SparkPeople Needs Your Help Tackling Childhood Obesity

My 7 year old grandson is overweight about 20lbs and he is hyper , and is on meds. for it,he still bounces off walls. He lives with his other grandmother. She feeds what he wants if he wants chicken nuggets and fries 5 times a week she gives it to him, but his favorite drink is water. They were up here last week-end and we went to store and she bought him a big ice cream instead of having him to eat what I cooked. He didn't want it , he wanted a chicken sandwich. I told her she need to put him in the boys and girls club after school it would be good for him,instead of playing video games and watching tv all the time.She replied he doesn't like sports. She doesn't know when the tv and videos are babysitting him all the time. - 9/19/2012 5:48:18 PM

My 7 year old granddaughter is overweight and there is not a lot I can do about it, which makes me very sad for her :( She lives with her mother (who is NOT married to my son) and I only see her when my son has her. My son and his fiance feed her healthy food and have enrolled her in softball, which she loves. So she eats healthy and exercises when she's with them, but when she is with her mom, who knows? It breaks my heart to see her so heavy and I know that the kids in school are going to give her a hard time. I wish there was more I could do for her. - 6/25/2011 8:41:55 AM

As a nation, we've spent a good number of years raising our citizens to NOT take responsibility for themselves. Think: "the government will do that." So, why would continuing this trend of expecting government initiated programs to make any long term change affect how we think & act???

Why the preponderance of law suits? Because somebody else is to blame!
And people are sadly rewarded for this stupidity.

People fail to think for themselves. They wait for someone else to tell them what to do & think. And if there is a problem, it is someone else's fault. We've raised a couple of generations of WIMPS who are afraid (and often unwilling) to work. {Think out-of-wedlock mom's having multiple babies & the government sends them a check.}

Where does the government get its money? On the backs of people who WORK for a living. Somehow to make things "equal", they get the idea that taking money away from the working people and giving it to the non-working (fill in the blank) should make it "fair". What a bunch of bunk!

Sounds like a ramble, but it really IS all related. Government programs are NOT going to fix people's problems, no matter how "good" or well-meaning they may be. Get government OUT of our lives. Let people experience the full consequences of their actions. Forget bailing out STUPID and let the old-fashioned school of "hard-knocks" get back in fashion to teach people on their own. - 5/6/2011 2:38:05 PM

Big loud "amen." My heart breaks every time I see a fat kid, and I instantly say a prayer for God's intervention into his life. To me, each extra pound is a pound of pain, rejection, and loneliness that the poor baby carries around on his back wherever he goes. - 10/2/2010 2:13:20 PM

I'm not surprised so many programs don't work, because they don't get to the root of the problem. Why are companies getting away with producing and marketing masses and masses of unhealthy food products? Personal choice is fine and dandy but do you really think corporations would spend so much money on advertising if it didn't have the desired effect of increasing their profits? As the article points out, they have millions at their disposal while any programs to promote healthy living are trying to get their message out on a shoestring budget.

How about hefty taxes on junk food, that the corporations have to pay, taxes that go directly into healthy living programs? Of course they will pass the cost on to the consumer, which would make junk food an unattractive economic choice. Either way it's win-win. Self-regulation by industry doesn't work but it seems government doesn't have the guts to take tough measures.

- 9/26/2010 9:05:36 AM

As a child I was overweight and ultimately turned into an adult constantly fighting the yo-yo dieting battle. Bring back gym class in school!! - 9/20/2010 6:28:46 PM

I'd like to comment on the article. I agree that we need to teach children about the importance of good nutrition and exercise. However, may I make another suggestion?

When I was in school, I was not athletic, not a fast runner, and not very competitive, and therefore felt really really uncomfortable in all my gym classes. I think this is where I learned to hate to exercise, because I wasn't good at it, and the grades I would get always screwed up my grade point average. I think that schools can teach even non-athletic kids the importance of physical activity by allowing kids to get "extra" gym credit. Parents would have to sign off on a sheet, and kids could choose to do whatever activity they wanted, at least 20 minutes a day. Anything - walking, riding a bike, jumping rope, playing tag with friends, playing catch with your brother, etc. would count. It would give the kids some responsibility for their own health, would allow them to pick an activity they like themselves, and would also get parents involved.

I know I would have done stuff like this if I had the chance to earn extra credit, because I didn't like the competitiveness of my gym class. That was the turn off. And I would have just once liked to have earned an A in gym class!!! - 7/10/2010 8:20:20 PM

This is a great article. I am doing a paper on Childhood Obesity, so this is very relevant to me right now. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this problem; a solution requires a massive shift in the way we think about food, the way that food is promoted to our children, the way it is processed and packaged...It's a massive undertaking! - 12/1/2009 11:09:02 AM

This is what my thesis is on! I hope once I am finished implementing my program, I can share the results with the TEAM:) - 3/30/2009 2:23:45 PM

Stop giving you child soda of anykind. Today in many families soda replaced milk. Foods full of antibiotic and growth hormones replaced organic food. Why do you think that 12 year olds look like they are 18? Eat organic, eat healty. - 2/8/2009 2:07:04 PM

When my boys were small, they were allowed 30 minutes of TV or 30 minutes of video games per day. After that, they had to play outside. When the other mothers heard this, most of the neighborhood children were given the same limit and sent outside. The only overweight child on the block was the one who did not get the limit on TV and video games. - 10/30/2008 9:16:33 AM

A big problem we encountered was the school lunch program. In response to this, my children, ages 8 and 12 decided it would be better for them if I packed their lunches. Kids take the example from what they learn at home, and their decision showed that they understand the importance of eating healthy. - 4/6/2008 2:01:58 PM

Excellent article.
Even thin children (like my sons and grandchildren) need to be aware of the importance of sound nutrition and excercise, so Sparking all kids has merit! - 1/7/2008 7:31:49 PM

Great article. But the parents are responsible for their own children, so the education needs to be aimed at them. - 12/31/2007 6:42:58 PM