Childhood obesity

It’s a weighing question for me as a Physical Educator: What can I do to get parents to do something about their overweight children?

A new ad campaign in Georgia had sparked debate and has angered a lot of people.

Check out two of the ads

40% of Georgia’s children are obese or overweight. Some of these children are even diagnosed with hypertension before the 2^nd grade. TERRIBLE! The ads have anger people and health officials, saying you can’t shame people into losing weight. So the question is what can we do?

I love the ad campaign and I think it is brilliant one! We need to fight childhood obesity, not sugarcoat it. This ad is in your face, the images are striking and the message is loud and clear. We either do something about this epidemic or today’s children will die before all of us.

I have always heard “he is big boned.” Bull crap! Big bones do not make children fat, big meals do. This topic easily gets me fired up and it saddens me to see children dealing with issues that only adults should have to deal with. The solution is easy! Stop feeding children crap and get them off the couch.

This Tough Love approach should be seen not only in Georgia but also in all states in America. I am tired of hearing that we are the “fat” country. This tough love approach may wake up some parents and school officials to change how we approach such a tough subject. And this subject is tough because three-quarters of parents with overweight kids don’t see their kids as overweight.

Many parents think this approach will cause bullying in the schools. But I think they don’t like watching the truth. The truth hurts! Overweight kids don’t choose to get fat, they don’t choose what they eat and they will most likely not move if they are not forced. The issue is a complex issue and if we keep ignoring it, we are going to watch more and more children get type II diabetes and die at an early age.

I see a child who weights 180 pounds at one of my schools; this child is only in the 3^rd grade. He can barely make it across the gymnasium without losing his breath. He is in the 3^rd grade people! Do you think this child knows what he is doing to himself; do you think he has a choice on what he eats at home? This same child’s lunch is packed daily. One day his mother sent in a bag of chips. I am not talking about the lunch chips you can get at subway; I am talking about the big bad of chips that a family can eat out of. It pisses me off! Why do they keep doing is sugarcoating everything, this mother needs the hard facts. She is basically killing her child and if you ask me it is child abuse.

This is what I see daily. I see children overweight, I see children who can’t run without wanting to sit down and I see children who are sad because they can’t do things because of their weight. Childhood obesity is everywhere and it is our jobs as adults to do something about it! Cutting Physical Education out of schools will only make this problem explode.

It is time we stop giving our children the food they want! Such as McDonalds, cookies and pop. We need to start giving them food that will help keep them alive, food that will give them the energy to run across the gym. We need to stop letting them watch TV and play video games all day long; we need to get them moving. Why not do it together as a family! I would rather have my child cry because he can’t have a pop and cookies, then cry because he can’t run with his friends.

Tough LOVE! Is the best approach! Wake up America, We are killing our children.

Another great video

This will Shock you