Child Obesity Essay, Research Paper

The children of today are becoming more obese, for the fact that they are

obtaining laziness. They are spending more time in front of the television then

they are getting their daily exercise. Their growing bodies need exercise to

lose baby fat before it gets to be a serious problem. The growth of technology

has formed a major impact on the obesity of today`s children. This technology

has substituted normal childhood play exercises with computer games that take

less physical effort. Because of technology in today’s society the problem with

child obesity has become tremendously intensified. First, what is child obesity?

The term child obesity means a child is a person between birth and puberty and

obese is extremely fat: corpulent (The American Heritage Dictionary 265,856).

This disease is caused due to a lack of exercise and over-eating by a child.

Child obesity can cause many medical problems for a child that suffers from such

a disease. Obesty is a widespread disease that is growing incredibly worse as

technology increases. Furthermore, it is obvious that the lack of exercise has a

major part to do with child obesity; scientists blame the television for a

substitute to outdoor sports. Kids are spending more time watch television than

they are doing physical activities. The findings strongly support the notion

that the most important lifestyle factor in childhood obesity is television

watching (Monmaney). The television brings the child`s imagination to life,

giving them entertainment to do without the running and exercising of outdoor

sports. The more television a child watches the more obese the child will get.

Next, the problem is getting so out of hand that the government is going to have

to start getting involved. Satcher and Shirley Watkins, the undersecretary of

agriculture for food, nutrition and consumer services said that, "’TV

increases obesity, stifles creativity and shortens attention spans among young

people’" (Bauder). This is their reason for joining the campaign for a

"TV-Free America." It is estimated that an obese child watches an

average of four hours and nine minutes of television each day. That is four

hours that a child could be bonding with their family or taking action in some

physical activity. Thus, problem with child obesity starts as young as infancy.

If the child’s parents do not stress exercise the child will find an alternative

way to occupy their time. For example, playing a game cartridge rather than

shooting hoops or flying a kite. The game cartridge provides cheap entertainment

with very little fitness involved. "Ross Andersen recommends that parents

find alternatives to watching television for their children" (Joseph). A

parent should do anything possible to get their kids away from the television.

Ether by making daily plans with timed intervals limiting the amount of

television the child can watch or signing them up for YMCA sport activities.

Even if the parent has a busy work schedule, make time to benefit the child.

Although, there are numerous amounts of prescription drugs for child obesity,

the side affects are too risky for the younger child. The easiest way to solve

this well-known disease is by stopping the problem before it starts. If you can

intervene with overweight children before they are fully grown, you can often

help them grow into their weight and prevent them from becoming overweight

adults. Some overweight children don`t need to lose weight as much as they need

to gain weight at a slower rate. (Discroll) Moving on, some children do not need

to lose weight, but need help growing into the weight they already have. They

can use help to slow the rate at which they gain weight, making it easier for

them to grow into it. Plus, the health risk faced by children with the disease

of child obesity is immense. More than 70 percent of all cases persist into

adulthood (Mellin). Obesity during adult years is associated with increased

rates of diseases such as hyperinsulinemia, coronary heart disease, angina,

atherosclerosis, various cancers, orthopedic problems, and gout along with many

other short-term and psychosocial consequences of obesity in children. Thus,

with the technology in today`s society the problem with child obesity has

largely intensified. The management of obesity and overweight in children is an

important issue. Before obesity can be treated in children, it would be helpful

to have a marker to identify children who would likely become overweight or

obese in adulthood. The parents and children can get a jump on what they need to

do to beat this disease. The fight will not be easy but with the encouragement

of the family they will be able to beet it together.