Addiction in Society

Unfortunately, I agree with everything you just said. Technology gives us more free time to do nothing. Suburban sprawl cut us off from our neighbors and the fear rolled in.

The bus driver was in Mesa Public Schools in Arizona, not Texas, if anyone cares.

I'm from Houston and never had A/C on the bus as a kid, and suffered through 100+ degree heat, but I guess Arizona is a bit hotter (107 degrees that day). Still, three minutes shouldn't cause any problems.

But yeah, not sure how child obesity can be curbed.

Somewhere in between watching the latest Glee episode and waiting for my ride to the grocery store located a whopping three blocks away, I stumbled upon your blog. As a future family therapist, I know that this issue of obesity is bound to rear its chubby head, so I was more than pleased to find that you agree with my stance on the subject. I wholeheartedly agree that "we raise children like veal today - protecting and cocooning them in every phase of their existences." Parents do not allow them to walk or bike to school or play outside because the world is teeming with sexual predators and kidnappers, not to mention the menacing sidewalk, which could easily scrape the delicate knees of our little ones! Of course, parents could always supervise their children's outside play, but with the convenient option of placing their kids in front of a television or laptop, why bother? (We just have to ignore the recent finding that nearly one out of every ten adolescents who play video games displays "at least six of eleven addictive symptoms." It is obviously more desirable to raise tiny Betty Fords than to subject our brood to the monkey bar death traps.)

Although I agree that if parents would refrain from being so overprotective we would see dramatic decreases in children's adiposity, I have to wonder why you did not mention the other aspects of American culture that undoubtedly lead to overweight youth, more specifically our diet. According to an article on Weightlosswand.com, every day one in three children (aged 4-19) eats fast food, which contains an outrageous number of calories as can be seen in the picture above, yet lacks the necessary nutrients for healthy growth. The media also plays an active role in this epidemic. A Harvard Medical School study suggests a positive correlation between media consumption and food intake. Though this could be due to the unintentional hand-to-mouth eating phenomenon we have all experienced while engrossed in a television program, a more likely explanation is that big brands know how to effectively market to the young person demographic. The advertising campaigns for Trix cereal provides an excellent example of how these commercials have utilized animation, fast-paced action, and the infamous tagline "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids" since the 1960's- all proven tactics that entice children to buy their product. The 2004 film, Supersize Me, revealed just how omnipresent McDonald's is in everyday life when none of the children interviewed could recognize Jesus, son of God, yet all had no trouble with Ronald McDonald, father of burgers. In saying this, I am not advocating a law that addresses all of the causes of childhood obesity because, as you said, this will not work. Companies like Pepsi and McDonald's "would be up in arms; parents fearing imminent harm for their children would be up in arms...; kids would be up in arms..." The only thing that will work is to change our own behaviors. Michelle Obama recently stopped by "Sesame Street" advocating this opinion, encouraging parents to be role models and encourage healthy habits to set a good example for their children. However, if this is too much to take on, we can always follow Britain's lead in tackling childhood obesity and distribute Nintendo Wii's to all overweight children, satisfying our children's addiction to video games, providing them with mild exercise, and most importantly, giving parents the freedom to ignore their offspring and focus on more important things.

Parents need to push these children outside of the quick fix of television and computer.

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I think it's great that there is a bill going out to help childhood obesity - when parents allow their children to become that unhealthy, it's like neglect and should be dealt with accordingly.

Yeah, it will be tough to fight the major coorperations - but look what Jamie Oliver's doing in West Virginia, in his show Jamie Oliver's food revolution. He's trying to take over the whole state's school lunch program along with teaching the community a healthy diet. Even fast food has made a stride in the last 10 years to serve healthy products.

Of course parents should be more willing to play outside like when i was a kid, and should take individual responsibility. Obesity is killing our children, and we as a society have to do something about it and not just lay there and say "there's nothing we can do."

As a young child (not too long ago im 16) I often played with friends along the street. Hopscotch, Cops and Robbers, Basketball, whatever, we played it all, sure we also played yugioh and n64 but it was tipped in outdoor plays favor still, after all video games cost money (and don't get me started about yugioh cards). By the time I was 9+ all my friends on the street had moved away and I no longer really wanted to play outside, after all I had no one to do it with (most of my friends being at least a mile away at that point). I remember my mom actually forcing me to go outside a bit every day, lol, I did not enjoy it much without friends. I wonder how many moms force their kid to go walk around the "long block" nowadays to log some outside time.

I grew up in the 50's, so you know what I'm going to say. All I did was play outside with my friends and ride my bike.
What was I going to do inside? We had 7 TV channels. That was it.
I watched TV when it was raining. But I also played board games when at home.
My school had one school bus, for the kids who lived the furthest. 90% of the kids walked. You wouldn't believe how far I walked to junior high.
If I'd grown up in the 90's, like my kids, I probably would have been a computer addict, not to mention cable TV.
It's a tough problem.
I don't have an answer. because what's needed will never be done.
Like veal....that's pretty good. And sadly true.

It's what is mentioned and it's what we eat, look at the sizing portions. Has anyone seen the pedialite commercials? "I don't like broccoli, I don't like carrots, I don't like. . . ' 'thank god there's predialite." We are conditioned to feed our children things that are sugary and unhealthy in order to keep them happy and avoid discomfort. Pedialite isn't bad I'm not saying that but it's for children who CAN'T eat decently because they're sick or bodies won't absorb what they need. There's a definite can't and won't issue here, we can't just blame in on TV or video games, or schools, pr parents or portions because it's NOT just one thing it's EVERYTHING. And there for EVERYONE has part of the blame. But in general we don't want to say that because it's far simpler to blame someone else. Well, time to drop the -explicit deleted- blame game and all get our heads out our or backsides and work at solving the issue.

Thank you for writing this article, simply and intelligently. It's a societal problem. Period.

This problem is out of control. There is still so much parents can do to help their kids lead healthier lives, and it's not just fear that stops them. They themselves have to care about their own health and lifestyle. Fit and healthy parents can be great role models to their children. They can encourage their kids to be more active and to value physical health and fitness. Also, parents don't have to stock their shelves with junk food. This is not to blame parents, but to say that they have an important responsibility in this matter. They can make a difference in the lives of their children long before congress or anyone else can.

I'm 19 now, but when I was in elementary school I was soo excited when my parents finally let me walk to and from school (6th grade). I thought it was the coolest thing. When I had neighbor kids to play with, we lived outside. After they moved away and my parents left me alone all summer while they worked, I was forced to stay inside all the time. Once I had no one fun to play with, I definitely preferred the computer and TV.

Having a strong family / community to encourage activity seems to be the key to health and wellness.

I agree with Lolita that everyone has a responsibility to keep kids healthy - not just here in the US but other nations as well. We need to try to lick this problem from all sides, including parents, friends, teachers, businesses, and the rest of the community getting involved and doing their part for a healthier generation.

The first step to this is most likely to bring awareness of this obesity and how it impacts our society...and then hopefully starting a change.

is one of my favorite websites and addresses the many psychological issues this 'veal' lifestyle causes.