I Am Bothered By The Amount Of Obese Children

I am going to be totally honest right now. And once again in no way am I judging or belittling, but there are too many overweight children. We had our first day of the school around my neck of the woods today, so I had to take my middle daughter to school for the first part of the day. I was shocked by how many “obese” kids there were. I am not taking about big, strong, athletic, tall children, but very chunky, sweaty and fat kids.

I understand to a certain degree that genetics comes in to play. My hubby is well over 6′5″ and I am 5′9″ so our kids are tall, strong girls, but they are not jiggly and out of breath from walking a flight of stairs. And I also get that some families have to eat what they can afford which means pre packaged foods, sugar filled drinks and heavy carbs. Shouldn’t we take responsibility for our children’s health though? How about canned fruits and frozen veggies with fish sticks, that is fairly healthy.

Overweight children are at a higher risk for developing diabetes and high blood pressure. There has been plenty of research to prove it and is truly a “no brainer”. I get very worried for these children and what their future will hold. Will they be able to play sports or will they be too big to run up and down a field? Will they be able to play with the neighborhood kids or will they be made fun of? Not that has anything to do with diabetes, but it is a social concern.

We need to do our kids a favor and teach them nutrition and healthy habits. No one is perfect and of course there will be happy meals at times, but not every day! My 3 year old can even tell me the difference between healthy food and “fun” food. And I absolutely think that moderation is key. If you ban all things yummy, kids will want to eat them even more. Let them have a bit here and there and give them a strong foundation to grow on. Obesity is scary, especially the amount of obese children. Let’s do something about it!