Parents Blame Kids' Inactivity for Obesity

[fgoodwin 23]

Parents Blame Kids' Inactivity for Obesity

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051025/ap_on_he_me/obesity_ap_aol_poll

 

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer

 

Tue Oct 25, 4:12 AM ET

 

Kids don't run outside and play like they used to, and parents say being a couch potato is a major culprit in the growing problem of childhood obesity.

 

Lack of exercise edged out easy access to junk food as the main concern of the 21 percent of parents who conceded in an AP-KOL poll that their children are overweight. KOL is the kids' service of America Online.

 

Parents' big frustration is how to change sedentary habits.

 

"What do kids like to do other than hang out with their friends?" asks Kim Nethery of Crestwood, Ky., who has tried fruitlessly to find a physical activity her 15-year-old daughter will do. Even a walk is difficult, because the family lives on a high-traffic country road risky for pedestrians.

 

Parents also fret over improving children's eating habits. More than half cited the cost of healthy food and television commercials and food packaging as at least a minor problem, according to the poll conducted by Ipsos for The Associated Press and KOL. Another issue: food served in school cafeterias.

 

Her son's middle school lets him order lunch a la carte, complained Margaret Gunderson of Loveland, Colo.

 

"They're ordering pizza, ice cream. They blow through their lunch money by Tuesday," she said.

 

The government counts 9 million children ages 6 to 16 who are overweight, at increased risk for diabetes and other health problems, not to mention being teased by peers or left out of fun activities. Overweight children usually grow into overweight adults.

 

In the survey, children whose parents earned less than $50,000 a year were a little more likely to be overweight than those from more affluent families.

 

Children are supposed to get at least an hour of vigorous activity a day. But research shows far too few get anywhere close.

 

More than half the parents surveyed said their children had expressed a desire to exercise more, and 30 percent said their child wanted to lose weight.

 

Jeff Chabot, an engineer from Rutland, Vt., said he encourages his children to participate in outdoor activities like snowmobiling and skiing.

 

Chabot said his older son is a little heavy. "Junk food is a big temptation," he said. "There's a temptation to park himself on the couch and eat after school."

 

Between heavy traffic that hinders bike-riding and easy access to video games, "children's forms of entertainment are much less active than the entertainment we had growing up," said teacher Dierde Karcher of Montclair, N.J.

 

Reducing time spent in front of television and computers has been proven to slow children's weight gain.

 

"We as parents need to do more," said Elena Penson, a sales clerk from Lufkin, Texas, whose family makes a point of going to a park twice a week to play catch. "But when we get home, we're tired, too. We've gotten lazy."

 

Inactive parents teach their children by example to be sedentary, warned American Heart Association president Dr. Robert H. Eckel, who researches obesity at the University of Colorado.

 

Getting active doesn't have to mean joining a ball team. "One of the strongest correlates of how overall active a child is, is how much time they spend outdoors," said Dr. Nancy Krebs, who co-chairs an American Academy of Pediatrics' obesity panel. "Nature takes over from there."

 

Parents who earned less than $25,000 a year were more likely than those with higher incomes to cite the cost of healthy food as a problem in improving their children's eating habits. Almost four in 10 parents in rural areas noted that problem, too, more than suburban parents.

 

Moms were nearly twice as likely as dads to cite as factors healthy food prices, TV commercials and junk-food packaging aimed at children, and unhealthy school food.

 

And 49 percent of parents said the lack of time for home-cooked meals was a problem. Restaurant meals tend to have more calories and fewer fruits and vegetables.

 

"By the time we get off from work, it's more convenient to stop at a restaurant than get a home-cooked meal," said nurse Susan Henderson of Yucaipa, Calif.

 

Almost a quarter of parents who thought their children were overweight blamed easy access to junk food.

 

"I try to keep my daughter on her recommended diet, make sure she gets an appropriate amount of vegetables and very little meat," said Darrell Scott of Oklahoma City. "But it's a battle."

 

The AP-KOL poll of 961 parents of children between ages 6-17 was conducted from Oct. 5-23 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

___

 

On the Net:

 

Ipsos: http://www.ap-ipsosresults.com

[scoutldr 732]

When my dad saw me watching TV on a nice day, he would walk in the room, turn the TV off and tell me to get my a-- outside. If I didn't have anyone to play with, he would find a few chores for me to do. It's entirely within parents' control.

 

I have to agree with the school lunch issue, though.

[Venividi 35]

I think much is a matter of priorities and personal choices.

Parents can lay down their expectations with their kids. All the junk food advertizing in the world doesn't matter if parents teach their kids that when they say NO, don't eat those Dorito's, that is what they mean. Even if there is an open bag in the cupboard.

Same with school cafeteria food. If parents suspect their kid is buying pizza and soda despite instructions not to, parents can send a sack lunch, and not let them take money to buy lunches. If this starts in grade school healthy habits are ingrained by the time they are older. Sure, they may choose pizza and soda as an occasional treat, but to blame schools for offering lunch items that are in demand is shifting responsibility from parent to the school.

 

I also don't buy the story that home cooked meals take too long. Certainly not longer than waiting to get served in Chili's, Friday's, or other family type restaurants. I always found that to take longer than cooking say, pork cutlets, some potatos and broccoli.

 

Saying healthy food is too expensive is rationalization, not fact. Chips and premade microwaveable snacks are more expensive per ounce than hamemade meals. I have also heard that those that earn less than $25K are more likely to be smokers, so healthy habits are not followed due to financial reasons.

 

Like scoutldr said, parents have the ability to control how they raise their kids. To blame other factors is to shirk parental responsibility in raising kids that do not bow to the whims of marketing.

 

The statement "Parents' big frustration is how to change sedentary habits." is more correctly stated as Parents' big frustration is how to change sedentary habits. "Parents' big frustration is how to change sedentary habits without ever having to be the "bad guy" that says no."

[acco40 95]

Let's see - schools want kids out of their jurisdiction during non-school time. Communities no longer have sidewalks or vacant lots. Children don't know how to organize their own "sandlot" sports activities - it was always mom or dad who signed them up for "organized" soccer, baseball, ballet, karate, football, basketball, etc. Skateboarding is deemed to be the activity of juvenile delinquents. Music (mp3), computer gaming, even watching video (TV, DVD, etc.) are now individual activities and not group activities.

 

And we wonder why our kids don't get enough exercise?

[fgoodwin 23]

Here are the parts that got my attention:Kids don't run outside and play like they used toThis varies by location -- in general, kids don't go outside as much as they did when I was a kid back in the late 50s and early 60s. But when my son (11-yo Tenderfoot) and I talked about this last nite after his Troop Meeting, he complained that the kids here (Texas) don't play outside nearly as much as his friends did back in Maryland, where he was a Tiger-Wolf-Bear.

 

Still, as a rule, he agreed that kids today don't go out on their bikes all day like I did as a kid; they don't roam the woods, catch minnows or craw-dads, build treehouses, etc. I remember in the summer, I'd do my chores after waking up, then get on my bike and stay all day at the neighborhood pool, manytimes not getting home until it was dark. Can you imagine parents letting kids do that today?"One of the strongest correlates of how overall active a child is, is how much time they spend outdoors. Nature takes over from there."And all through the article, not a word about Scouting? Either we've done a poor job of getting the word out, or parents know about Scouting but don't make the connection to outdoor activities, or else they know about our outdoor activities and reject Scouting for other reasons (let's not get into those here -- if you feel the need, please spin off a thread into the "Issues" folder).

 

One wonders what would be the effect on membership if doctors, on seeing all these obese kids, recommended to the parents that the kids get involved in Scouting, as opposed to say, soccer?

[MidwestMom 10]

Are the parents taking their small children on walks, going bike-riding with their school age children, shooting hoops and throwing footballs with their teenagers, ...

 

Are the parents making exercise and good nutrition a priority in their own lives? Are they serving vegetables (other than potatoes) each night at dinner? Do they make the point that if one is going to eat empty calories (sugar, excess fat, excess starch, etc.), one needs to do a LOT of exercise to prevent weight gain.

 

I do agree that the design of most suburbs (no sidewalks, no parks, no swimming pools, no tennis courts, no playgrounds, no safe way for a kid to go anyplace outside his neighborhood without a car, etc.) has not been conducive to activity in children. Fortunately I am seeing more new developments that include parks, recreational facilities, and sidewalks around here.

 

 

[theysawyoucomin' 10]

My wife went to a seminar(she is a speech teacher) about raising kids today and fitness.

 

The speaker said one sentence that said it all

 

TODAY'S KIDS DON"T HAVE SCABS

 

Any normal kids in my rural neighborhood had more scabs and scars than you could count. It was seen as part of growing up. Now only the "skaters" have scabs and the last I check skateboarding was not an aerobic activity.

Before you all defend your skateboading kids let me say I can't ride a skate board and never could. Those kids have great balance.

 

Kids just aren't outside enough to get one scrape a day.

 

Just look at what the trial lawyers have done to the trampoline. Soon pony rides and bicycles will have a safty net.

 

My kid is in travel soccer, baseball,cyo basketball,swim lessons at the Y and is a Webelos scout. He has never gone out saturday morning found 8 friends and played baseball 'til lunch and then whined when he had to come in for dinner or darkness.

 

It also doesn't help them that we feed them the garbage we do.

[gwd-scouter 11]

Love the comment about what trial lawyers have done to the trampoline (and other outdoor entertainments). I'm sure everyone has seen the email that's gone around over the years about children growing up in the 50s and 60s that didn't have bike helmets, didn't wear seatbelts, etc. etc. - and somehow we survived.

 

I must say I have been guilty of overprotecting my children, keeping them away from "dangerous" sports and monitoring their every move (somehow, I forgot my youthful days spent prowling around the woods, climbing trees, skating on a pond, playing games and hide n seek till dark).

 

The Boy Scouts changed all that. Now my boys go camping, rock climbing, rafting, play rather creative sports during down time at camp, light fires, work with knives, get VERY dirty, scraped up, banged up, and have a great time doing it!

 

 

[Lisabob 13]

I can definitely sympathize with all those parents who complain about the quality (or lack of same) of school lunches. My son started middle school this fall and when we went to the parent orientation night, the staff urged us to sign him up for the "standard lunches" option rather than the much more expensive a la carte option. Turns out "standard" means a choice of nachos & cheese, hot pretzle & cheese, or pizza. Who'd have guessed?! So he takes his lunch most days but still...the school hardly did anybody a favor here.

 

Anyway I think scouting actually does a reasonable job of getting the message out, at least where I live, about being outdoors. In the Cub program I had lots of conversations with new parents who were signing their boys up expressly so they would spend time doing physical things outside. Once they hit Boy Scout age though, it is much harder to get your child involved if they weren't in Cub Scouts - too many other activities, the perception that boy scouts might be "uncool," etc.. So I guess we'd better get these kids while they're cub aged!

 

Lisa'bob

A good old bobwhite too!

[fgoodwin 23]

Lisabob,

 

Welcome to the Forums.

[evmori 11]

School lunches have never been good! And placing the blame on poor school lunches is just a way for parents to deny their own responsibilities.

 

When I was a kid, I was always outside playing baseball, football, basketball, swimming, bike tag, horseshoes, tennis, etc. The only time I was home was to eat, sleep & do homework!

 

Kids don't play outside enough today. Why? I think it's because they expect everything organized for them & have never learned how to just "play".

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[JTC-from-OKC-T168 10]

i used to go outside and play with friends all the time. but now im mainly found in the computer room talk to friends on the internet or playing games. some times my parents kick me off the computer on the weekends. i have gotten into a habit that now if im on the computer when i get home from school, i talk to some people then go outside and rollerblade or play basket ball.

 

eating healthy......

when it comes to hieght and weight im a pretty small guy. At school on tuesday's i used to eat 2 fried chicken sandwitches, 2 bags of french fries, tea, and a bag or chip or a candy bar. Luckly i have a very high metabolism and my body burn its off. my parents would put alot of money into my lunch account and i would prolly spend about $100 in a month or two. i snack alot at home too. now i try to cut back on eating so much.

[funscout 11]

I think today's kids' inactivity is due in part to the popularity of video games/computers.

 

Also, with most families having both parents working, most kids are either at a sitter after school, or (if old enough) home alone, with instructions not to leave the house. The kids who are home with a non-working (or 3rd shift working) parent, don't have friends home to play with, so they tend to choose solitary activities such as T.V., video games, or computer.

 

I do agree, though, that many of today's kids don't know how to have fun without an activity being scheduled for them.

 

Today my boys came home from a bike ride with their bikes covered in mud! My first reaction was to be upset with them, but my husband smiled and said, "It looks like you guys had fun!" He was right. The bikes could be cleaned up, and I was glad that they'd had a fun adventure instead of sitting in front of an electronic form of entertainment.