Childhood Obesity in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Childhood Obesity in America - Essay Example To encourage healthy lifestyles among the American children, there is a need to have collaboration between parents and the education system to encourage healthy lifestyle among children though physical education and healthy diets in addition to the government introducing regulations on marketing of food meant for children consumption. Parents are the greatest contributors in childhood obesity due to their failure to control their children’s eating habits and engagement in physical activities. According to Parizkova and Hills, parents in modern US society have a tendency to prefer eating fast food in restaurants to cooking food at home while also allowing too much television watching by encouraging practices such as having bedroom televisions (396). It is important that parents encourage a healthy lifestyle for their children by cooking for them healthy meals at home. Cooking at home will ensure parents serve their children a balanced diet in addition to having enough portions per sitting. Additionally, limiting the number of hours children spent watching television will encourage other pass time activities such as outdoor games that are more physically engaging. Some people argue that parents can still acquire healthy meals in the restaurants by asking for healthy portions. Although this is partly true, pa rents can exercise more control over what their children consume by taking part in choosing ingredients as well as the process of cooking meals when it is done at home as opposed to in a restaurant. Therefore, preparing food at home becomes the best option when parents want their children to have a balance diet. The high level of childhood obesity in the US is not only as a result of a failure by parents to control the lifestyle of their children, it is also a failure of the education system to teach them about healthy living. Wicks-Nelson and Israel (383) reports