Particularly in the Hispanic population… funny, because I was just noticing the same thing yesterday at the grocery store:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/12/28/fat.preschoolers.ap/index.html
I’m not that old (28 soon) and when I was a kid there was maybe one overweight kid per class. I’ll bet we’re up to 1/3 now. It’s stunning.
Jodi
Yup. We had 1 kid in my class at school. Just one. His name was Matt, which sadly rhymed with ‘fat,’ so you know what happened… I look around now, and it seems like a good number of little kids have weight issues. If you have problems at that age, it almost seems impossible that they’d be able to overcome it as they get older.
I wonder why the scientists can’t figure out why poor Hispanic kids are fat.
(Hint: look at their diets).
We were also commenting on the general weight of children. I very rarely see a young kid as skinny as I was when I was young, and in my days, I had a lot of company. In fact, there were a few “chubby” kids that stood out and were ridiculed but they would fit right in as normal now.
I don’t think it’s too hard to figure out some reasons,
Parents not home when kids come home and left on their own will eat snacks after school. Parents buying the snacks in the first place. Increase in computer/video games and resulting decrease in outdoor exercise. Parents living in fear of crime so they drive their kids to school instead of them walking/biking. Reduction in physical education classes.
Other than that, I have no idea why kids are gaining weight.
I’m not that old (28 soon) and when I was a kid there was maybe one overweight kid per class. I’ll bet we’re up to 1/3 now. It’s stunning.
Jodi
Was his name Vaughn Putman?
I think chubby mexican kids are cute. I love to pinch their chubby little cheeks.
it always amazed me when I would see the talk shows with the fat kids and their parents. The parents on the show would have a kid who 3 years old and weights 100+ lbs. The parents cannot understand why the kids are fat. When the talk show host askes them what they feed the kid McDonald’s french fries are always on the list (along with every other kind of garbage you can imagine). When asked if the kid should be eating FF’s the parent always says but (s)he askes for them and cries untill they get them! What am I supposed to do?
My ex always complained that people should be forced to take a test and pass before being allowed to have kids. I think I am starting to agree with her philosophy.
Did anyone watch the Frontline special on obesity? It really was a well done piece.
In part, Frontline’s conclusion was that food and eating (in our case, overeating) is very much a cultural thing. In Europe people enjoy the experience of eating – good food, nice company, time to relax, etc. Dysfunctional is the only word I can think of to describe the eating culture in the US and obviously Mexico. These large companies – Coca Cola, Frito-Lay, etc. – have even penetrated our school cafeterias to where, as described by Frontline, kids think it is normal to have soda and chips for lunch. This was unheard of when I was a tot. And dinner time with the family is pretty much out of the norm today.
To fix the problem we really need to focus on our culture and the role food and exercise play in it.
Frontline also discussed how our generation (assuming we are all working adults) could have a major health crisis on its hands by the time we reach retirement age. Basically at the same time our health care costs are at a peak, these fat little bastards are going to have all kinds of health problems. I know this is wild speculation but it does give you something to ponder.
I think that this generation is predicted to be the first in centuries to have a lowered life expentancy. Diet and diabetes are the main reasons for this. I don’t think people realize what a deadly disease diabetes is.
Jodi
I’m just a little younger (25), and I remember the same thing. We had maybe one heavy kid per class, and that’s a liberal estimate. Anyways, a couple of weeks ago I was swimming at one of my local pools when some Boy Scout troop was doing swim lessons. I was absolutely blown away at how heavy most of the kids were. There was an overwhelming majority of heavy kids, and they weren’t all genetically heavy kids. Most of them were skinny legs, skinny arms, huge gut - the same type of physique you might see in a middle-aged man. I couldn’t believe it.
Our school is 75% low income … we have many more “skeletons” than “chubs”. There are some very skinny kids. About 1/3 of our kids eat freebreakfast, and 3/4 of them eat free lunch. The older kids eat their lunch like it’s the last time they’ll eat that day. Of course, a 5th grader and a kindergartner get the same amount of food, which makes zero sense.
Some more reasons …
Parents are too tired/lazy to actually prepare healthy meals, so we’ll just get McD’s and/or Corn Dogs.
I’ve worked in a grocery store before … look at what’s in the cart of fat people … particularly those with fat kids. It’s not a surprising correlation.
We are a SEDENTARY scoeity. Very few schools even offer PE anymore. Sedentary parents have sedentary kids.
Kids are at the mercy of the parents’ diet and grocery lists. I don’t think we should necessarily blame the kids. Kids eat what’s in teh house (ge3nerally). We don’t buy much junk, my kids currently eat a lot of bananas, and their recent infatuation … clementines. Still can’t ge my son to eat peas or broccolli.
As for Mexican kids and obesity. THere are some “branches” of Hispanics that seem to be genetically more predisposed to “obesity”, sort of the same way Samoans are. Factor in everything being fried and including a ton of cheese, and well … like, duh as 4th grade girls say.
I don’t think people realize what a deadly disease diabetes is.
Type 1 diabetes is caused (sometimes) by a disease. Type 2 diabetes is just abuse (of your body).
Eating right and exercise will reduce or cure most Type 2’s - but people don’t want to do that. They want to live their lifestyle and take a miracle drug to deal with the problem.
And it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
I worked at a local summercamp and at the pool you really noticed all the fat kids. Lots of the kids came from dysfunctional families (one kid named kenny just sat around and rolled in the dirt and sometimes ate it–we secretly called him pigpen…but i digress). Some also came from well to do families that just didn’t know any better. Some kids would come with 3 jello pudding snacks in their lunch and a pb and fluff sandwich and some cookies. One of my kids wouln’t ever play during rec time so I took away his snack cake until after the games.
Anyways, point being that kids are fat.
And it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
It’ll get better? What evidence led you to assume it will get better? When have humahns taken more control over their own lives and made sacrifices? I don’t see much of that happening.
It will “get worse” until the medical community comes up with more effective drugs/treatments that allow people to live longer and/or higher quality in spite of themselves.
I am not trying to sound condescending, and I realize you were just using a commonly used phrase … but I don’t know that “lack of responsibility” in humans regarding their own well being and the sake of their children will improve, or “get better”. Most likely, people will just look for external solutions, because well internal solutions are just too darn inconvenient.
When asked if the kid should be eating FF’s the parent always says but (s)he askes for them and cries untill they get them! What am I supposed to do?
This is the thing that gets me all the time. What you are supposed to do is teach your kid at a very early age that you don’t always get what you want, sometimes you have to go without something you really want, and you have to deal with it. Kids are the way they are at 8 based in large by what they were taught when they were 2. I know I used to whine and cry for something, but my parents stood firm, and was I scarred for life? No, I learned to accept that sometimes you don’t get something. I also learned that I was more likely to get something if I didn’t whine and cry.
I don’t know if it’s generational or individual, but more and more I see how lucky I was to have the parents I did.
QuoteType 2 diabetes is just abuse (of your body).
Except when it’s not.
And it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
That we can agree on. That is, unless it won’t get better.
You don’t have kids do you?
I have kids, and I am largely in agreement with him.
I have kids, and I am largely in agreement with him.
No, it all sounds great. That’s the problem, it sounds too great.
It so easy to say how to raise the perfect child; it is quite another to actually do it. My sister used to sound exactly like this – making it sound like children are little pieces of clay that you just mold into the perfect shape. Then, she actually had kids of her own and her and her tune changed dramatically. Don’t get me wrong, my sister is a great parent; it is just that parenting humbled her quit a bit.
Kids all have unique personalities and it isn’t easy getting them to do the right thing. IMO, 97% of the time parents know the how of raising their children; getting them to behave the way you know is right is where the battle lies.
I’m sure all that’s true about raising kids, but we’re talking about something that is almost entirely within the parents control. Don’t take the kids to McDonalds. Simple as that. You don’t have to teach good behaviour here, you just don’t feed them crap. If you don’t start them on the road to getting french fries every day, then you never have to worry about them crying because they didn’t get them.