Good Example Of Research Paper On Childhood Obesity In America

Introduction

Over the ages, children have dealt with and have been forced to deal with problems beyond their control, manic depression, sickle cell anemia and worst of all, cancer. Incidentally, the aforementioned diseases are not only incurable but they are also hereditary which means that the child or children will have to deal with the disease forever without any possible cure. Despite the fact that there are hundreds of the thousands of diseases that exist in the world, some of them are curable and for those that are not curable, they can be managed in such a way that people can live happy lives with the disease. Let it be known that even though some or most diseases cannot be prevented i.e. hereditary, there are some diseases and conditions that can be prevented; childhood obesity is one of them. Childhood Obesity in America is one of the most important and alarming debates in the nation, there are more children affected by it than there ever was. Sadly, there are less people and parents taking the active steps to preventing childhood obesity because to most parents, their child is a “healthy weight”. There are too many children whose lives are being forever changed by childhood obesity, a parent’s greatest fear is the dysfunction of their child’s health. Childhood Obesity in America not just affects children but affects the parents as well, it affects the parents in such a way that it literally forces them to reevaluate the things that make their children obese. It can be argued that childhood obesity is the sole leading cause of obese children between the ages of 5 to 12 ½ years old. What most people do not seem to realize is that childhood obesity is not one of those conditions that just “go away” as children get older, childhood obesity can affect, most times negatively, a child’s life as an adult such as developing very nasty and unhealthy habits then transferring those habits down to their child or children. This paper will discuss other causes of childhood obesity as well as ways to stop it.

Cause and long term effect #1

Abuse of the reward system
One of the leading causes of childhood obesity is the reward system that some parents invent to either silence their child or reward them for doing a specific job. For example, a parent rewards their child with ice cream for every 3 math problems that they get right in a row. Overtime, this unhealthy behavior could develop into something a lot more serious. A parent that chooses to do this will give their child the expectation that they should always look for a food reward whenever they do good and this could easily cause the child to become obesity because they can easily abuse the reward system, the worst case scenario is that the child ends up gaining an unhealthy weight from abusing their body by feeding it too much sugar and bakery products. This would also encourage the child to abuse dessert foods that they should not have access to until they have reached a certain age or have earned their right to access, absolute power corrupts and that child will end up destroying themselves because of it. Lossing explained that “Childhood Obesity is not just one of the biggest growing concerns of the world, but also a growing concern to most parents even those who do not have children; there is no reason to not take this threat seriously”. (Lossing, 3). Parents have their hands full trying to raise their child, they have an even harder time trying to get their child to stop destroying their bodies with unhealthy food. It can be argued that even though it is the child’s body, it is a parent’s job to tell the child “I think you have had enough”. Childhood Obesity is a very preventable disease that most children do not have to spend the rest of their lives wrestling with, there is not one parent who anticipates the decline of their child’s health but it becomes an issue when that one child gains an extra one hundred pounds before the week is over. Children are usually expected to have or be a certain weight, parents owe it to themselves to ensure their child maintains a healthy weight.

Cause and long term effect #2

Negligence
Another cause of childhood obesity is negligence, it is easy for a parent to say “don’t eat that Roger, or how much ice cream have you eaten?” But, it is even harder to try to keep their child from succumbing to childhood obesity when they are overstepping sugar intake boundaries and ten times out of ten, the parents are more at fault than the children. Negligence is one of the primary causes of childhood obesity because it is like parents do not monitor what their children eat and think that they have a right to completely blame the child when he or she is overweight. Weiting claimed that “children need to be guided to living a healthy life, they need their parents’ guidance because if parents get negligent then their child is the one that pays the price” (Weiting, 2). It can be argued that a child having an afternoon snack before dinner is healthy and it can also be argued that there is technically no harm in giving the child a little something to hold them until dinner, but leaving a child alone with a king size box of whoppers, that is going too far; that is negligent. When a parent turns their back to their child’s eating habits by choice, they are putting their child’s life in danger and they are choosing to ignore the possible yet very relevant consequences of what awaits their child when they allow them to grow up with a ham sandwich in one hand and a pitcher of kool-aid in the other; it practically violates the law of both body as well as soul. Mersch found that “children are less likely to be obese during their childhood when they have parents who care about their health” (Mersch). Parental negligence has been the downfall of children everywhere, boys between the ages of 8 to 12 are 41% more likely to become obese before the eve of their next birthday. Girls can succumb to obesity too but it is more prevalent in boys, let it be known that some parents usually expect their child to have some self-control when it comes to food portions but it is the parent’s job to see that they do.

Cause and long term effect #3

Lack of activity
When a child is the victim of childhood obesity, they are literal sitting ducks and they live sedentary lifestyles that disables them from doing the things that they need to do in order to live a happy, healthy life. Lack of activity is another contributing factor to childhood obesity, when a child does not burn all of the energy with physical activity that they amass from the collective foods and sugars that they eat, they get lazy, sluggish and sedentary which causes them to gain weight at an alarmingly high rate. It can be said that children are more times likely to gain weight through laziness than through overeating, it has become way too easy for childhood obesity to claim the lives of so many children. The long term effect of a lack of activity is that the child will turn down any and all opportunities to play outside or play with other kids, they will find a hobby that will further their “just cause” to living their lack of active lifestyle. Kaneshiro found that “lack of physical activity leads to childhood obesity and body function failure even diabetes” (Kaneshiro). Obese children have nothing to look forward to in the future except heartache, pain, ridicule, threats, suicide attempts and rejection. When a parent chooses to let the child make their own decisions about how much physical activity they get, the parents are generally telling their child “it is up to you how much you want to play outside”. Fornicola explained that “children need physical activity in their lives in order to keep from becoming a statistic, getting diabetes at a young age is no way for a child to live” (Fornicola). Another long term effect of childhood obesity is that the overdependence on food will cause low self-esteem and self-pity in young people. It can be argued that childhood obesity can be controlled to the point that it never gets out of control but all too often are young people aware of the damage that childhood obesity has done to them.

Ways to stop childhood obesity

Set boundaries
One of the best ways to stop or completely prevent childhood obesity is to set boundaries on how much a child eats, if that child is having more servings of food than they should then it is time to cut them off so as to protect them from becoming obese. Also, if the child uses food as a method of comfort then it is the parent’s job to completely stop the child from doing that because those children are going to have long term problems that will cause them to become attempted suicide victims and develop a deep psychological fear of rejection. Parents have the task of leading by example, show the child or children how much enough is enough, parents cannot expect their child to already know how much to and to not eat. Frieden, Dietz and Collins suggest that “plenty of physical activity and boundaries are the keys to raising a healthy child who later goes on to practice boundaries in their life” (Frieden, Dietz and Collins, 4). One of the biggest problems in preventing childhood obesity is the lack of boundaries, a little bit is okay and a decent amount is just as good but when a kid has too much sugar then they are in danger of succumbing to some very dangerous diseases. Kids usually do not think about boundaries because they are surrounded by food on the continuous which opens the door to obesity and other things such as cardiovascular disease, it is okay for a child to have a favorite food or even have favorite foods that they eat but it is important to know how much of that favorite food that they are eating is affecting them. Case in point, Sherri has always has been a little bit obese because she loves food. The thing is that Sherri cannot control her appetite and she gains several pounds almost instantly, she is only 14 years old. Sherri has been the victim of childhood obesity since she was born, Sherri has been warned that if she does not stop then she will die. Any doctor will be quick to point out how much a person should and should not have.

Ways to stop childhood obesity

Get the child a hobby and spend time with them
Ultimately, getting a child a hobby other than developing their love for food is one of the best and ideal ways to prevent childhood obesity. It can be said that if a child does not have a hobby that requires some exercise of some kind then they are likely to develop bad eating habits, this will more than likely lead them to live a sedentary lifestyle where they find ways to avoid going to gym class or going outside to play soccer or baseball or even basketball. Even though childhood obesity is hereditary, it does not mean that it has to be nurtured to the point of health endangerment. Getting children into hobbies like martial arts, wrestling or playing baseball will help them avoid making very poor food and snack choices. Besides having an unhealthy weight, children without any kind of physical hobby are more likely to be anti-social and alone. This can also have detrimental effects on their adult life as well, these kinds of kids who later experience problems as adults are less likely to marry. Hobbies open doors to active children, active children open doors to their children having picture perfect health. Case in point, Espera has two children who want to spend time with her but they do not get to because Espera works. Espera’s children James and Johnson have an abnormal body weight and when they get stressed, they eat continuously. Espera sees how her continuous work schedule is affecting her family, more importantly, her boys. Espera signs her and her boys up for the batting cage because she knew that they would get their exercise and lose the weight that they gained, Espera spends time with her boys and in doing so, she helps them lose the weight that they gained not being able to spend time with their mother. Children are more inclined to take up hobbies when their parents spend time with them, it is a foolproof way to keep children from becoming obese and living a life of isolation which no child should.

Work Cited

Wieting, J. "Cause and Effect in Childhood Obesity: Solutions for a National Epidemic." The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association 108.10 (2008): 2. Print.
Mersch, John. "Childhood Obesity." MedicineNet.com. 28 Feb. 2015. Web. 28 Feb. 2015. <http://www.medicinenet.com/childhood_obesity/article.htm>.
Lossing, Carrie. "Childhood Obesity: Prevention and Intervention." (2010): 3. Print.
Kaneshiro, Neil. "Causes and Risks for Obesity - Children." Medline Plus. 1 Aug. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2015. <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/patientinstructions/000383.htm>.
Fornicola, Fred. "5 WAYS YOU CAN HELP PREVENT CHILDHOOD OBESITY." Breaking Muscle. 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 28 Feb. 2015. <http://breakingmuscle.com/family-kids/5-ways-you-can-help-prevent-childhood-obesity>.
Frieden, Thomas, William Dietz, and Janet Collins. "Reducing Childhood Obesity Through Policy Change: Acting Now To Prevent Obesity." Health Affairs 29.3 (2010): 4. Print.