles are mainly focused on school-age obesity and prevention. I think parents have a high degree in managing their children’s nourishments and environmental experience in the early years, which have powerful and long-term effects on preventing obesity or causing obesity.
At infancy parents start making decision about their child in term of breast- feeding, formula, solid food, and table food. These decisions all referenced from parents culture, cuisine, and education. (Scott LaFee, 2005.). Although the awareness of the risk of childhood obesity is widely spread among parents in many cultures including Saudi Arabian culture, there are still people who refer to a “chubby” baby as a healthy baby, and they tend to follow their tradition of feeding frequently. They offer food or bottles to the child each time s/he shows some stress or anxiety. The parents’ country cuisine or food reference could also lead to obesity if their food contains high amount of sugar, fat, or salt because the child will consequently learn to love this food pattern and behavior for the rest of his life, which will limit her/his opportunity to try healthy food. Parents’ level of education could prevent overweight children. In many cultures, the more educated the parents are, the less they or their children to be overweight. Many educated parents are always the agent of healthy life styles in their families. They have structured eating time for meals and snacks with no TV on; and many have healthy and reasonable goals that form together with the parents, their child, and his pediatrician. Nevertheless, parents with low levels of education at the meal times might give their children huge portions with wrong food as well as discourage physical activity of their children and themselves.
2. Media’s influence.
The media has a tremendous role in leading our children to obesity. After researches and studies done on the relationship between children and the hours they spend on screen time, the researchers found there are an alarming sign between the two aspects. Children today spend about five hours a day watching TV, playing video games, which is the equivalent of full time job. (D. and Delcampo R., 2009, p 237).Big toddlers and school children start to show an interest in TV or internet games and spent their leisure time on it. In TV time, while the children are watching their favorite cartoons, and kids’ shows, which are supposed to be educational and supportive for the child’s development, the cartoons are interrupted every five to ten minutes by many commercials that advertise for junk foods such as, sugary snacks, high calorie happy meals, sodas, or chocolate bars.
It is scientifically proven that high exposure to junk food at an early age affects our children’s diets and references. The junk food companies have clever marketing to upgrades their products. For instance, in their advertising they connect it with happiness, joy, and superpower, which will motivate the children for a trial. They also might feature a current movie character such as Disney or Harry Potter. They might even make a contract with celebrities who have their images posted in the merchandise. (Sharna Olfman (Ed.), 2005 p. 124-130)
What if we exclude the commercials from the TV, or ask our children to stop watching it, and go for video games or internet games? Would this contribute to our children’s obesity? The answer is Yes. It is well known that time spent on screens could be damaging for our children’s health especially when they are snacking on unhealthy snacks and sweets all the while; they eat excessively, and skip meals because either they have a full stomach, or cannot cut the games or the shows. Generally, the screen time is very discouraging for physical activities. ”Scientists have found watching TV and videos lowers children’s metabolic rates below what they would be even if they were sleeping.” (Delcampo, D. and Delcampo R.,(Eds) 2009, p 240.)
3. School Influence.
It is a no brainer that parents could control their children’s diets and media exposure in homes if they put in special effort. However, school children now spend many hours in schools and after school programs. Unfortunately, many schools have low quality food sellouts and less focus on educating about health. A Professor of health at Purdue University and president of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education said “We’ve known for a long time that the body and mind work together. If kids aren’t healthy, their academic prowess is affected”. (Scott LaFee, 2005). Even though schools are required to offer fruits and vegetables under the National School Lunch Program regulations, elementary schools commonly offer their students junk food and soda; serve meals that don’t contain balanced foods. The economy crisis struck many organizations, including schools. Thus, they came up with an easy and a fast way to raise the schools’ budget; they placed snacks vending machines and made soda machines. Students now could purchase foods from one or more sources in schools other than the school’s unhealthy meals program. They have so many options of snack bars or sodas that contains little nutritional value. Nevertheless, healthier options were less widely available in schools. Obviously, The school’s food policy has a major influence on our children’s weight.
Some schools’ authorities believe educating about a healthy life style is the parents’ responsibility. Educational subjects that are offered over time in schools are always shifting. For example, sex and drugs awareness were not on the schools extracurricular before. Add to these what they eat and the state of their health. (Scott LaFee, 2005). Schools ought to be role models for our children. Unfortunately, schools’ food policies do not only serve our children low food quality, but also they send them the message that it is ok to eat it.
References Page:
1. Book: Sharna Olfman (Ed.)(2005) Childhood Lost: How American Culture Is Failing Our Kids. In Chapter: Big Food, Big Money, Big children by Katherine B. Horgen. Westport, CT. (pp. 124-130)
2. Book: Taking Sides: Clashing Views In Childhood and Society.(2009). In chapter 11 Is Television Viewing Responsible for the Rise in Childhood Obesity?. D. and Delcampo R.,(Eds) 8th edation.NY:McGrawHill.
3. Website: Another Weighty Burden: How Much Responsibility Do Schools Bear for Addressing the Obesity of Their Students? By Scott LaFee.(2005.10.00). From http://www.aasa.org/SchoolAdministratorArticle.aspx?id=7772
4. . International Journal of Obesity. (2010). Parental Influence on Children’s early eating environments and Obesity risk. Published online 2 March 2010 on www.nature.com/ijo.
5. Website: Obesity in Saudi children: a dangerous reality.(09-2010). from. http://www.emro.who.int/publications/emhj/1609/article15.htm