Causes and Effects of Childhood Obesity: a Comprehensive Approach

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Over the previous decades, youth fatness has been at a constant increase. Youth chubbiness is an emerging issue in the United States. Everywhere you look, there are millions of advertisements for fast, and deep fried foods. This appeals to young minds because it tastes scrumptious. As young children, they do not generally think about how these foods will affect their bodies in the long run. This exploration will present that youth obesity roots from the monetary remaining of the family, depends on the race/ethnic foundation, and relies upon how persuasive the parents are towards their children eating habits. With the end goal to avert childhood obesity, there should be a program that educates kids and their parents on the results of unfortunate eating patterns.

Different sources have diverse perspectives regarding the matter of childhood obesity including, race and ethnics, the role of parents, as well of the measure of a child’s body mass index (BMI). Davis- Kean’s whole approach in “Race/ethnic disparities in early childhood BMI, obesity and overweight in the United Kingdom and United States” roots from race and ethnics. He argues that dependent on somebody's race and ethnicity it can be determined whether or not they will be influenced by childhood obesity. He backs up his contention by saying, “Some studies suggest that racial/ ethnic minority children from households with low income and whose parents have low educational attainment may be less likely to be overweight than their socioeconomically advantaged minority counterparts” (Davis-Kean, 2015, p. 520). Next, Barry states in his article, “The Role of Parents in Public Views of Strategies to Address Childhood Obesity in the United States”that parents are the sole fault of youth obesity. In his policy points, toward the start of his discoveries, he states, “The American public- both with and without children in the household- holds parents highly responsible and largely to blame for childhood obesity” (Barry, 2015, p.73).He isn't attempting to sound condescending in any case, he wants to recognize that parents need to make the initial step to changing their kid’s way of life to avoid any future medical problems. Kimm chooses not to depend on fault and rather utilizes the research in “Childhood Obesity: A New Pandemic of the New Millennium”. She first relates race and gender to the percentile of body mass index (BMI). She says, “Based on National Health Examination Survey’s BMI information, childhood obesity was about one third higher in black girls than in white girls- 31% versus 22%” (Kimm, 2002, p. 1003). Kimm goes on to use race, but takes a different approach than Davis-Kean. She says, “…more of the thin black girls than white girls reported trying to gain weight, suggesting a low tolerance by black girls for being too thin (Kimm, 2002, p. 1004). This immediate statement demonstrates the understanding of psychological factors behind youth obesity. Studies demonstrated that regardless of how much weight a Caucasian young lady lost, she was as yet troubled with her body weight and body shape. African American girls in the study demonstrated that they lean more towards being somewhat more 'curvy' and embrace a portion of the weight in the right spots. She goes on to say, “Nine- and 10- year old black girls were more than twice as likely as white girls to engage in less favorable eating practices, such as eating big helpings (Kimm, 2002, p. 1004).These four sources likewise have a variety of ideas. Although a few points are similar, they also contrast. Some of the sources corroborate with one another to demonstrate the arguments. Kimm and Davis-Kean agree on BMI research. Kimm (2002) says, “BMI… was about one third higher in black girls than in white girls- 31% versus 22%” (p. 1003). Davis-Kean (2015) agrees with statistics in a chart titled “Children’s BMI and obesity… by race/ ethnicity” (p. 524).In this chart, he arranges kid’s fatness by race/ethnicities. Caucasian children have a BMI of about 16.40 and an obesity rate of about 11.3 %, whereas African American children have a BMI of approximately 16.66 and an obesity rate roughly at 13.5% (Davis-Kean, 2015, p.524).Davis-Kean’s graph additionally substantiates with Barry’s second table. Davis-Kean (2015) has a graph that says that Hispanics with less than a high school diploma are in the least in heftiness contrasted with different Hispanics with various diplomas and/or degrees (p. 524). Barry (2015) says that Hispanic parents and their kids with less than a high school diploma have an obesity rate of about 11.8%- which is lower than others that have achieved more (p. 82). Lastly, Davis-Kean and Kimm concur that a family's financial position is a factor in obesity. Davis-Kean (2015) depicts this in a circle graph that rundowns financial position, socio-statistic characteristics, parenting strategies, family eating times, and social area all factors that can lead or avoid obesity (p. 521). Kimm firmly agrees with this. She states, “Poverty has often been considered a major contributor to the high prevalence of obesity seen in children in the U.S.” (Kimm, 2002, p. 1004). Dr. Al Gilpin states in his article, “Childhood Obesity: Why Worry?” that children who are obese often suffer from depression and bullying. This article focuses on the medical effects on children. “Extra weight can have a devastating impact on children, causing them to suffer joint, leg, and back pain when instead they should be playing torment free” (Gilpin, 2017).

All together for children and their parents to completely get a handle on the concept of youth obesity, there should be programs that legitimately teach them on the impacts of unfortunate eating habits. The program would incorporate classes for the parents and intuitive recreations for the kids.The reasoning behind that would be because adults have enough control to sit through presentations and bring down valuable tips and really utilize the information. Youthful children generally like to be energetic and more involved. Their capacity to focus isn't sufficiently long to sit through educational meetings. I hypothesize if these programs were held for little to zero cost or even free, youth stoutness rates would drop hugely. By removing the price factor, anybody will have access to this asset and eventually have the capacity to prolong their life expectancy.

The seminars for the parents would incorporate a day of speakers, a lunch, and an open floor for discussions between parents. The speakers at the seminar would incorporate health care specialists, individuals with past encounters, and the individuals who do inquire about regarding the matter. The speakers will give the parents information to help enhance the family diets and diminishing the level of youth obesity. The lunch accommodated them would incorporate solid alternatives. Things that are simple and quick to cook at home. For example, grilled or baked chicken breast, broccoli, brown rice, squash, and whatever else that can be boiled.

For kids, their interactive exercises would incorporate craft, fun, healthy recipes to make with parents, and exercise. The crafts could be motivational self-portraits or posters. The healthy recipes that the children find would be for kids to have a ton of fun in the kitchen with their parents making nourishment they love! The activity would incorporate running, bicycle riding, playing tag, and additionally extraordinary group activities, for example, b-ball and football. This would enable the children to figure out how to cherish physical movement.

The whole program would be each end of the week for an entire three weeks. It would just be on weekends to oblige the accessibility of the parents and children. Parents have a wild work day and need to loosen up when they return home. Children have school and homework when they return home. The mission of this program is to the parents and their kids 'homework' for the week. The homework is actualizing every one of the tips given to them at the meetings. They would then report back and state what was effective and what was most certainly not. And in addition what will work in their family and what won't.

In conclusion, youth obesity has a simple solution. Research has discovered that parents and children need to work together in order to fight the annoying weight problem. Kids can't fit this issue independently from anyone else. They need the parents to take the first step. The seminar and interactive exercises are the initial step to accomplishing this. By taking the first step, children will be more willing to follow in their parent’s footsteps.

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Causes and Effects of Childhood Obesity: A Comprehensive Approach. (2021, Apr 19). Retrieved December 13, 2024 , from
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