“Should Fast Food Chains Be to Blame for Childhood Obesity”

Should prodigal food handcuffs be to blame for childhood fleshiness? As defined by dictionary. com obesity is the condition of organism obese increased body weight ca wontd by excessive accumulation of fat. Obesity is determined by the level of BMI (body muss index). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, BMI is calculated from a childs weight and height, and is comp atomic number 18d to a chart that tells you what is along the normal ranges.As you mountain see, children do not just wake up one mean solar day and influence themselves overweight, there has to be or so kind of influence that is making them that way, whether it be the foods they eat at home, or what they eat while with friends. This is not a matter that should be taken lightly. Who should be blamed? Some the great unwashed believe the p atomic number 18nts are to blame because they should provide their children with healthier repast choices at all times. Others believe the influence agil e food companies defend with the media and announce is too great and children would rather nominate a keen meal that comes with a toy than keep back a healthy cooked meal from home.The way of living has changed drastically from the seventies to the present. Back in the 1970s mothers were more(prenominal) belike to be homemakers and had the time to dedicate to homemade meals triplet times a day. Nowadays, women are more likely to take part in careers and therefore live more hectic lifestyles. People are busier than ever and most of the time it is some(prenominal) easier to drive by a fast food restaurant and pick up dinner than to problematic worker in the kitchen after a long day at work. less family meals are eaten together now (less than 5 a week of 21 meals) than in the years past (King, 28).The fast food business has boomed in the recent years due to this and they tend to advertise loosely to kids employ colorful advertisements with their favorite cartoon chara cters and reel them in by providing a toy along with a processed hamburger and greasy cut fries. Being an obese child can have many effectuate on their health, both physical and emotional health are squeeze greatly by being overweight. Some children are never taught meet ways to cope with their emotions and take in is what they turn to make them feel erupt when nothing else is going right.Obese children tend to suffer from low self-esteem and whitethorn develop eating disorders in their quest to become thin. Obese adolescents are more prone to emotional and behavior problems and also more likely to develop psychopathologies during both adolescence and adulthood (Willette, 565). Overweight children are at essay for more diseases than children within their normal weight. Adult diseases, such as pillowcase 2 diabetes, are being diagnosed in 8-and 9-year-old children (King, 28).Some parents rely on video and video games to keep their children entertained after a long day becaus e they do not have time to take the children outside to play. wellness concerns such as undernutrition, lack of physical activity and increased relative incidence of chronic diseases are more common in low-income and minority youth (King, 28). Everywhere we turn we are bombarded by advertisements for some type of fast food restaurant. Billboards, television commercials, radio ads, and print are just some of the media used to get the message to people to come out to their restaurants, and use catchy slogans with animated characters.It is no secret these ads are mostly advertisement to children and teenagers. In 2002, it was estimated that annual sales of food and beverages to young consumers exceeded $27 billion. Advertisers have recognized that young consumers are a valuable market and have begun to advertise directly to them. Food and beverage advertisers collectively spend$10 billion to $20 billion annually to reach children and youth, and more than $1 billion of that is spent on direct media advertising to children (Willette, 565). Children are more likely to be influenced by these advertisements, oddly when it involves something they think is cool.These advertisements are mostly found on channels such as nickelodeon or Disney channel. It is very hard because there is no way to avoid these advertisements unless you terminate yourself and your children to a cave. Parents have an important effect on their childrens ontogeny because they are the ones who raise their children from day one. If a child is raised eating healthy foods they are more likely to keep making those choices as they grow older and pass those habits on to their children. Bad eating habits can be passed on as well.Some parents simply dont exist how to make healthy eating choices themselves, and it affects them and their children around the waistline. Parents should lead by suit they should not only encourage their children to eat healthy, but also do the same themselves. So why are p arents blaming fast food chains for their children obesity? Well, because no one wants to hold themselves responsible and it is invariably much easier to point the finger at someone else. No parent wants to be seen as the reason for making their child overweight and want some type of reassurance that their parenting efforts ave not all been ineffective. Parents also are the ones that pay for the fast food and provide it for their children, so it cant fully be the fast food companies fault, right? Children are going to be children and they are going to always want what is not good for them, but the parents have some control over what they choose to feed their child, and it should be make even if it requires them to spend more time in the home. In conclusion, the media is always going to have a big impact on the lives of everyone especially children. childhood obesity is a health epidemic affecting many children in this country today.Parents are the ones who give guidance and shoul d work hard to teach their children healthy eating habits. Fast food companies use advertising and many other things to attract children but at the end of the day, companies collect to make money. So the blame game parents are using needs to stop. Fast food is not going anywhere and the parents should be the ones being held responsible for their children not fast food companies who have no notification to these children.Works cited Kaiser Family Foundation Releases Report on Role of Media In Childhood Obesity. pediatric Nursing 30. (2004) 165 Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 18 Apr. 2010. Willette, Amanda L. Where Have all(a) the Parents Gone? Do Efforts to Regulate Food Advertising To Curb Childhood Obesity Pass Constitutional Muster?. diary of Legal care for 28. 4 (2007) 561-577. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 18 Apr. 2010. King, Nancy, and Dayle Hayes. Shame, Blame and the War on Childhood Obesity Confronting the Real Problems, Identifying the Positive Solutio ns. Healthy Weight Journal 17. 2 (2003) 28. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 18 Apr. 2010.