It is the Parents Responsibility!

Blame can be placed on many things when it comes to childhood obesity. It can be placed anywhere from the fast food industry and it’s marketing to just simply a lack in regular physical activity. However, marketing to children is useless. A child cannot go to the local fast food chain and buy their meals by themselves. It is not just food that is making Americas children obese. Since parents feed their children, it is always at parental discretion what their children eat.

People want to say that sitting in front of a screen is the issue. This leads to another misconception, that a child being obese is directly linked to video games and television.  Although time in front of a screen can affect the child’s physical activity these things are also partially out of control of the child. Computer, television, and video game time can all be regulated and monitored by the parent and should be! If monitoring does not happen that is when children become lethargic and it is difficult to get started working out. The reason that gaming is related to childhood obesity is because it is what that child does in their spare time. If the child were to get involved in team sports there would be less time for gaming and watching television and more time playing the sport. When children get involved in a sport it becomes their life almost. All they want is to get better, to go to practice, to see their teammates, or to go to their game.  So just joining the team creates a completely different lifestyle, a lifestyle that promotes health and exercise, not dieting and counting calories.