Childhood_Obesity

Name: Horace Williams General Topic: Childhood Obesity Narrowed Topic: Parents should be blamed for Childhood Obesity in Jamaica Purpose: To show that parents should be held accountable for their children’s obesity Thesis Statement: Parents should be blamed for childhood obesity, since children are not responsible for their diet, the time they go to bed or their general lifestyle Sentence outline I. Parents of obese children are poor models in relation to the types of food their children consume; a. According to Gwendolyn Driscoll director of communication for ULCA Health Research Policy in a 2009 study, nearly half of adolescents (48 percent) whose parents drink soda every day eat fast food at least once a day, while only 39 percent of teens whose parents do not drink soda eat fast food at least once daily.  b. Since obese children not feed or set examples for themselves, it can be evinced that parents are the perpetrators; you can believe the adage, “children live what they learn”, certainly, it runs here c. By promoting certain values and attitudes, by rewarding or reinforcing specific behaviours, parents have a profound influence on what their children eat. d. Dr. Jeffery Koplan, vice president for Global Health, Emory University (2005), supports the view that what a child eats, fosters his health and well-being and a home environment with engaged and skillful parenting that model, values, and encourages sensible eating habits are central to this. II. Children whose parents fail to enforce their bedtime contributes to their obesity a. According to fitness and nutrition expert Liz Neporent, writing in a 2011 version of ABC/ News/Health, young children who miss sleep both during the week and on the weekends are four times more likely to be obese when compared with their more well-rested peers. b. Since the parents determines the child’s bedtime, it can be implied that if the child becomes obese as a result of lack of sleep, the parents should shoulder the blame. c. Not only should they determine the bedtime, but follow through on the stated or planned time, ensuring that the child/children is/are in their bed and asleep, remembering that children are experts possums. III. Sedentary lifestyle in children is a reflection of poor parenting a. It is estimated that children in the United States are spending 25 percent of their waking hours watching television and statistically, children who watch the most hours of television have the highest incidence of obesity. (Us department of Health & Human Services). b. By allowing their children to spend so much time in front of the television, parents fall short of their responsibility and thus contribute to the corpulence of their children. c. Jennifer Miller MD, Pediatrician, writing in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology (2004) concurs by contending, that television watching has been directly linked to obesity in childhood, with a rate of obesity that is 8.3 times greater in children who watch over 5 hours of television per day compared with those who watch 2 hours or less of television per day.  IV. It should be noted that some proponents are of the view that fast food restaurants are the major protagonists in this drama. a. Children are getting more of their food away from home; energy intake from away-from-home food sources increased from 20 to 32 percent from 1977-1978 to 1994-1996. (Us Department of Health & Human Services). b. These protagonists argue that fast food restaurants are to shoulder the brunt of the guilt as they are usually in competition so portions sizes get larger and larger in order to win individuals, while at the same time filling up their waistlines. V. However, despite all that, others have argued it’s the customer who choose to spend their money on fast food, a fast food place has never held a gun to a customer’s head saying, “buy and eat me or you will be expunged!” a. According to General Practitioner, Dr. Arthur Schoenstadt (2008), research has shown that most fast food companies do a good job of making nutritional information available,( and it certainly is available), which helps a person make choices about what and where they eat. b. Therefore it can be reasoned that Fast food restaurants should not be blamed for obesity -rather it’s the consumption of more calories from food than the body actually can burn that leads to obesity as well as peoples’ choice.( so if you learn to control your baser passion for this type of food you will not yield to temptation and sin) c. Fast food restaurants are not there because they care if you're hungry, or if you really want a burgher, a soda or some fries - rather they are there to do business; to provide food that is tantalizing and titivating to the taste buds. d. Where there is a demand, there will be a supply, thus individuals choose what they eat, and if they choose to indulge on fattening fast food, they are responsible for the resulting weight gain - not the companies that supply it