Childhood obesity causes: A poll (Page 3)

I was thinking about this today a bit more, and I guess I should clarify/reemphasize my comment on PE. I know that the 45 minutes or whatever in PE alone is not going to make a kid fitter, it's not going to undo a lifetime of poor food and low exercise...but I guess my hope is that if we provide kids with a PE experience that shows them the many faces of exercise (organized sports, outdoor adventure, personal challenges, etc) that kids will find something that intrigues them, that works for them, that they WANT to do outside of school time. For me that was rock climbing (because of the rock wall we had installed). It inspired me to go to adventure summer camp, and then when I got to high school to join our rock climbing club (again, I didn't go to a ritzy suburban high school...I went to inner city public schools and was thankfully fortunate enough to have teachers who took the risk of proposing these activities). We did things like roller skating in our gym, we had weight intervals, a few days of training with the Pittsburgh Ballet, etc...a little something for everyone, and if you sucked at it, it was OK because you got to do something else the next week and you had at least had the experience.

And I would love for you all to come back to middle school and have PE with me...although we had gender separated classes so sorry boys, no flirting with the girls!

Edited by phoenixazul 2009-08-22 2:00 PM

So I heard on the news this morning that some schools in my area (Dallas, TX) will NOT be serving ANY fried food in the cafeteria. Not that they still can't serve cr@ppy food, but at least it won't be fried. ????

I'm surprised parenting is #1 choice. Sure the parents are role models to some extent and depending on the home environment much of how to eat is learned there   (But lets face it...these days with wacked out schedules, over worked parents, kids having umpteen after school activities, etc.. that much of what families eat is restaurant/fast food or over processed stuff that is quick and convenient and many times high in calories).

My parents have always been healthful eaters, however as a kid in grade school up until about freshman year in high school, I realllllly struggled with my weight. I'll never forget my mom finding a candy bar in my dresser (that I had hidden after I bought it with my allowance)...she cried! LOL
There were probably several reasons I over ate but I don't think I learned any of them from my own family's eating habits.

Edit:

I do think though that kids are getting fatter and more sedentary. I rarely see kids out just playing a spontaneous game of kickball or baseball like we did when I was a kid. My kid's school is very small and there is NO bus service to it since all the kids live within blocks/a mile - yet probably 85% of the kids are DRIVEN and PICKED up by their parents daily! Crazy.

Edited by BbMoozer 2009-08-22 9:51 PM

I wonder if the kids not walking/biking to school and not playing outside is the media makes us all afraid. Parents think if there kid is out of their site they will get kidnapped, raped or killed.

When I was young we went down a block or two and played baseball, tackle football etc right in the middle of the road. I don't think that can even happen anymore.

On that 1st point up there, both the parents' and kids' schedules are made by the parents. If things are too hectic, they got that way because the parents allowed the situation to exist. The reliance upon "quick and convenient" is usually laziness. That said, I like what Bradword said about how it is okay to have an occasional junk food meal...all things in moderation.

On that 2nd point, yup. I ate a ton of junk food as a kid, but honestly, I didn't stop moving when I got home from school. Paper route, baseball, basketball, football...always moving. I wonder if all these ridiculous CSI shows and the 24/7 news cycle make parents feel like there is danger around every corner.

I keep seeing people on this thread talking about the parenting cause, but undermining their own case.  Some people refer to their own childhoods, where they were sneaking candy bars and junk food; others mention eating poorly but being very active; and some cite their own kids and trying to train them to better eating habits with mixed success. 

I guess I see things a little differently.  Parents can set the tone, but there are too many other factors playing in.  Advertising for one, targets kids very effectively.  If you don't believe advertising influences behaviors, you need to ask why an ad during the superbowl is so expensive.  Kids have temperaments and interests separate from their families as well.  As a kid, I LOVED to watch TV.  But my parents did not even OWN a TV until I was around 2, and then only because they were keeping my older cousin for the summer, and he insisted on having one.  And this was in the pre-cable era.  So my interest was my own, and separate from my parents' influence. 

People who pressure their kids may end up having an unintended negative outcome, as the kid senses the disappointment or anger and may even "push back" with deliberately poor choices.  I have seen this in many ways in my practice.  Not to mention the risk of driving an eating disorder if there is an undue amount of focus on kids' eating/weight. I also see parents (both in my professional role and in some of my friends) who are hard driving, and unable to modulate this in activities to encourage their kids interests.  So instead of viewing exercise as a positive and fun activity, it becomes a chore.  It was only with some effort, for example, that I got my one friend to stop making bikes rides with the kids be "death marches" with no goal other than to see how hard you can make it.  Now he has found reasonable loops, with a stop for drinks near the end, and the kids have a much better time.  He still struggles with the idea that a 14 year old on a road bike with gears will have an easier time that the 7 year old on a single gear BMX style bike over the course of a 15 mile hilly loop, though.

As for PE classes, I think a lot depends on what is available.  My experiences in the last century were miserable and mandatory all the way through high school.  As a result, I chose a college that did not even OFFER any sort of PE, so they could not make me take any later on.  So a poorly taught class can actually inhibit later interest.  (I had a similar experience with history in HS, and did not discover any joy in the subject until I opted to take a class my senior year of college, and then realized how much I had missed out).  My kids had much better experiences, which may be geographic or generational.

My opinion is that the rise of obesity has a lot to do with the increased electronic options.  100+ channels on cable, the interwebs, DVR's, DVD's, video games and hand held video games all become sinks of sloth and encourage mindless eating to boot. When I was a kid, when there was nothing on, there was nothing on.  Now, kids can time shift and record all the shows they want, or kill time with video games and going on line. There are also effects with too much "screen time" on attention and moods, FWIW.

80 % genetics..20% other stuff.

So genetics just changed in the last 20 years in the entire US population (not the rest of the world)? I don't buy it.

While I very strongly disagree, do you care to elaborate?

 

Exactly Bradword. I don't buy that either.

Gearboy...you mentioned advertising's power. I realize the marketers are geniuses...but again, parents can and should in my opinion limit kids' exposure to that nonsense.