essay parents are responsible for childhood obesity

Childhood obesity: are parents really to blame?

Doctoral candidate in Health and Physical Education, Charles Sturt University

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Should a child’s obese body be used as evidence to support their removal from their parents’ care? According to a recent report in The Age newspaper, the Children’s Court of Victoria thinks so.

Victoria’s Department of Human Services (DHS) has cited a young person’s obesity in at least two child protection cases this year. A spokesperson for the DHS told The Age obesity was not of itself grounds for child protection workers to become involved with a family. Nevertheless, the fact that obesity was used as evidence at all demonstrates that a child’s obese body is considered proof of abusive or neglectful parenting. But should it be?

Both Victorian children seem to have been placed into care, in part, because their mothers contributed to their obesity. The teenage girl was allowed to eat too much, while the boy’s medical intervention had failed because his mother let him sit “in his room, eating and inactive”. The courts and DHS assumed that if these children had different parents – or no parents at all – they would not be obese.

The central argument in these two cases is that the parents have neglected their child’s medical needs: the need to not be obese. Indeed, much of the debate around this issue (and childhood obesity in general) frames obesity as a medical problem that may be solved by medical intervention – including hormone treatment, medication and surgery – and of course, by making healthy lifestyle choices.

But there is a moral undercurrent to this issue of neglect. This stems from our societal understanding of what it means to be fat . The body is wrongly assumed to be an accurate indicator of a person’s moral worth – or lack of. Someone who is lean, even skinny, is perceived to be a “good person”: healthy, fit and active.

Conversely, a person who is fat is judged as having a lack of morals. They must be lazy, unhealthy, greedy, inactive, unfit, even stupid. In short, a fat person is deemed to be a bad person and a drain on the economy and society.

These two parents, as well as parents of fat children in general, are criticised and even demonised for failing to save their children from the sins of sloth, gluttony, and greed. They have been judged to be neglectful in their duty to protect their children from being fat. And when a parent is accused of causing or contributing to their child’s fatness, it’s insinuated that they’re also corrupting their child and creating a “bad person”.

These two Victorian children have been removed from their parent’s care to save them from neglectful parenting, ill-health, a fat body – and their soul. This is not to say that there were no medical reasons for placing these children into state care. But when we talk about obesity, our understandings of the fat body are imbued with both moral and medical assumptions. And it has become difficult to separate the two.

Within a modern understanding of health, the fat body is also seen as the failure of individuals to look after their own (or their own children’s) bodies. By judging fat people as irresponsible - neglecting to make healthy “choices” - fat people are unfairly blamed for being fat. In these cases though, the parents have been blamed for allowing their children to be fat.

Who’s to blame?

There will be commentators who continue to argue that people just need to take more responsibility for their own health and actions by making the right choices. But this isn’t always easy. And blaming a mother for making her child fat does not begin to acknowledge the multiple, oppressive forces that restrict the choices a parent can make.

As Associate Professor John Dixon has rightly pointed out , parents and children who are obese are themselves victims. It is well established that economic, environmental, social, cultural, historical and political forces act as determinants on children’s health and bodies. These factors also affect the ability to parent well.

Children who live in poverty are highly represented in obesity statistics. Does this mean poor parents are the most neglectful and abusive parents? Or poor children are the laziest? There are obviously many other forces at play.

I don’t know all of the details of these particular cases, and thus cannot say whether these children and their parents needed to be separated. There were obviously other issues of neglect or abuse that alerted the authorities to begin with. However, it appears that these two Victorian children’s fatness was, to some degree, used as evidence of child abuse or neglect.

My concern is that it is not only courts and DHS who blame a child’s fatness on the parents. Teachers, journalists, politicians, doctors, academics and members of the public are sometimes quick to judge fat kids and their bad parents without considering other determinants on health or the assumptions that shape how we understand a fat body.

Perhaps instead of criticising parents of all fat children, or fat children themselves, it is more productive and positive to confront the wider issues of neglect. Yes, there are many families who need sustained support and help with their children’s health. However, just making fat kids thinner will do little to address the fat elephant in the room – the social injustices which continue to be perpetuated by social inequalities.

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• Published: 12 June 2023

Embracing parenting role in childhood obesity

• Jiying Ling 1 &
• Mekdes Gebremariam 2  

BMC Public Health volume  23 , Article number:  1118 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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Active parental engagement is crucial in controlling childhood obesity. However, optimal strategies to engage parents and mechanisms linking parents’ involvement to childhood obesity prevention need further investigation. In this editorial, we provide a background to invite contributions to the BMC Public Health collection titled ‘Parenting role in childhood obesity’.

Childhood obesity represents a significant global public health challenge. The prevalence of obesity has doubled in more than 70 countries since 1980; in many other countries it has continued increasing [ 1 ]. The World Health Organization’s recent estimates suggest that 1 in 5 children and adolescents are overweight or obese [ 2 ]. What is even more concerning is the disproportionate number of children with a lower socioeconomic position that are affected by this pandemic in many settings [ 3 ], contributing to health inequities. Adverse impacts of childhood obesity are wide ranging, encompassing social, economic, and health-related consequences. The latter can be both short- and long-term, and include psychosocial, neurological, dental, cardiovascular, respiratory as well as endocrine complications and comorbidities [ 4 ]. Body weight is also known to track moderately from childhood into adulthood, making early interventions particularly important.

Obesity at all ages is multifactorial and complex. Multiple models aimed at classifying the potential influences on childhood obesity have been developed. One such model is the social ecological model, a widely used model that recognizes the interplay between factors at the individual (e.g., sociodemographic characteristics, genetic predisposition, knowledge, attitude), interpersonal (e.g., role of family, friends and other social networks), community (e.g., schools, neighborhoods), societal (e.g. cultural norms, media), and public policy levels as they influence health and health behaviors [ 4 ]. Interventions aimed at promoting healthy behaviors and preventing obesity should ideally consider this complex interplay of factors. More recently, the need to acknowledge the complexity of the linkages, interactions, and feedback loops among and between these different levels, using a systems approach, has been increasingly promoted [ 5 ]. In addition, it has been suggested that adequate participation of stakeholders at different levels (e.g., children themselves, parents in family, schools) and cross-sectoral collaborations are among the factors facilitating the success of interventions in this area.

Parents serve as critical role models to shape children’s healthy lifestyle behaviors including eating behavior, physical activity, sleep, and screen time. Parental poor feeding practices, indulgent parenting style, parental stress, and unsupportive home environment are identified as home and parental characteristics contributing to childhood obesity [ 6 ]. The influence of parents on childhood obesity starts from preconception and across the entire childhood to even early adulthood. Current recommendations are calling for aggressive early childhood family-centered obesity interventions [ 7 ]. Family is the ecosystem system fostering the growth and development of children while being bounded by social determinants of health (e.g., economic stability, built environment, social context, food accessibility). When developing childhood obesity interventions, family should be the active and core partner for decision-making.

Overall, family-based interventions consisting of training, education, and practices are more effective than children-only interventions, and medium-to-strong intensity of parental involvement results in greater short- and long-term effects on controlling childhood obesity [ 8 ]. Active parental involvement is especially significant during maintenance phase to achieve long-term sustained effects. Some evidence even indicates the need to omit children from interventions to be cost-effective, because parents-only interventions have achieved equal or even greater effects on reducing overweight or obesity than targeting both children and parents [ 9 ]. Understanding how families as a system organize and manage lifestyle behaviors can help to tailor an intervention to meet family needs.

Although the positive effects of active parental engagement in controlling childhood obesity are established, optimal strategies to engage parents and the additional effects of parents’ active involvement in obesity prevention and intervention are unknown, especially among adolescents. The constant evolving technology (e.g., internet, mobile phone, social media) provides a promising avenue for actively engaging parents particularly hard-to-reach families in intervention research. However, parental participation usually fades over time along with intervention effects, but acceptability of mobile health interventions among parents are high. Moreover, future intervention efforts should focus on assessing parents’ adherence to interventions, examining the beneficial effects on parents’ outcomes, and exploring the associations between parents’ and children’s outcomes. According to the Family System Theory, family members simultaneously affect and are affected by each other, and the overall family dynamics (i.e., family functioning, family cohesion, interpersonal communication) are more powerful than the dynamics between two individual members [ 10 ]. Grounded in the Family System Theory, family-based interventions need to consider two types of changes: (1) behavioral changes of members at the family level; and (2) dynamic changes on family structure, rules, communication, and responsiveness.

In summary, parents’ role in the prevention of childhood obesity is critical and widely acknowledged. Prevention of childhood obesity however remains highly challenging with intervention effects that are often modest at best and poorly sustained over time. Adequate prevention efforts would require comprehensive intervention approaches targeting the different levels of the social ecological model. Within such approaches, the active involvement of parents and families remains crucial. More research is in this regard needed to explore the mechanisms through which parental involvement can contribute to positive environmental and behavioral changes. Optimal ways to involve parents in childhood obesity prevention efforts also need to be assessed further.

The aim of this collection is thus to contribute to the complex field of childhood obesity prevention through the publication of studies focusing on the priority areas highlighted in this editorial. We invite authors to submit studies with strong theoretical underpinning and making use of recent advances in statistics to explore causal mechanisms linking parental role and the family environment with childhood obesity. Intervention studies demonstrating how best to actively involve parents in childhood obesity prevention efforts are encouraged. We also welcome studies quantifying the impact of parental/family/home-based interventions on changes in behaviors and body weight, but also assessing mediators of such changes (e.g., family social environment), as there is a lack of obesity intervention studies reporting on the latter changes.

Data availability

Not applicable.

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Michigan State University College of Nursing, 1355 Bogue Street C241, East Lansing, Michigan, 48824, US

Jiying Ling

Department of Community Medicine, Global Health, University of Oslo Institute of Health and Society, Oslo, Norway

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Both authors contributed equally to this editorial and share first authorship. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Drs. Jiying Ling and Mekdes Gebremariam are Guest Editors of the Collection “Parenting Role in Childhood Obesity” and editorial board members of BMC Public Health.

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Ling, J., Gebremariam, M. Embracing parenting role in childhood obesity. BMC Public Health 23 , 1118 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16039-2

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The Role of Parents in Public Views of Strategies to Address Childhood Obesity in the United States

Julia a wolfson.

* Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

SARAH E GOLLUST

† University of Minnesota

JEFF NIEDERDEPPE

‡ Cornell University

COLLEEN L BARRY

Policy points.

• The American public—both men and women and those with and without children in the household—holds parents highly responsible and largely to blame for childhood obesity.
• High attributions of responsibility to parents for reducing childhood obesity did not universally undermine support for broader policy action. School-based obesity prevention policies were strongly supported, even among those viewing parents as mostly to blame for childhood obesity.
• Americans who viewed sectors outside the family (such as the food and beverage industry, schools, and the government) as helping address childhood obesity were more willing to support a wider range of population-based obesity prevention policies.

The public's views of parents’ behaviors and choices—and the attitudes held by parents themselves—are likely to influence the success of efforts to reverse obesity rates.

We analyzed data from 2 US national public opinion surveys fielded in 2011 and 2012 to examine attributions of blame and responsibility to parents for obesity, both among the general public and parents themselves, and we also explored the relationship between views of parents and support for obesity prevention policies.

We found that attribution of blame and responsibility to parents was consistently high, regardless of parental status or gender. Support for policies to curb childhood obesity also did not differ notably by parental status or gender. Multivariable analyses revealed consistent patterns in the association between public attitudes toward parents’ responsibility and support for policies to curb childhood obesity. High parental responsibility was linked to higher support for school-targeted policies but generally was not associated with policies outside the school setting. Attribution of greater responsibility to entities external to children and their parents (schools, the food and beverage industry, and the government) was associated with greater support for both school-targeted and population-based obesity prevention policies.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that the high attribution of responsibility to parents for reducing childhood obesity does not universally undermine support for broader policy action. But appealing to parents to rally support for preventing obesity in the same way as for other parent-initiated social movements (eg, drunk driving) may be challenging outside the school setting.

O besity rates have increased steeply in recent decades, with two-thirds of American adults and one-third of American children (aged 2 to 19) currently overweight or obese. 1 , 2 Obese children are more likely to become obese adults, and obesity is associated with a host of chronic diseases, including Type-2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease, whose health effects are cumulative over time. 3 , 4 Consequently, obesity is one of the major drivers of climbing health care costs, with annual health care costs stemming from the obesity epidemic totaling more than $147 billion. 5 For the first time in history, owing in part to obesity-related health problems, the current generation of American children has a shorter life expectancy than does their parent's generation. 6

One important characteristic of the discourse on obesity has been negative depictions of obese adults and children in the news media and elsewhere that may heighten the public's blame of obese individuals and the parents of obese children. 7 , 8 A recent report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) highlighted this concern, noting that negative public attitudes toward obese individuals could have a detrimental effect on efforts to reduce obesity. 9 Even though commentators have expressed concern about the consequences of negative discourse on public attitudes and policy action, 10 , 11 no research has investigated how public attitudes toward the role of parents in the obesity epidemic might influence support for a range of obesity reduction strategies. Our article aims to fill this gap, using 2 national surveys of American adults, including parents.

Parental Responsibility and Childhood Obesity

For many reasons, the public's views of parents’ behaviors and choices, as well as the policy attitudes of parents themselves, may be critical to the success of efforts to reverse obesity rates. Much of the rhetoric regarding obesity policy has been framed according to its impact on children. In the public sphere, children are often viewed as a vulnerable and sympathetic population, necessitating and deserving greater protection from government policies and other interventions. 12 This favorable construction has translated into greater public support for health policies directed at children and, by extension, greater likelihood of their being enacted. 13 In fact, the ethical and legal rationale for government action is particularly strong for issues concerning children or those otherwise unable to make decisions for themselves. 14 Because children have little political power and little control over their own choices, they are largely dependent on others, especially their parents. In regard to obesity, this focus on children has resulted in greater public support for interventions targeted at schools, such as improving the school lunch program, increasing physical activities in schools, and placing greater emphasis on nutrition education and other changes to the school food environment. 13 , 15 – 17 One consequence of this emphasis on childhood obesity may be that the role of parents in the obesity epidemic is heightened and highly scrutinized.

Parents play the primary role in influencing and guiding their children and, indeed, have a vested legal responsibility to do so. Research suggests that accordingly, the news media often blame parents and hold them responsible for their children's obesity, with mothers mentioned twice as often as fathers. 18 High-profile public awareness campaigns also often focus on parents as their target audience, 19 and childhood obesity is frequently equated with individual failings (of both the child and the parent), and even parental abuse and neglect. 18 , 20 Despite the accumulated evidence on the environmental and societal determinants of obesity, the scientific literature has concentrated on individual behavioral determinants and, when talking about childhood obesity, modifiable parental behaviors that may cause obesity. 21 , 22

Mothers, in particular, are singled out and blamed for their children's health problems, especially for weight-related health problems. 23 – 25 Blaming mothers for their children's negative outcomes has a long history and is related to both the unique biological connection between mothers and children (pregnancy and breast-feeding rather than the genetic role of both parents) and societal expectations about the proper role of women. 23 , 24 , 26 Women's identities are often intertwined with their role as mothers, and with mother blaming pervasive in the media and even from health care providers, mothers can, in turn, internalize this and blame themselves when their children struggle with weight problems. 27 , 28

Causal Attributions, Parents, and Policy Support

Beliefs about the causes of a given social problem (causal attribution) influence beliefs about who is responsible for addressing the problem (solution attributions). 29 Causal attribution theory—as most often associated with the scholarship of the social psychologist Bernard Weiner—suggests relationships among several key variables on the pathway between perceptions of a problem's cause and ultimate policy support. 30 According to Weiner's theory of social motivation, the cause of a problem elicits attitudes about responsibility, which in turn lead to emotional reactions and shape policy preferences. When a problem's cause is presumed to be under the internal control of individuals, those individuals (such as parents or the overweight children themselves) are presumed to be responsible for solving the problem. This assignment of responsibility then triggers a negative emotional arousal and a preference for punitive policies. In contrast, when a problem's cause is presumed to be outside individual control, individuals are not held responsible, a sympathetic reaction is evoked, and people prefer policies offering help. 29

Differences in the ways that men and women approach social problems and develop preferences for policy approaches to these problems may also result in gender differences in the relationship between causal attributions and support for specific policy solutions. 31 In general, research has shown that women are more supportive of government programs than men are and that at least some of these differences may be attributed to differences in emotional responses to social problems. Overall, women tend to have a more nurturing response and are more concerned with policies’ consequences on target groups than men are. 31 A gender gap may be exacerbated by the media's tendency to emphasize the role of mothers in childhood obesity. A similar “parenthood gap” may be found between parents and nonparents, as evidence shows that parenthood (even among men) elicits attitudes similar to those typically reported by women. 32 , 33

Since public discourse regarding social issues often involves assigning blame for causing the problem and responsibility for solving it, 34 , 35 it makes sense that discourse regarding childhood obesity would emphasize the role of, and place blame on, parents. But theory and prior public opinion research suggest that perceptions of individual blame are related to heightened perceptions of personal responsibility for the problem, which in turn can compromise support for collective societal action to address social problems. 16 , 29 , 35 – 37 Thus, the emphasis on personal responsibility for obesity, and the impulse to place blame on parents and hold them responsible for addressing their children's weight problems, could hinder meaningful government action to address the environmental and systemic conditions that have contributed to the rise in obesity.

The degree to which parents themselves internalize feelings of blame (if they have overweight children) or responsibility (regardless of their children's weight status) could reinforce a personal responsibility frame more strongly among parents than among individuals without children. Conversely, parents may have a greater understanding of the challenges involved in raising children and may instead emphasize the need for environmental or societal policies to make their job as parents easier. We tested both of these possibilities.

Public Attributions of Blame and Responsibility to Parents

In recent years, several public opinion surveys have asked Americans how much parents are to blame or are responsible for obesity generally and about childhood obesity specifically. Together, these data suggest that the vast majority of the public attribute a high level of responsibility and blame for obesity to parents, with very little change between 2004 and 2012 (see Table ​ Table1). 1 ). In 2004, Evans and colleagues found that 91% of respondents held parents highly responsible for addressing childhood obesity, 16 and in 2012, Barry and colleagues found that 95% of respondents held parents highly responsible for childhood obesity. 7 Two other opinion surveys, conducted in 2006 and 2012, found that 87% of respondents held parents highly responsible for addressing obesity. 38 , 39

National Public Opinion Studies of Americans’ Attributions of Blame and Responsibility for Obesity in the United States, 2004-2012

Attribution of responsibility to parents is consistently much higher than attributions to other actors, such as schools, health care providers, the food industry, and the government. 7 , 16 , 38 , 39 When Lusk and Ellison inquired about blame for obesity in general (not childhood obesity), they found that 59% of respondents held parents highly responsible. 40 In comparison, 35% of respondents blamed the food and beverage industry, and only 18% blamed the government. 40 While attribution of responsibility to parents is consistently high, from 2004 to 2012, attribution of responsibility to schools, health care providers, the food and beverage industry, and the government increased by 20% to 30% 7 , 16 , 38 , 39 even though the attributions did not rise above 50% to any of these external actors until 2012. 7

Objectives of Our Study

Our study examined public perceptions of the role of parents in the obesity epidemic, as well as how these perceptions differ between nonparents and parents themselves. While previous literature has examined the determinants of public support for obesity policies, 41 none to date have examined how varying responsibility attributions influence support. To remedy this, we first looked at public attitudes toward the parents of overweight or obese children overall and by gender or parental status. Second, we examined whether support for obesity prevention policies differed by parental status. Finally, we explored whether public beliefs about high levels of parent responsibility for childhood obesity translated into lower support for obesity prevention policies, controlling for respondent sociodemographic characteristics and political attitudes.

We fielded 2 web-based national surveys using the GfK survey research panel (formerly Knowledge Networks). GfK recruits panel members through random-digit dialing and equal probability, address-based sampling that covers 97% of American households, including those without landlines and with unlisted phone numbers. Respondents without Internet access are provided a laptop computer and free Internet access when they agree to participate. GfK maintains a panel of approximately 50,000 adults who answer, on average, 2 surveys per month and are rewarded with small incentives. The GfK panel is commonly used for survey research to produce nationally representative estimates of attitudes or behaviors, including public opinion studies across a wide array of academic fields and studies published in high-profile peer-reviewed medical journals. 42 – 44

For the first survey, which we will refer to as the Responsibility and Blame Survey ( n = 439), we randomly sampled adults between the ages of 18 and 64 to participate in a survey of attitudes and beliefs regarding who is to blame and where responsibility lies for addressing childhood obesity. The Responsibility and Blame Survey was carried out in January and February 2011. The survey's completion rate—the percentage of GfK panel participants who were selected to complete the survey who did so—was 66.5%. (The initial rate for GfK panel recruitment at the time of this study was 16.6%.)

In January and February 2012, we conducted a nationally representative survey-embedded experiment to elicit attitudes toward the obesity problem and its consequences (results reported in Gollust et al. 2013). 45 The survey completion rate was 68.6% ( n = 2,494). (Here again, the initial rate for GfK panel recruitment was 16.6%.) For this study, we analyzed data on attitudes among respondents randomized to the control arm of the study ( n = 408), who were not exposed to any message as part of the experiment. We will refer to this second survey as the Policy Support Survey. For both of these surveys, we used survey weights provided by GfK to ensure that the final samples were representative of the US population. Table ​ Table2 2 compares the unweighted and weighted characteristics of the samples for both surveys with the national rates from the Current Population Survey (2010) and the National Election Study (2008).

Unweighted and Weighted Characteristics of Study Samples From the 2011 Responsibility and Blame and the 2012 Policy Support Surveys Compared With National Rates

The dependent variables from the Responsibility and Blame Survey that were of interest to us concerned the level of blame and responsibility attributed to parents of obese children, the food and beverage industry, and the government for addressing the problem of childhood obesity. Specifically, we asked the respondents, “In your opinion, how much responsibility do you think each of the groups have for addressing the problem of childhood obesity in the U.S.?” and “In your opinion, how much are each of the groups listed to blame for the problem of childhood obesity in the U.S.?” The order of the questions was randomized. Here we report the responses to blame and responsibility attributed to parents of obese children. In addition, we asked about the level of anger and sympathy the respondents felt toward parents of obese children. We quantified all these outcome measures on 7-point Likert scales, from 1 for “not at all (to blame, responsible, angry, or sympathetic)” to 7 for “completely (to blame or responsible)” or “extremely (angry or sympathetic).” To examine whether the respondents viewed blame and responsibility (and anger and sympathy) differently, we calculated the correlations among these 4 variables. The correlation between blame and responsibility was relatively high (0.64), suggesting that respondents viewed blame and responsibility as interrelated constructs in the context of childhood obesity. The other correlations were considerably lower; the next highest was between blame and anger (0.42), and all the rest fell below 0.30. We first examined the full distribution of the 7-point scale and created dichotomous variables for these responsibility attributions, coded as 1 if the respondent answered between 6 and 7 on the 7-point scale and 0 if they chose 5 or lower.

The Policy Support Survey measured the level of responsibility for the problem of childhood obesity that the respondents attributed to children, parents, schools, the food and beverage industry, and the government. The question in the Policy Support Survey was, “Please tell me how much responsibility you believe each of the following should have for the problem of childhood obesity in the United States.” Unlike the Responsibility and Blame Survey, the Policy Support Survey asked about parents in general, not specifically parents of obese children. Similar to the Responsibility and Blame Survey, these outcomes were measured on a 7-point Likert scale from 1 for “hardly any” to 7 for “a great deal.” After confirming that the responsibility attributions for schools, the food and beverage industry, and the government were highly correlated (Cronbach's alpha 0.81), we constructed a new variable, “external responsibility,” averaging each respondent's ranking of these 3 responsibility attributions.

The Policy Support Survey measured the respondents’ support for 12 policies aimed at curbing childhood obesity that have been considered at the national, state, and local levels. We chose these policies based on a review of legislative databases. 46 , 47 The introduction to the policy battery was, “There are many different ways that we as a society could deal with the issue of obesity in children. Which of these strategies would you support and which would you oppose?” We showed the respondents the policies in a randomized order and again used a 7-point Likert scale to measure policy support, in this case ranging from 1 for “strongly oppose” to 7 for “strongly support.”

Both the Responsibility and Blame Survey and the Policy Support Survey collected a range of demographic characteristics, but we were most interested in parental status and gender. Parental status was determined by a positive response to a survey question about the presence in the household of children under the age of 17. In our multivariable analyses of policy support (using Policy Support Survey data), we included age (treated continuously); education, categorized into 3 mutually exclusive categories (less than high school, some college, or a 4-year college degree or higher); and race (white versus nonwhite). We also controlled for political ideology, measured on a 7-point scale from 1 for “extremely conservative” to 7 for “extremely liberal,” and political party affiliation, treated categorically: Republican, Democrat, and independent / no preference.

Analytic Approach

We first examined the full distribution of attributions of blame, anger, sympathy, and responsibility to parents of obese children and then calculated the percentage of respondents reporting a high level (6 or 7 on the 7-point scale) of these attributions overall and by parental status, gender, and gender by parental status. Next, we examined the distribution of support for the 12 obesity policies across the full 7-point scale and calculated the percentage of the population who supported (5 to 7 on the 7-point scale) each, both overall and by parental status. Finally, we used ordered logit regression to examine the association between attributions of responsibility and policy support (using the full range of the 7-point scale for both responsibility attributions and policy support) for each of the 12 policies. The models examined parental responsibility attributions and external responsibility attributions (ie, to schools, the food and beverage industry, and the government), controlling for parental status, gender, age, education, race, responsibility attributed to children, political ideology, and partisan affiliation. By regressing the respondents’ parental and external responsibility attributions on policy support and adjusting for the respondents’ demographic characteristics and political attitudes, we were able to isolate the associations of parental and external attributions separately. In analyses not shown but available on request, we also tested the interaction between parental and external responsibility attributions and found no significant interaction effects. All analyses applied the GfK survey weights that adjust sample estimates to be representative of the US population.

Table ​ Table3 3 shows the attributions of blame and responsibility to parents of obese children for addressing child weight problems both overall and stratified by gender and parental status from the Responsibility and Blame Survey in 2011. The table also reports the respondents’ emotional responses of anger and sympathy toward parents of obese children with respect to the problem of childhood obesity. We found few statistically significant differences by parental status, by gender overall, or by gender crossed with parental status, the exception being that males with children at home (eg, fathers) reported significantly more anger toward parents of obese children than did men without children at home (52% versus 31%). The observed effect sizes were small for these comparisons: Cohen's d for comparisons made by parental status and gender ranged from <0.01 to 0.28. While attributions of blame, anger, sympathy, and responsibility were generally similar for the respondents with and without children in the home overall, those without children in the home did report slightly lower levels for each measure. There were some notable, though not statistically significant, differences (approximately 9 percentage points; Cohen's d from 0.21 to 0.25) by gender.

Public Attributions and Emotional Responses to Parents for Childhood Obesity, Overall and by Parental Status and Gender, 2011 Responsibility and Blame Survey a

Difference between parents and nonparents in gender category significant at * p < 0.05, * * p < 0.01, * * * p < 0.001.

Difference between males and females in parent category significant at +++p<0.001; ++p<0.01; +p<0.05.

No significant differences at p < 0.05 between parents and nonparents overall.

Table ​ Table4 4 gives the unadjusted distribution of support among Americans for 12 different obesity-related policies from the Policy Support Survey. The levels of support varied widely across the 12 policies, but there were no significant differences in support by parental status for any of the policies. The highest levels of overall support were for policies to require schools to prohibit bullying on and off school grounds and to develop rules for punishing bullies (77%), and to require schools to set a minimum requirement of 20 minutes of daily physical activity (81%). The lowest levels of support among respondents both with and without children in the household were for policies allowing school boards to raise funds by selling advertising space on school grounds and buses (21%), requiring a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (26%), and prohibiting fast-food companies from including toys in children's meals (28%).

Public Support for Obesity Reduction Policies, 2012 Policy Support Survey ( n = 408)

No significant difference in overall support by parent status at p < 0.05.

Table ​ Table5 5 reports the results from ordered logit regressions testing associations between the respondents’ parental responsibility attributions and external (ie, schools, the food and beverage industry, and the government) responsibility attributions and their support for 12 obesity reduction policies. Note that the respondents often attributed responsibility for addressing childhood obesity to both parents and external actors. For instance, 37% of respondents indicated that they believed both parents and at least 1 external actor (ie, schools, the food industry, or the government) were highly responsible for curbing obesity.

Association Between Responsibility Attributions and Policy Support, a Controlling for External Attributions of Responsibility and Adjusted for Sociodemographic Characteristics, b 2012 Policy Support Survey ( n = 408)

Table ​ Table5 5 also shows that patterns of association between parental and external responsibility attributions and policy support differed substantially. The respondents’ external responsibility attributions were associated with strong support for all but 2 policies. Support was particularly strong for prohibiting the advertising of unhealthy foods during children's television programs and was highly statistically significant and positive for most of the others. The 2 exceptions to this pattern were that external responsibility attributions were not associated with allowing local school boards to raise funds by selling advertising space on school grounds and buses, a policy that runs counter to the goal of reducing food and beverage marketing in schools, or with support for prohibiting individuals from filing lawsuits against the food and beverage industry.

The pattern of the respondents’ parental responsibility attributions was quite different from their external responsibility attributions. A higher attribution of parental responsibility was positively associated with support for prohibiting people from filing lawsuits against food and beverage companies and was negatively associated with support for a penny-an-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. But it was not associated with any other policies that would be implemented or directed outside the school setting.

The pattern of significant associations between the respondents’ parental responsibility attributions and their support for school-based programs was much more consistent. In most cases, attributing greater responsibility for childhood obesity to parents was associated with more policy support for school-based policies designed to improve students’ health and well-being (prohibit bullying, prohibit unhealthy food in school cafeterias or stores, require physical education) and less support for a policy that could compromise students’ health (allowing more food marketing on school grounds and buses). Note, too, that parental status was not a significant predictor of policy support in any of the models presented in Table ​ Table5 5 and that gender was significant (at p < 0.05) in only 2 instances. (See the Appendix for the full regression model results.)

This study examined public perceptions of who is to blame for the obesity problem, who is responsible for addressing it, and how these perceptions differ by parental status and gender. We also looked at how responsibility attributions to parents and other actors influence public support for policies to curb childhood obesity.

Attribution of blame and responsibility was high among men and women both with and without children in the household. We found few significant differences in attributions of blame and responsibility to parents of obese children (or in feelings of anger and sympathy toward parents of obese children) by parental status overall, gender, or parental status crossed with gender. Women's attributions of blame and responsibility to parents of obese children, as well as feelings of anger and sympathy, were generally similar, regardless of parental status. Men with children in the household, in contrast, did feel more anger and sympathy toward parents of obese children compared with men without children in the household. This is consistent with previous work demonstrating that the experience of parenthood can elicit shifts in attitudes but that the role of “parent” is experienced differently by men and women. 32 , 33 Inconsistent with what one would expect based on Weiner's attributional theory, 29 the level of responsibility that men with children at home attributed to parents of obese children for addressing obesity was not higher than that of women with or without children. Also surprising was the lack of notable differences in policy support by gender and parental status. Women were more likely than men to support prohibiting unhealthy food advertisements during children's television shows and prohibiting fast-food companies from including toys in children's meals, but gender was not a significant predictor of support for all the other policies.

Consistent with previous research and commentary, 9 , 36 , 37 a high attribution of external responsibility for solving the problem of childhood obesity (to schools, the food and beverage industry, and the government) was strongly and positively associated with support for policies designed to prevent childhood obesity. In contrast, the pattern of associations between high parental responsibility and policy support was contingent on the type of policy being proposed. People who held parents highly responsible for addressing childhood obesity were more likely to support a variety of school-based obesity prevention approaches that had the potential to reduce rates of childhood obesity, but parental responsibility attributions were generally not associated with other types of obesity-related policies. High parental responsibility was also linked with greater support for prohibiting citizens’ rights to bring lawsuits against the food and beverage industry.

Study Implications

Given the public's consistently high levels of parental blame and responsibility, it is encouraging that the high attribution of responsibility to parents for childhood obesity does not appear to undermine support for school-based policies designed to reduce rates of childhood obesity. The public thus seems to recognize that parents cannot control their children's influences when they are separated from them throughout the day.

The complex nature of the childhood obesity problem and the multiple and interrelated policy and cultural changes needed to address it comprehensively highlight the importance of mobilizing key segments of the public to put pressure on policymakers and industry to make the changes necessary to curtail rising childhood obesity rates. 48 Parents would seem to be a natural ally in such efforts, given their previous successes in mobilizing against other issues like drinking and driving. 49 Our results are less encouraging for efforts to mobilize parents to support childhood obesity policies outside the school setting. Parents’ values and beliefs must align with the values of a social movement in order for it to gain traction. 50 While we can only speculate, it appears that the high levels of blame and responsibility directed at parents of obese children by those both with and without children in the home may present a major obstacle to building a social movement to mobilize parents to address the social and environmental determinants of childhood obesity.

Dietz, for example, has suggested that the greater mobilization of parents could be an effective political and consumer force to limit advertising to children, although he acknowledges that parents have thus far been largely absent from these debates. 51 One reason for this could be that parents place just as much blame and responsibility for childhood obesity on other parents as on the rest of the population, and therefore they see it as the responsibility of the parents, not the food and beverage industry, to limit their children's exposure to advertising.

The consistently high levels of parental responsibility, combined with the lack of evidence that strategic messaging has affected parental responsibility attributions, 45 suggest the difficulty of shifting these views in the population. In fact, such a shift may not even be desirable, since parents play a critical role in shaping their children's diet and exercise. 22 , 52 Given that parental responsibility attributions and external responsibility attributions are not mutually exclusive and that, in fact, members of the public may hold both parents and other actors responsible at the same time, an alternative approach might be to emphasize that parents’ ability to make healthy choices for their children is inherently connected to and constrained by the physical, social, economic, and information environment in which they live. While some public policies are designed to regulate how the food and beverage industry markets its products (eg, restricting advertising on school grounds), other policies are designed to make parents’ lives easier (eg, prohibiting food companies from enticing children with toys that accompany unhealthy meals). Several authors have suggested recasting the issue of responsibility for childhood obesity as a joint responsibility of parents as well as schools, government, the food industry, and health care providers. 9 , 41 , 53 Increasing the perception that external actors should help address the problem may hold greater promise in encouraging broader support for government action on the issue than attempting to lower public perceptions about parental responsibility for obesity. Future research should explore how to communicate a shared responsibility for addressing childhood obesity in ways that engage multiple sectors and institutions.

One promising route might be to emphasize parents’ universal desire for the best for their children. Even parents who do not make the wisest eating and exercise choices for themselves typically hope for better outcomes for their children. That is, parents’ hopes related to their children's health are not so different from their hopes for their children's educational attainment or other such goals. To explore this empirically, future messaging emphasizing joint responsibility might, for example, combine messaging about the social, economic, and physical barriers to healthy choices with a reminder of the universal parental desire—albeit one that none of us lives up to completely—to provide the best opportunities possible for their children.

Study Limitations

Our study also has several limitations. First, web-based surveys have been criticized for their incomplete coverage and selection. 54 GfK attempts to minimize these issues by recruiting probability-based samples and providing web access to those without it. In addition, because only 16.6% of those invited to be part of GfK's survey panel accepted and of those panel members who were asked to complete our surveys, only 66% to 68% did so, a bias resulting from this self-selection is a concern. Our comparison showing the similarity of our sampled respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics to those found in the national surveys shown in Table ​ Table2 2 mitigates some of this concern. Nonetheless, the extent to which respondents in our samples differed from those who chose not to participate in the GfK panel or from those who did not complete the surveys is not known.

Second, since our survey data included only individuals aged 18 to 64 years old (in order to concentrate on a population with a sufficient number of parents of children in the household), how older individuals would have responded is not known. Given elderly people's active participation in the political process, if their opinions do differ from those represented here, that could affect policy support.

Third, the weight status of the respondents (or among parents, that of their children) as well as how they interpreted who was included in the term “children” (eg, the responsibility attributions in regard to very young children versus teenagers might be quite different) could have influenced blame and responsibility attributions. The Responsibility and Blame Survey did not measure the respondents’ weight status or their children's ages, but the Policy Support Survey did measure the respondents’ weight status and their children's ages, as well as their attribution of responsibility for childhood obesity. We used this second data source to see whether the respondents’ weight status or their children's ages differentially affected attributions of responsibility. We found no significant relationship between the respondents’ weight status or their children's ages and the attribution of responsibility to parents for addressing childhood obesity, thereby reducing concerns about this limitation.

Fourth, although we used a nationally representative sample, it is unlikely that all the respondents were equally knowledgeable about the 12 obesity prevention policies included in the survey. Because we used many local policies, the respondents’ opinions regarding specific policies are likely to have been influenced by how much they had been exposed to debate regarding that policy in their locality. Finally, because our data regarding responsibility attribution and policy support were cross-sectional, we could not draw causal inferences about their relationship.

It is unlikely that the strong and pervasive feelings of blame and responsibility for obesity that are attributed to parents will diminish in the immediate future. But changing these public perceptions may not be necessary to build support for school- and population-based obesity-prevention policies. Policymakers and the public health community should pay close attention to the ways in which the problem of obesity is described in public discourse, and how the framing of the problem affects views of the appropriateness of collective action. A potential unintended consequence of focusing on childhood obesity, as opposed to obesity in general, is the activation of negative thoughts and feelings directed at parents. But if messages about the external causes of obesity can be communicated more effectively, the public may be able to understand obesity as more than an individual or parent problem. School policies like those aimed at removing product advertising from school settings or improving school food offerings could become unifying if they are framed in terms of joint responsibility. A joint responsibility message could emphasize the universal desire of parents to help their children while also recognizing that children spend a lot of time outside the home, much of it in school. Such an approach could lead to a higher attribution of responsibility to factors beyond the family, higher support for policies to address those factors, and greater sympathy regarding the myriad challenges of parenting, without necessitating a corresponding decrease in attributions of parental responsibility.

Ordered Logit Regression Results of Public Support for 12 Obesity Policies, a 2012 Policy Support Survey ( n = 408)

Funding/Support

The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Healthy Eating Research Program (PI: Barry, #68051 and #69173), which had no role in the design and conduct of the study; the collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; or the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures

All authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Sarah Gollust, Jeff Niederdeppe, and Colleen Barry received a grant from AIG Inc. to study policies to address the public health problem of prescription drug abuse.

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How parents can confront childhood obesity

Obesity reflects the complex mix of influences that both genetics and environment have on physical health

Excess weight and obesity in childhood and adolescence has become a serious public health concern in the United States. Today, nearly 1 in 5 children and adolescents are affected by obesity , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Specifically, in 2020, 12.7% of 2- to 5-year-olds, 20.7% of 6- to 11-year-olds, and 22.2% of 12- to 19-year-olds were considered obese. In 1980, obesity affected only about 5% of U.S. children.

This increase has significant implications for the life expectancy of obese youth, who are likely to experience higher rates of hypertension, elevated cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes. Obesity is also associated with poorer mental health outcomes and reduced quality of life.

So, what can be done? It is well established that changes to diet and physical activity are key to combating obesity. However, changes to environmental conditions are rarely discussed. Obesity reflects the complex mix of influences that both genetics and environment have on physical health. It is no accident that there are disproportionately higher rates of obesity among children and families living in underserved communities where environmental resources to support healthy behaviors are scarce.

Environments (particularly in underserved communities) can undermine healthy behaviors in the following ways:

There is a lack of ready access to healthy foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein. Families in poorer communities often live in “food deserts” where supermarkets and grocery stores are scarce or charge higher prices. Instead, they rely on convenience and small neighborhood stores that offer few, if any, healthy food choices. To make matters worse, many underserved communities, particularly in urban areas, have an overabundance of fast-food establishments that are often located near schools and playgrounds.

The built environment in poorer communities, which often has fewer parks, bike lanes, playgrounds, recreational facilities, or walkways, restricts opportunities for children and teens to get exercise.

Families living in high crime neighborhoods are understandably reluctant to allow children and teens outside of the home to play or exercise.

Under-resourced schools in many communities have eliminated or cut back on physical education, an invaluable way to introduce exercise into children’s lives.

What can parents do to push for change in their local environments?

Work with local or city government .

Parents can push for the introduction of affordable transportation (e.g., bus or shuttle lines) to supermarkets or grocery stores currently located outside their communities. 

Parents can also call for local leaders to improve their land use policies by encouraging the construction of parks or playgrounds and restricting further encroachment by fast-food establishments into their neighborhoods. Local governments can also promote the use of vacant land for community gardens or farmers’ markets. 

Parents can advocate for increased community policing to enhance neighborhood safety for their children.

Work with schools and the local community

Schools are ideal sites for community gardens from which healthy fruits and vegetables can be harvested and sold inexpensively to local residents. These gardens can be used to benefit children’s education as they learn about basic biology as well as healthy eating and nutrition.

Parents can push for more after-school programs that incorporate physical activity or nutrition education.

Parents can pressure schools to eliminate the use of vending machines on school grounds.

Parents along with members of the community can volunteer to coach afterschool sports (e.g., Little League, softball, basketball, etc).

What can parents do at home to impact their child's dietary habits and preferences?

Incorporate healthier foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein into the family’s diet and limit consumption of processed foods, which often have high amounts of refined sugar, starch, salt, or fat.

Sit down to enjoy nutritious meals with their children. Research has shown that children readily like foods presented in positive contexts.

Make water easily available throughout the day and limit sugary drinks.

Limit the amount of time children spend doing sedentary activities such as watching television, playing video games, or surfing the web. Instead, encourage children to find fun activities to do with family members or on their own that involve more activity.

Encourage good sleep habits to help children and adolescents routinely get a good night’s sleep. 

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Psychology topic: Obesity

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Childhood Obesity: The Parents’ Responsibility

Introduction.

Childhood obesity is a complex disease characterized by exceeding the age-growth norm of a child’s body weight. One should recognize that obesity in children has spread in many countries over the past three decades, and today this phenomenon represents a severe global concern (Han et al. 1). The condition, noticed in childhood, is more likely to pass into adulthood, entailing extremely unpleasant consequences such as hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases (Wolfson et al. 74). On the one hand, Marshall et al. (165) suggest that the manifestation of this problem is reflected in the complex interaction of genetic, environmental and behavioral factors. Nevertheless, based on numerous studies, it becomes clear that family attitudes are becoming a critical aspect in the development of overweight in youngsters. Most parents tend to ignore a child’s extra pounds, arguing that this situation disappears with the growth process, but the reality is entirely different afterward. Childhood obesity is the fault of undemanding, unresponsive, and irresponsible parents.

Parents’ Responsibility for Their Child’s Serious Illness: Argumentation

Primarily, one must emphasize that taking care of a child’s health is one of the most important responsibilities of parents. Lindsay et al. (170) claim that adults play a crucial role in creating an environment conducive to healthy eating and physical activity among kids and adolescents. At least this statement often comes from the media blaming parents for the problem, and mothers are mentioned more often than fathers (Wolfson et al. 75). Accordingly, it is noteworthy that mothers are positioned as the primary guardians responsible for the child’s physical potential within the framework of ensuring future collective prosperity (Woolhouse et al. 286). Nonetheless, equally, fathers and mothers are key agents of early socialization in relation to eating habits (Marshall et al. 168). Hence, they are additionally answerable for instilling a clean lifestyle and “good” habits for health. Consequently, the presence of excess body fat in children may result from a combination of various moments, mainly the parents’ fault.

Parents are role models for the younger generation, and their behavior, habits, and lifestyle can be a priority in raising a child. If parents are overweight, they send their children a simple message: “being fat is good,” and because kids want to be like them, they also start to gain weight. On the contrary, children will most likely follow this example if a parent rarely does sports and loves junk food. Unfortunately, this lifestyle leads to the accumulation of fat, which ultimately causes health problems. In this situation, if a mother and father want their offspring to grow up healthy and beautiful, they need to “show their best side” because children copy their parents’ image and manners, even if it happens unconsciously.

In brief, parenting methods and behavior patterns, in combination with lifestyle features, have a powerful impact on a child’s level of physical activity and diet. It is essential to remember that children have little power and little control over choices; they are entirely dependent on adults (Wolfson et al. 75). For illustration, parents’ laziness, which is expressed in the inability to provide a healthy diet or restrictions in cooking from scratch can serve not only as a poor example but also lead to childhood obesity, mainly due to eating semi-finished products (Woolhouse et al. 293). If parents do not prepare fresh salads at home, such food is unusual for children and, as a result, is not tasty, and if parents do not support a healthy diet in the child’s family, then there is no point in schools and kindergartens trying. Furthermore, children tend to beg their parents for the desired product from advertising, which is not always healthful (Marshall et al. 166). In this case, parents who indulge their children’s lead initially lay terrible habits that lead to the accumulation of fats.

Parents have the right to control their children, their steps or choice, trying to protect them from all troubles and make their life better based on the principles of a healthy lifestyle. Most often, children’s access to “unhealthy” snacks and their consumption largely depends on parental approval (Marshall et al. 172). The choice of foods is significant, along with instilling physical activity; the most general rule is to choose food without dyes, preservatives, and flavors. Thus, adults can prevent the problem of children’s excess weight by selecting the “right” food. They should not feed their offspring; if they overeat in the family, a child can devour, and if parents eat right, children will learn from them. Moreover, when a parent promises a child to buy ice cream as a reward for eating vegetables, a logical chain is formed in their head that ice cream is good and vegetables are just a means to an end. The child continues to live with this belief, and the love of unhealthy food grows, eventually leading to excessive fat accumulation.

In this case, parents must inspire, help, mentor, and care for their offspring’s medical condition to avoid childhood obesity. According to Lindsay et al. (169), parents are the most critical force in changing youths’ behavior, as well as their efforts should be aimed at eradicating the problem. For instance, offering appropriate food portions and fostering physical activity are the main tasks of adults in carrying out appropriate preventive measures (Han et al. 4). Healthy eating and active family recreation are the best means to fight against childhood obesity.

Basically, eating habits are formed in the womb and extend to the first years of a child’s life. The type of nutrition of a newborn, the duration of sleep, and the rate of weight gain in the postnatal period are associated with obesity later. For the most part, the impact of parents on the youth’s weight is especially pronounced in the process of educating preschool and school-age children. In this case, Lindsay et al. (179) recommend working on preventing and controlling childhood obesity from the earliest stages of child development and growth in terms of making healthy changes in the home setting, strengthening and supporting a nutritious diet, and regular physical activity. In short, preventing overweight in preschool children can provide health benefits both in childhood and adulthood. The preschool period is crucial for interventions at the level of lifestyle changes to form long-term eating habits and an active lifestyle. From this, one should conclude that parents must focus on offering and taking various amounts of nutritious foods over the years and encouraging physical activity.

Based on the previously indicated factual data, it should be remarked that there is a deep and meaningful connection between the parents’ behavior and the child’s weight. Consequently, the presence of obesity in kids and teenagers is a consequence of the negligence and irresponsibility of their parents. Hence, parents are an example to follow, and the child’s eating habits, as well as their level of physical activity, are the result of upbringing. As practice shows, adults have more power and authority, and their opinion is especially important and significant for a youth. Consequently, this circumstance suggests that “grown-ups” have a greater chance to influence a child, their lifestyle, the quality of physical activity, and food preferences.

Works Cited

Han, Joan C., et al. “Childhood Obesity – 2010: Progress and Challenges.” Lancet , vol. 375, no. 9727, 2010, 1737-1748,

Lindsay, Ana C., et al. “The Role of Parents in Preventing Childhood Obesity.” The Future of Children , vol. 16, no. 1, 2006, 169-186.

Marshall, David, et al. “Families, Food, And Pester Power: Beyond the Blame Game?.” Journal of Consumer Behaviour , vol. 6, no. 4, 2008, 164-181.

Woolhouse, Maxine, et al. “Growing Your Own Herbs” And “Cooking from Scratch”: Contemporary Discourses Around Good Mothering, Food, And Class-Related Identities.” Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology , vol. 29, no. 7, 2019, 285-296.

Wolfson, Julia A, et al. “The Role of Parents in Public Views of Strategies to Address Childhood Obesity in the United States.” The Milbank Quarterly , vol. 93, no. 1, 2015, 73-111.

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3 Childhood Obesity and Parental Responsibility

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Debates about childhood obesity often invoke the idea of parental responsibility. However, the concept of responsibility is far from straightforward. Sometimes it looks backward to attribute blame (or credit). Sometimes it looks forward, in the sense of prescribing who should undertake a particular responsibility. This chapter considers how these meanings are connected and how they relate to the situation of parents–who are often held responsible for childhood obesity, and who certainly have a responsibility for their child’s health and welfare. It argues that there are many reasons to hesitate before blaming parents–not least because so many factors are contributing to the increased incidence of obesity and making parents’ responsibilities more difficult to fulfil. Instead, we should ask how well social cooperation is working to support children’s welfare. That is, we need to consider the responsibilities of other actors, and not just of parents alone.

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134 Childhood Obesity Essay Topics & Examples

If you’re writing an academic paper or speech on kids’ nutrition or weight loss, you will benefit greatly from our childhood obesity essay examples. Besides, our experts have prepared a list of original topics for your work.

ESSAY Ethical Family Interventions for Childhood Obesity

E-mail this article: (259K) to view PDF files. • • • • • • • Mandy L. Perryman, PhD Suggested citation for this article: Perryman ML. Ethical family interventions for childhood obesity. Prev Chronic Dis 2011;8(5):A99. http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2011/sep/11_0038.htm . Accessed [ date ]. No dialogue about ethical interventions in the treatment of childhood obesity would be complete without including the role of family, particularly parents, in influencing their child’s diet and physical activity. However, health experts have been hesitant to address this issue. Ethical concerns for family-based interventions include parents’ rights and responsibilities to protect their children, perceptions of obesity as child abuse or neglect, and the parents’ role as decision makers on their child’s behalf because of the child’s limited capacity to comprehend the risks and benefits of treatment. Family-based interventions are programs that target parents and children in creating a healthy lifestyle, which is difficult as families are confronted with an obesogenic food environment and have sedentary behaviors. Interventions that focus on improving overall family health are an ethical and effective way to decrease childhood obesity. At a young age, children learn to assimilate their parents’ health-related beliefs and behaviors; therefore, environment and genetics can contribute to childhood obesity. In a family with 1 overweight parent, the child has a 40% chance of becoming overweight (1). If both parents are overweight, the risk increases to 80%, compared with 7% in a family in which neither parent is overweight (1). The overweight parent is considerably more likely to diet and make disparaging remarks about himself or herself in the presence of the obese child (2). These behaviors model an unhealthy self-concept for the child, which can result in an inferior body image and low self-esteem. Therefore, incorporating the family in ethical interventions for childhood obesity is imperative. Back to top Parents’ Rights and Responsibilities Within legal boundaries, parents have the right to raise their children as they wish, and they have the responsibility to protect their children from harm. This creates an ethical dilemma when children become obese. Because parents have the right to raise their children according to their own value system, the choices that parents make for themselves concerning diet and physical activity are likely to be the same choices that they make for their children. The decisions that parents make about the family’s lifestyle affect their child’s current and future mental and physical health. Since parents have the right to manage the nutrition and activity of their children, they are ultimately responsible for their child’s obesity. Though childhood obesity is far more complex than parental choices alone, and no one decision or action can cause obesity, some child health advocates suggest that, by failing to prevent obesity, parents are accountable for indirect harm or negligence to their child (3). Child Abuse or Neglect Legally, child abuse is often defined as behavior or lack of action that results in damage to a child or puts a child at risk of injury. Ethically, parents have an obligation to provide for their child’s needs and to do no harm. Severe or chronic abuse or neglect can lead to the involuntary termination of parental rights and criminal charges. In 2008, the Child Welfare League of America reported that many state courts have expanded their definition of medical neglect to include morbid obesity and then ruled that certain children were victims of neglect because of their obesity (4). For example, the mother of a 14-year-old was arrested and charged with criminal neglect because her son weighed 555 pounds (5). Some child health advocates support such decisions and view childhood obesity as harm to the child by the parent. Parents as Decision Makers Parents act as decision makers for their children in the areas of nutrition and activity because children do not yet possess the maturity and capacity needed to make health-related choices. This is an ethical issue because parents are acting on the child’s behalf while having a vested interest in the outcome of those choices. Consequently, parents are biased to their own worldview and are inclined to make decisions for the child that benefit themselves, the family, or both. Parents make food choices, monitor sedentary behaviors, and engage children in physical and social activities. Decisions made by parents of an obese child may include putting the child on a diet. This can be isolating for the child and may lead to further body dissatisfaction. One study reported that 50% of children in grades 3 to 6 wanted to be thinner, and approximately one-third of them were actively trying to change their weight (6). Seventy-five percent of these children reported having learned about dieting from someone in their family, usually a parent (6). In other studies, half of children aged 9 to 11 years were sometimes or very often on diets, and 82% of their families were sometimes or very often on diets (7). Continuing to put young children on restrictive diets perpetuates the cycle of weight loss–weight gain and reinforces a negative self-concept. Parents may choose a more inclusive method to address childhood obesity: family-based interventions. Family-based interventions are community-based public health programs that empower the entire family to reduce sedentary behaviors (eg, watching television, playing video games, using the computer) and to increase good nutritional choices (eg, eating fresh fruits and vegetables). The family also practices problem solving and begins to restructure its thinking to change learned unhealthy behavior patterns (eg, snacking when stressed, cleaning one’s plate). Family-based models have been implemented since the 1980s, and although their design and execution vary, familial involvement and positive support have been demonstrated to be important for reducing childhood obesity (8). The role of the parent in family-based interventions is to reinforce healthy behaviors, reward optimal behaviors without using food, set consistent meal and snack times, offer nutritious foods, remove unhealthy foods from the home, and model desired behaviors. Family-based interventions addressing ethical concerns are possible, as illustrated by the National Institutes of Health’s We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition) program (9). This program offers tools and resources for families, health care providers, and communities. Significant improvements in knowledge, attitude, and behaviors were measured in parents and children who participated in the program (9). We Can! provides strategies to eat well and be physically active for families of all economic backgrounds. Barriers to family-based interventions include resource accessibility related to familial socioeconomic status, time caregivers can spend at home, and food availability within communities. For instance, health-focused programs for families, such as the walking school bus, might be offered only in certain areas. The walking school bus is an initiative in which parents walk groups of children to school, thus increasing physical activity (10). However, neighborhoods with dilapidated or no sidewalks, heavy traffic, or high crime rates might not be able to implement a walking school bus. Time and resources for shopping and cooking are also needed for parents to prepare nutritious meals and promote family activity. Multiple jobs and financial obligations make that difficult for certain families. Family-based interventions must be tailored to include parents with limited income. Requiring parents to provide resources they are unable to afford is an example of an unethical intervention. Lastly, substantial attention has been given to today’s food deserts: urban areas inhabited by ethnically diverse families where nutritious food is scarce and expensive. Often when families do want to buy more healthful foods, these foods are not readily available to them. Family dynamics play a major role in childhood obesity; yet, health experts have been reluctant to acknowledge the family in ethical interventions for childhood obesity. As interventions are developed, consideration needs to be given to societal factors, such as the obesogenic food environment, the propensity toward sedentary behaviors, and the limited financial resources of communities. Family factors must also inform the conception of childhood obesity interventions, such as parents’ rights and responsibilities to protect their children, perceptions of obesity as child abuse or neglect, and the parents’ role as decision makers on their child’s behalf. Through ethical family-based interventions focused on nutrition and physical activity, the entire family can create and maintain a healthy lifestyle, which is essential in preventing and treating childhood obesity. Acknowledgment This article highlights ideas generated and conclusions reached at the Symposium on Ethical Issues in Interventions for Childhood Obesity, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Data for Solutions, Inc. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provided financial support for this article. Author Information Mandy L. Perryman, PhD, Lynchburg College, 1501 Lakeside Dr, Lynchburg, VA 24501-3199. Telephone: 434-544-8067. E-mail: [email protected] . Sears W, Sears M, Sears J, Sears R. The healthiest kid in the neighborhood: ten ways to get your family on the right nutritional track. New York (NY): Little, Brown and Co; 2006. Jacobi C, Agras WS, Hammer L. Predicting children’s reported eating disturbances at 8 years of age. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2001;40(3):364-72. Lotz M. Childhood obesity and the question of parental liberty. J Soc Philos 2004;35(2):288-303. Child Welfare League of America. Childhood obesity: Is it abuse? Children’s Voice 2008;17(4). Barnett R. S.C. case looks on child obesity as child abuse. But is it? USA Today; July 23, 2009. http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2009-07-20-obesityboy_N.htm. Accessed January 7, 2011. Schur EA, Sanders M, Steiner H. Body dissatisfaction and dieting in young children. Int J Eat Disord 2000;27(1):74-82. Hoek HW. The distribution of eating disorders. In: Brownell KD, Fairburn CG, editors. Eating disorders and obesity: a comprehensive handbook. New York (NY): Guilford Press; 1995. p. 207-11. Epstein LH, Paluch RA, Roemmich JN, Beecher MD. Family-based obesity treatment, then and now: twenty-five years of pediatric obesity treatment. Health Psychol 2007;26(4):381-91. We can! (Ways to enhance children’s activity and nutrition). Bethesda (MD): US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; 2010. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/wecan/about-wecan/index.htm. Accessed September 15, 2010. US Department of Transportation, Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center for the Partnership for a Walkable America. Starting a walking school bus. Washington (DC): US Department of Transportation. http://www.walkingschoolbus.org/. Accessed September 15, 2010. Privacy Policy | Accessibility CDC Home | Search | Health Topics A-Z This page last reviewed March 30, 2012 Our studies homepage NCDS homepage NCDS Age 62 Sweep NCDS Age 55 Sweep NCDS Age 50 Sweep NCDS Age 46 Sweep NCDS Age 44 Biomedical Sweep NCDS Age 42 Sweep NCDS Age 33 Sweep NCDS Age 23 Sweep NCDS Age 16 Sweep NCDS Age 11 Sweep NCDS Age 7 Sweep NCDS Birth Sweep BCS70 homepage BCS70 Age 51 Sweep BCS70 Age 46 Biomedical Sweep BCS70 Age 42 Sweep BCS70 Age 38 Sweep BCS70 Age 34 Sweep BCS70 Age 30 Sweep BCS70 Age 26 Sweep BCS70 Age 16 Sweep BCS70 Age 10 Sweep BCS70 Age 5 Sweep BCS70 Birth Sweep Next Steps homepage Next Steps Age 32 Sweep Next Steps Age 25 Sweep Next Steps Age 20 Sweep Next Steps Age 19 Sweep Next Steps Age 18 Sweep Next Steps Age 17 Sweep Next Steps Age 16 Sweep Next Steps Age 15 Sweep Next Steps Age 14 Sweep MCS homepage MCS Age 23 Sweep MCS Age 17 Sweep MCS Age 14 Sweep MCS Age 11 Sweep MCS Age 7 Sweep MCS Age 5 Sweep MCS Age 3 Sweep MCS Age 9 months Sweep COVID Social Mobility & Opportunities Study Children of the 2020s study Early Life Cohort Feasibility Study Our research homepage Applied statistical methods Survey methodology COVID-19 survey findings Initial findings from the Millennium Cohort Study Age 17 Sweep Initial findings from the Next Steps Age 25 Sweep Publications and resources homepage Bibliography Documentation Guide to the document types Briefings and impact Working papers Data access and training homepage Exploring our data Data access Genetic data and biological samples Linked data COVID-19 survey Proposing data linkages and enhancements Training and support Handling missing data Citing our data Get in touch Join our mailing list Mothers are not to blame for our childhood obesity crisis This article was first published in The Times on Monday, 25 March 2019 The number of obese children and teenagers across the world has increased tenfold over the past four decades and it is estimated that about one in four 14-year-olds in the UK is either overweight or obese. It is no exaggeration to say that childhood obesity represents one of the biggest public health challenges facing our society with far-reaching immediate and long-term consequences. At the same time, a much more positive social change has taken place. Women are better represented in the workplace than ever before — creating a more diverse labour force and increasing financial resources for many families. However, this also puts additional pressures on working parents who are trying to juggle multiple roles. Myself and another colleague at the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies conducted research to better understand the link between parental employment and children’s weight. We analysed data of more than 7,800 children born across the UK in 2000-01, who are being followed by the Millennium Cohort Study . We examined information on children’s BMI from age three to age 14, reports on parents’ employment and partnership status, data on children’s diet from age five to 14 and levels of activity from age three to 14. We took into account a range of background factors, including ethnicity, family structure and household income, as well as mother’s level of education, health and mental health. The study found that children in homes where both parents work are more likely to be overweight compared with those from families where mothers stay at home. The link was even stronger for children of single working parents. The findings hit the media last week with some overblown headlines claiming that working mothers were to “blame” for the child obesity crisis. Some even suggested that we, as scientists, were pointing the finger at mothers. As a mother of three myself, the irony of this was not lost on me. However, the fact that we found a link between children’s BMI and mothers’ work, but not fathers’, does not mean mothers are to blame. Quite the contrary. Obesity is complex and there are a great many factors at play. On the one hand, working parents have less time to prepare meals and their children may spend more time with other family members and/or in childcare – with implications for food intake and physical activity. On the other, an increase in household income may be beneficial for children’s weight as healthier and more nutritious foods are typically more expensive than more affordable processed foods. The most likely explanation of our findings is that women are still taking on a disproportionate share of household and childcare responsibilities. That would explain why, when mothers become more stretched for time, we see a potential knock-on effect on their children’s weight. And that’s why it is so important that fathers and childcare providers play an equal role in keeping children healthy. Programmes encouraging healthy behaviours among children could be better tailored to bring both parents on board and be accessible to all working parents. Informal and formal childcare settings, which are used by a growing number of families, are also increasingly central for promoting early healthy behaviours. There’s no one magic bullet for tackling the issue of childhood obesity. The rise in mothers’ work over the past 40 years has represented a phenomenal, and in our view a hugely positive social change, but it places greater demands on parents. So let’s start talking now about the real issues that matter and have a constructive debate about how we can support mothers, fathers and childcare providers to keep their children happy and healthy to give them the best possible start in life. And stop blaming mothers. Emla Fitzsimons is Professor of Economics and Director of the Millennium Cohort Study at the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, UCL Institute of Education Media enquiries Ryan Bradshaw Senior Communications Officer Phone: 020 7612 6516 Email: [email protected] Find the latest developments and insights from across all our longitudinal studies. CLS Bibliography The CLS Bibliography is a searchable database of published work based on our cohort studies. Search by keyword, author, date range and journal. Data access & training Data from our studies are mainly available through the UK Data Service. We run training to support researchers who are interested in using our studies in their work. Centre for Longitudinal Studies UCL Social Research Institute 20 Bedford Way London WC1H 0AL Email: [email protected] Childhood Obesity Parents are the Blame This essay will discuss the role of parents in the context of childhood obesity. It will explore how factors such as dietary habits, lifestyle choices, and parenting styles contribute to the prevalence of obesity among children. The piece will consider the balance of responsibility between parents, society, and systemic factors like food marketing and availability. It will also discuss strategies for prevention and intervention. You can also find more related free essay samples at PapersOwl about Adolescence. How it works In current years, children becoming more obese in their entire childhood development has become common. Obesity in children could be due to various reasons such as family structure, busy family life experienced in the modern days, and insufficient knowledge of foods containing high calories. Parents ought to be accountable for what they do or fail to do that amounts to a negative influence on their children’s weight and cause them to be overweight or obese during their childhood period. When it comes to knowing who is responsible for childhood obesity, there are various answers. A survey by ACNielsen indicates that one percent of parents accused manufacturers, seven percent blamed TV advertisements, nine percent accused the child, and ten percent blamed companies selling fast foods. According to verywellfamily.com, two-thirds of parents put the blame on themselves. After all, parents carelessly teach their children what to eat, with or without their presence. Imparting healthy eating behaviors in children at a young age is an obligation that every parent should assume with the needed seriousness. What children learn to eat at a young age is likely to remain with them and follow them as they grow in their choice of food and their perspective towards food. Children establish trust in their caregivers from birth to fully believing that whatever a parent says or does, is the best and right choice for them. As such, parents are mandated to do everything necessary and appropriate to offer and sustain a healthy standard of living for their kids. Parents ought to remain dependable in pursuing the required and progressive deeds that will ensure that their children are healthy and well-sustained. Fighting childhood obesity is challenging for busy and large families but is doable. I strongly identify with the National Institution of Health’s recommendations for leading a healthy lifestyle: having more nutritious options for snacks for children to choose from and drinking the suggested amount of water for height and weight, which is usually eight-ounce glasses per day. The suggested amounts of fluid per day are five glasses or one liter for 5-8 years old, seven glasses or 1.5 liters for 9-12 years old, eight to ten glasses or two liters for 13+ years old, remaining active for at least one hour per day and watching the size or amount of what you eat. A poll by Gillian K. Steelfisher suggests that some parents believe limiting the amount of food their children should take is unethical. 44% of parents agree that having children eat healthily is complex; 11% of parents acknowledge that it is expensive to eat healthily; 79% of the parents are not accountable for whether their kids eat healthily or not; 16% of parents have no time to prepare healthy meals, 7% are unaware whether their children eat unhealthy food and 36% of parents say it is challenging to get their children to exercise. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) suggests that children should remain physically active for at least one hour a day. In addition to imparting poor eating habits to their kids, parents can also champion laziness in their kids. Not encouraging children to be physically active is a way parents are encouraging unhealthy habits in children. BBC News magazine (bbc.com) notes that watching the television was an everyday activity among children, and 75% of junior high school children prefer staying at home other than going to a local park. The parent’s responsibility is to teach a child how to be physically active by instilling some exercise habits at a young age. Playing video games and watching excess television contribute more to childhood obesity, increasing the danger continually faced by kids. Minimizing screen time and motivating kids to engage in physical activities can save their lives. Being inactive and sitting for extended periods results in children being overweight. Parents should not blame their children’s overweight by watching the television or playing video games. In any case, the parents give access and allow their kids to play games and watch TV. The parents purchase all these assets and are to blame for their children’s overweight or obesity. According to Discovery News, interactive games can make children active by moving around, thus lessening their likelihood of being obese. The main concern is that children do not play interactive games. Allowing children to watch too much television or play video games excessively is an indication of parents neglecting their kids. According to a 2007 British press, a seven-year-old weighed more than two hundred pounds and had difficulties walking to school. The authorities then threatened to take the child, raising concerns about whether obesity should be termed parental neglect or medical neglect. Child neglect is attributed to the failure of a caregiver to provide or seek the needed medical care. To establish whether obesity is a result of medical neglect, it is essential to assess the given criteria as suggested by these three things: a high chance that serious impending harm will take place, a reasonable probability that forced state intervention will amount in efficient treatment and the lack of substitute options for tackling the problem. Even though it is hard for medical personnel or authorities to establish parental neglect and medical neglect, the debate is ongoing. According to David Rogers, a public health spokesman for the Local Government Association, parents who expose their children to too much food for consumption are guilty of neglect just as much as those who do not give food to their children. A sign that a parent is overfeeding their child is when they serve them equal amounts of food as parents. When you give your child an equivalent portion of food as yourself, you are already exposing your child to more significant health issues. In the same study, a pediatrician observed that obesity is a public health issue, not a child protection problem. When taxpayers’ money begins to aid childhood obesity, it becomes a public issue rather than a personal family problem. Obesity or being overweight in kids is likely to cause healthcare issues that will necessitate the federal and state government to use the money on the healthcare system to aid. The center for disease control (CDC) outlines that there are direct and prospective health dangers concerning childhood obesity, and it can portray severe effects on the body. Overweight or obese children are at increased hazard of having high cholesterol and high blood pressure, which elevates the danger of contracting cardiovascular disease (CVD), breathing issues like asthma and sleep apnea, musculoskeletal discomfort, and joint problems, fatty liver disease, gastroesophageal reflux or heartburn, and gallstones. The future risks include: obese children are at an increased risk of becoming obese adults. Adult obesity is linked with a high risk of numerous health issues such as heart disease, cancer, and type two diabetes. If kids are obese, their condition and disease danger are likely to be more intense in adulthood. Many issues are linked with being obese or overweight and having a high BMI. An individual’s BMI (body mass index) or weight is essential in coining the obesity equation. BMI is an individual’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of their height in meters. A high body mass index may be a pointer to high body size. Apart from the numerous health problems associated with children who are overweight or obese, parents should be aware of the social stigmas around obesity. Bullying and depression are among the leading social stigmas that obese children face. Mental health is essential in the current world dominated by social media. Social media makes it very easy to bully a child or criticize them according to their looks. In 2006, Brandy Vela, an eighteen-year-old, took her life away in the presence of her family. Her decision was informed by the fact that she had received online bullying due to her overweight stature. Her sister Jackie’s report to CNN said that people would come up with fake accounts and message her, but she would not reply. As if that was not enough, they would still attack her again. They would say things like you are fat and ugly, and others would question why she is still here. A patent is responsible for setting an illustration of acceptance regarding their children. Failure of parents to do so for their children results in adverse effects like online bullying, which can be dangerous. With the easy availability and advancement of social media, it is effortless for a child to face bullying online. An online polling site named Debate.org posed the question of whether parents needed to check what their kids did on social media. According to the responses, 40% of parents affirmed that it was necessary to do so, while 60% declined. This data is shocking, given that parents need to be aware of the dangers of the internet and create safety measures for their children. The opposing arguments on the Debate.org site advocate that children ought to be trusted, that they deserve and require privacy, and that parents’ and teenagers’ associations should be founded on trust. Other views accept that the internet is harmful and children’s activities on the web should be closely monitored. One parent argues that parents should be observant of their children’s accounts on social media because it is difficult to know what a child faces on the internet. The internet creates an all different atmosphere where people are behind the screen and can start a series of bullying others, causing imminent danger, hence why parents should be concerned with what their child encounters on social media. Cyberbullies are all over the internet, and they prey on vulnerable feelings such as those of a child. Children copy what they see other adults do, especially their parents. If kids observe their parents drink soda throughout the day, they are more likely to choose the same instead of a healthier drink like water. A study posted on LiveScience.com states that: teens of parents who consume soda daily are at an increased rate by forty percent of drinking soda daily individually compared to teens whose parents do not consume the drink. Teens from parents who take five servings of vegetables and fruits daily are 16% more likely to emulate them than teens whose parents do not consume five servings daily. Almost half of the teenagers (48%) whose parents take soda daily consume fast food at least once a day, while only 39% of teens from parents who do not take soda are likely to consume fast food once a day. Forty-five percent of adolescents whose parents do not consume five servings of vegetables and fruits daily feed on fast food once a day, while only thirty-nine percent of teenagers from parents who do five servings of vegetables and fruits eat fast food once a day. Children are observant of what their parents do, and parents are obligated to model healthy behavior. Past studies indicate that parents who exercise and eat healthily are more likely to raise kids who emulate them. Parents are the determinants of their children’s lives in their role, and this responsibility should be taken with the weight it deserves. As their kids’ initial teachers, parents should assume the crucial role of determining what their children consume and how their children exercise. They should also take entire accountability for what they do or fail to do concerning their children’s lives. Children establish trust in their caregivers from birth to fully believing that whatever a parent says or does is the best and right choice for them. Therefore, parents are mandated to act in every possible and appropriate way to offer and sustain a healthy way of life for their kids. Parents must remain dependable in pursuing the required and positive deeds that will ensure that their children are healthy and well-sustained. A child’s formative years take place in their parent’s care of any other adult as a caregiver. Whatever a child experiences under the care of these adults greatly influences their overall lifestyle. Parents are responsible for establishing a firm foundation for their children’s lives at an early stage. For this reason, parents ought to be accountable for what they do or fail to do, which negatively influences their children’s weight and cause them to be overweight or obese during their childhood period.  So, who is responsible for children’s obesity or overweight? Altogether, parents or guardians of younger children are responsible for the outcomes of all these aspects of the child’s life. The parents take charge of where the food is eaten, what kind of food it is, and how much is eaten. Dietary habits and healthy eating all begin at home. Parents should reflect and make the required alterations concerning their patterns of thought and behaviors regarding how their kids perform concerning diet, fluid intake, and physical exercise. Essential questions a parent should ask is whether they are offering healthy foods to their child, whether they are offering and motivating healthy choices, and whether they are a good role model for their children. Cite this page Childhood obesity parents are the blame. (2019, May 10). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/childhood-obesity-parents-are-the-blame/ "Childhood obesity parents are the blame." PapersOwl.com , 10 May 2019, https://papersowl.com/examples/childhood-obesity-parents-are-the-blame/ PapersOwl.com. (2019). Childhood obesity parents are the blame . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/childhood-obesity-parents-are-the-blame/ [Accessed: 2 Sep. 2024] "Childhood obesity parents are the blame." PapersOwl.com, May 10, 2019. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/childhood-obesity-parents-are-the-blame/ "Childhood obesity parents are the blame," PapersOwl.com , 10-May-2019. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/childhood-obesity-parents-are-the-blame/. [Accessed: 2-Sep-2024] PapersOwl.com. (2019). Childhood obesity parents are the blame . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/childhood-obesity-parents-are-the-blame/ [Accessed: 2-Sep-2024] Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade Hire a writer to get a unique paper crafted to your needs. Our writers will help you fix any mistakes and get an A+! Please check your inbox. You can order an original essay written according to your instructions. Trusted by over 1 million students worldwide 1. Tell Us Your Requirements 2. Pick your perfect writer 3. Get Your Paper and Pay Hi! I'm Amy, your personal assistant! Don't know where to start? Give me your paper requirements and I connect you to an academic expert. short deadlines 100% Plagiarism-Free Certified writers IELTS Essay: Parents and Governments and Childhood Obesity by Dave | Real Past Tests | 8 Comments This is an IELTS writing task 2 sample answer essay on the topic of parents and governments and childhood obesity from the real IELTS exam. Please consider supporting me on Patreon.com/howtodoielts to receive my full, exclusive IELTS Ebooks! In many countries, children are becoming overweight and unhealthy. Some people think that the government has the responsibility to solve this problem. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Some feel that the current global obesity epidemic should be primarily handled by governments. In my opinion, though the state has a key role to play, this is mainly the duty of parents. Those who argue in favor of this contention point to the power of governmental regulation. Governments hold this responsibility not just because their job is to safeguard public welfare but also because they are endowed with the authority to enact real reforms. In some countries, there are strict laws about the products that can be advertised during children’s programming and their maximum sugar and fat content. Countries that do not have strong regulatory bodies to create and enforce these laws naturally have considerably higher rates of obesity. In an ideal world, governments would be more responsible for public health in this crucial area. However, since governments often fail to protect the public interest, parents should take responsibility themselves. Parents can best achieve this by leading by example. If children are not given sugary soft drinks, candy, and eat a diet constituted of mainly vegetables and fruits, they are likely to develop lifelong, positive eating habits. For instance, in nations such as France where food and nutrition are taken very seriously, the majority of children do not grow up addicted to unhealthy American fast food and obesity rates are lower. Admittedly, this can be difficult for parents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who may struggle with finding the time, energy, and finances to provide nutritious meals for their children. In conclusion, government can regulate certain industries but parents must themselves instill healthy habits in their children for there to be a meaningful impact. This issue may have reached a high point and must now be addressed. 1. Some feel that the current global obesity epidemic should be primarily handled by governments. 2. In my opinion, though the state has a key role to play, this is mainly the duty of parents. Paraphrase the overall essay topic. Write a clear opinion. Read more about introductions here . 1. Those who argue in favor of this contention point to the power of governmental regulation. 2. Governments hold this responsibility not just because their job is to safeguard public welfare but also because they are endowed with the authority to enact real reforms. 3. In some countries, there are strict laws about the products that can be advertised during children’s programming and their maximum sugar and fat content. 4. Countries that do not have strong regulatory bodies to create and enforce these laws naturally have considerably higher rates of obesity. 5. In an ideal world, governments would be more responsible for public health in this crucial area. Write a topic sentence with a clear main idea at the end. Explain your main idea. Develop it with specific or hypothetical examples. Keep developing it fully. Vary long and short sentences. 1. However, since governments often fail to protect the public interest, parents should take responsibility themselves. 2. Parents can best achieve this by leading by example. 3. If children are not given sugary soft drinks, candy, and eat a diet constituted of mainly vegetables and fruits, they are likely to develop lifelong, positive eating habits. 4. For instance, in nations such as France where food and nutrition are taken very seriously, the majority of children do not grow up addicted to unhealthy American fast food and obesity rates are lower. 5. Admittedly, this can be difficult for parents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who may struggle with finding the time, energy, and finances to provide nutritious meals for their children. Write a new topic sentence with a new main idea at the end. Explain your new main idea. Include specific details and examples. Add as much information as you can and make sure it links logically. Develop the example fully. 1. In conclusion, government can regulate certain industries but parents must themselves instill healthy habits in their children for there to be a meaningful impact. 2. This issue may have reached a high point and must now be addressed. Summarise your main ideas. Include a final thought. Read more about conclusions here . What do the words in bold below mean? Make some notes on paper to aid memory and then check below. Some feel that the current global obesity epidemic should be primarily handled by governments. In my opinion, though the state has a key role to play , this is mainly the duty of parents. Those who argue in favor of this contention point to the power of governmental regulation . Governments hold this responsibility not just because their job is to safeguard public welfare but also because they are endowed with the authority to enact real reforms . In some countries, there are strict laws about the products that can be advertised during children’s programming and their maximum sugar and fat content . Countries that do not have strong regulatory bodies to create and enforce these laws naturally have considerably higher rates of obesity . In an ideal world , governments would be more responsible for public health in this crucial area . However, since governments often fail to protect the public interest , parents should take responsibility themselves. Parents can best achieve this by leading by example . If children are not given sugary soft drinks , candy, and eat a diet constituted of mainly vegetables and fruits, they are likely to develop lifelong, positive eating habits . For instance, in nations such as France where food and nutrition are taken very seriously , the majority of children do not grow up addicted to unhealthy American fast food and obesity rates are lower. Admittedly , this can be difficult for parents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who may struggle with finding the time, energy, and finances to provide nutritious meals for their children. In conclusion, government can regulate certain industries but parents must themselves instill healthy habits in their children for there to be a meaningful impact . This issue may have reached a high point and must now be addressed . For extra practice, write an antonym (opposite word) on a piece of paper to help you remember the new vocabulary: current global obesity epidemic lots of unhealthy, fat kids today primarily handled by mostly deal with by the state the government key role to play important part in mainly mostly duty responsibility those who argue in favor of people who support contention opinion point to argue governmental regulation the state controlling, making laws responsibility duty safeguard public welfare take care of all citizens endowed with given the power to authority power to enact real reforms make new laws strict laws harsh rules products food items advertised commercials, etc. children’s programming kid’s TV shows maximum sugar most sweetness fat content how much fat in something regulatory bodies government institutions enforce make sure of laws naturally rules of course considerably higher rates of obesity much higher levels of fat people In an ideal world in a perfect world public health how healthy people are crucial area important part fail not achieve protect keep safe public interest for the good of all people take responsibility fulfill a duty best achieve better accomplish leading by example doing things so other people copy you sugary soft drinks sweet colas and drinks diet constituted of mainly food that you eat is mostly lifelong your whole life positive eating habits good diet nations countries nutrition how healthy food is taken very seriously care a lot about majority most of addicted can’t stop eating unhealthy American fast food McDonald’s, etc. obesity rates how overweight people are Admittedly it must be admitted lower socioeconomic backgrounds poorer people struggle with have a tough time with finances money provide nutritious meals give healthy foods regulate certain industries control some fields instill healthy habits make kid’s have consistent behaviors meaningful impact big effect reached a high point got to the highest level of addressed dealt with Pronunciation Practice saying the vocabulary below and use this tip about Google voice search : ˈkʌrənt ˈgləʊbəl əʊˈbiːsɪti ˌɛpɪˈdɛmɪk   ˈpraɪmərɪli ˈhændld baɪ   ðə steɪt   kiː rəʊl tuː pleɪ ˈmeɪnli   ˈdjuːti   ðəʊz huː ˈɑːgjuː ɪn ˈfeɪvər ɒv   kənˈtɛnʃən   pɔɪnt tuː   ˌgʌvənˈmɛntl ˌrɛgjʊˈleɪʃən rɪsˌpɒnsəˈbɪlɪti   ˈseɪfgɑːd ˈpʌblɪk ˈwɛlfeə   ɪnˈdaʊd wɪð   ɔːˈθɒrɪti   ɪˈnækt rɪəl ˌriːˈfɔːmz strɪkt lɔːz   ˈprɒdʌkts   ˈædvətaɪzd   ˈʧɪldrənz ˈprəʊgræmɪŋ   ˈmæksɪməm ˈʃʊgə   fæt ˈkɒntɛnt ˈrɛgjʊleɪt(ə)ri ˈbɒdiz   ɪnˈfɔːs   lɔːz ˈnæʧrəli   kənˈsɪdərəbli ˈhaɪə reɪts ɒv əʊˈbiːsɪti ɪn ən aɪˈdɪəl wɜːld ˈpʌblɪk hɛlθ   ˈkruːʃəl ˈeərɪə feɪl   prəˈtɛkt   ˈpʌblɪk ˈɪntrɪst teɪk rɪsˌpɒnsəˈbɪlɪti   bɛst əˈʧiːv   ˈliːdɪŋ baɪ ɪgˈzɑːmpl ˈʃʊgəri sɒft drɪŋks ˈdaɪət ˈkɒnstɪtjuːtɪd ɒv ˈmeɪnli   ˈlaɪflɒŋ ˈpɒzətɪv ˈiːtɪŋ ˈhæbɪts ˈneɪʃənz   nju(ː)ˈtrɪʃən   ˈteɪkən ˈvɛri ˈsɪərɪəsli məˈʤɒrɪti   əˈdɪktɪd   ʌnˈhɛlθi əˈmɛrɪkən fɑːst fuːd   əʊˈbiːsɪti reɪts   ədˈmɪtɪdli ˈləʊə ˌsəʊsɪəʊˌɛkəˈnɒmɪk ˈbækgraʊndz   ˈstrʌgl wɪð   faɪˈnænsɪz   prəˈvaɪd nju(ː)ˈtrɪʃəs miːlz   ˈrɛgjʊleɪt ˈsɜːtn ˈɪndəstriz   ɪnˈstɪl ˈhɛlθi ˈhæbɪts   ˈmiːnɪŋfʊl ˈɪmpækt riːʧt ə haɪ pɔɪnt   əˈdrɛst Vocabulary Practice I recommend getting a pencil and piece of paper because that aids memory. Then write down the missing vocabulary from my sample answer in your notebook: Some feel that the c____________________________c should be p____________________y governments. In my opinion, though t__________e has a k______________y , this is m_________y the d____y of parents. T__________________________f this c____________n p_______o the power of g______________________n . Governments hold this r______________y not just because their job is to s_____________________e but also because they are e_______________h the a___________y to e______________s . In some countries, there are s_____________s about the p_________s that can be a_____________d during c_______________________g and their m__________________r and f_____________t . Countries that do not have strong r__________________s to create and e_______e these l_______________y have c____________________________________y . I_________________d , governments would be more responsible for p_____________h in this c____________a . However, since governments often f____l to p_________t the p_____________t , parents should t___________________y themselves. Parents can b___________e this by l___________________e . If children are not given s_______________s , candy, and eat a d_________________________y vegetables and fruits, they are likely to develop l_________g, p________________s . For instance, in n______s such as France where food and n_________n are t__________________y , the m______y of children do not grow up a__________d to u___________________________d and o___________s are lower. A___________y , this can be difficult for parents from l________________________________s who may s_____________h finding the time, energy, and f________s to p______________________s for their children. In conclusion, government can r______________________s but parents must themselves i____________________s in their children for there to be a m_______________t . This issue may have r______________________t and must now be a___________d . Listening Practice Learn more about this topic by watching videos from The New York Times YouTube channel below and practice with these activities : Reading Practice Read more about this topic and use these ideas to practice : https://www.healthline.com/health/weight-loss/weight-problems-in-children Speaking Practice Practice with the following topics below from IELTS speaking : Favorite Foods What are your favorite foods? What were your favorite foods as a child? What foods are becoming more popular in your country now? What foods do you not like? Writing Practice Childhood obesity has become a serious problem in recent years. What are the primary causes of this? What measures should be taken to reduce childhood obesity? IELTS Essay: Childhood Obesity Recommended For You Latest IELTS Writing Task 1 2024 (Graphs, Charts, Maps, Processes) by Dave | Sample Answers | 147 Comments These are the most recent/latest IELTS Writing Task 1 Task topics and questions starting in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and continuing into 2024. ... Recent IELTS Writing Topics and Questions 2024 by Dave | Sample Answers | 342 Comments Read here all the newest IELTS questions and topics from 2024 and previous years with sample answers/essays. Be sure to check out my ... Find my Newest IELTS Post Here – Updated Daily! by Dave | IELTS FAQ | 18 Comments IELTS Task 2 Question Types: Advantages and Disadvantages by Dave | Understanding Task 2 Writing | 2 Comments I have collected a variety of advantages and disadvantages essays from the real IELTS test. Enjoy and consider signing up for my Patreon ... IELTS Task 2 Question Types: Two Questions (Double Questions) I have listed here IELTS task 2 questions that contain two questions (double questions) from the real IELTS exam over the last few years - have ... IELTS Task 2 Question Types: Opinion Essays (Agree or Disagree) by Dave | Understanding Task 2 Writing | 13 Comments Here I have collected actual IELTS opinion essays (agree or disagree question) from the last several years - enjoy learning about this task type! ... Submit a Comment Cancel reply You must be logged in to post a comment. Very interessting Thanks, Daoudi! Exclusive Ebooks, PDFs and more from me! Sign up for patreon. Don't miss out! "The highest quality materials anywhere on the internet! Dave improved my writing and vocabulary so much. Really affordable options you don't want to miss out on!" Minh, Vietnam Hi, I’m Dave! Welcome to my IELTS exclusive resources! Before you commit I want to explain very clearly why there’s no one better to help you learn about IELTS and improve your English at the same time... Read more Patreon Exclusive Ebooks Available Now! 24/7 writing help on your phone To install StudyMoose App tap and then “Add to Home Screen” Parents Responsible for Childhood Obesity Save to my list Remove from my list Parents Responsible for Childhood Obesity. (2016, Sep 18). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/parents-responsible-for-childhood-obesity-essay "Parents Responsible for Childhood Obesity." StudyMoose , 18 Sep 2016, https://studymoose.com/parents-responsible-for-childhood-obesity-essay StudyMoose. (2016). Parents Responsible for Childhood Obesity . [Online]. Available at: https://studymoose.com/parents-responsible-for-childhood-obesity-essay [Accessed: 2 Sep. 2024] "Parents Responsible for Childhood Obesity." StudyMoose, Sep 18, 2016. Accessed September 2, 2024. https://studymoose.com/parents-responsible-for-childhood-obesity-essay "Parents Responsible for Childhood Obesity," StudyMoose , 18-Sep-2016. [Online]. Available: https://studymoose.com/parents-responsible-for-childhood-obesity-essay. [Accessed: 2-Sep-2024] StudyMoose. (2016). Parents Responsible for Childhood Obesity . [Online]. Available at: https://studymoose.com/parents-responsible-for-childhood-obesity-essay [Accessed: 2-Sep-2024] The Role of Parents on Childhood Obesity Pages: 9 (2586 words) Parents held responsible for childrens crime Pages: 2 (536 words) Reason Why Shouldn't or Should Parents Be Held Responsible for Their Children's Crimes Pages: 9 (2599 words) Juvenile Crimes: Should Parents Be Held Responsible for Their Children's Crimes Pages: 2 (598 words) Childhood obesity research paper Pages: 7 (1891 words) Childhood Obesity: Causes, Risks, and Outlook Pages: 2 (419 words) Childhood Obesity Solutions Pages: 6 (1716 words) Impact Of Food Advertising On Childhood Obesity Media Pages: 5 (1449 words) Childhood obesity Pages: 4 (1174 words) Has childhood obesity in Britain been socially constructed? Pages: 6 (1527 words) 👋 Hi! I’m your smart assistant Amy! Don’t know where to start? Type your requirements and I’ll connect you to an academic expert within 3 minutes. Sample details Childhood Obesity, Views: 1,020 Related Topics Child Labour Child Abuse Teenage Pregnancy Child Development Child Discipline Single Parent Foster care Parenting styles Parents Responsible for Childhood Obesity “Parental behavioural forms refering shopping. cookery. feeding and exercising have an of import influence on a child’s energy. balance and finally their weight” said diet specializer. Anne Collins ( “Childhood Obesity Facts” ) . Childhood fleshiness has more than tripled since the 1980’s ( “Childhood Obesity Facts” ) . Childhood fleshiness frequently leads to fleshiness as an grownup which can set a individual at greater hazards covering with the bosom. diabetes. and many other corpulent related diseases. Peoples want to fault the schools and today’s engineering for childhood fleshiness. in world. the duty lies in the custodies of their parents. Parents are at mistake for childhood fleshiness. The occupation of a parent is to learn a kid incorrect from right. including their feeding wonts. physical activity. and their overall self-denial. If a kid has no counsel or sense of way to what to eat or non to eat and the right sum of physical activity needed. that kid will hold more trouble transporting out the patterns of it throughout their childhood and into their maturity. Schools encourage and teach pupils wellness of one’s organic structure. but the kid needs to be raised by doing the right determinations inside and outside of the place. Throughout early childhood. the parents are indispensable beginning of children’s nutrient. providing good balanced repasts. promoting ingestion of a broad scope of nutrient. keeping entree to sugary and high fat nutrients will assist forestall unhealthy weight accretion ( Undertaking Childhood Obesity-Who’s Responsibility is it? ” ) . ready to help you now Without paying upfront “Healthy lifestyle habits- healthy feeding and physical activity can take down the hazard of going corpulent and developing related diseases” ( “Childhood Obesity Facts” ) . If a kid Department of Energy non larn the right ways to eat and exert. the kid will hold to set more attempt into interrupting the old wonts. “Parent to a great extent influence their children’s diet and physical activity wonts. and hence. have an of import function in finding whether or non their kids see unhealthy weight addition. ” said professor Marie Murphy ( “Tackling Childhood Obesity-Who’s Responsibility is it? ” ) . Parents need to recognize that they are seting their ain children’s lives at hazard by doing them more likely to develop diseases subsequently in life. In today’s society. engineering has played a large function in everyone’s lives and has taken over. Childs today stay indoors and play on the computing machine. watch Television. play video games. or muss with tablets and smartphones. Several people find other. more entertaining things to make than play outside and be active. Some of the times. physical instruction in schools is the lone physical activity pupils have on a day-to-day footing ( “Obesity” ) . Kids and adolescents would much instead be wrapped up in a societal web than traveling for a occupation or traveling to the gym. Back in the twenty-four hours. playing exterior was one of the few amusements. Parents have no subject and allow their kids do what they want to their organic structures. Technology has caused people to be less active and non as self-controlled doing them to be corpulent or fleshy subsequently in life. “Children and striplings who are corpulent are more likely to be corpulent as grownups. seting them more at hazard for bosom disease. type 2 diabetes. shot. types of malignant neoplastic diseases. degenerative arthritis. bone and joint jobs. sleep apnea. additions hazard for many types of malignant neoplastic disease including chest. colon. endometrium. gorge. kidney. pancreas. saddle sore vesica. thyroid. ovary. neck. and prostate” ( “Childhood Obesity Facts” ) . A individual can increase the hazard of acquiring several diseases if holding bad eating wonts. exercising wonts. and deficiency of self-denial. Lowering the hazard of all diseases can be every bit simple as taking attention of the organic structure. A individual must pattern good wonts before making so though. Parents are increasing the hazard of these diseases by non learning a kid how to properly take attention of their organic structure. “One USDA survey found that childs devouring school tiffin on a regular basis were more likely to be overweight” ( “Childhood Fleshiness: Are Schools Responsible? ” ) . If a kid knows how to do the right determination in what to eat and what is the best for them. it should non count where they are. Schools have to provide healthy nutrients. Healthy nutrient points are available for everyone. so you can non fault the schools. Cafeterias sell a La menu bite points and serve tiffins which are. arguably. non nutritionally sound ( “Childhood Fleshiness: Are Schools Responsible? ” ) . Just because a school puts out unhealthy points and advertises them does non intend you have to purchase and devour the point. The ground schools have them out is because people continue to purchase them. Childs and adolescents are merely at school for one. possibly two repasts out of the twenty-four hours. The bulk of repasts happen outside of school. inside the place. Parents merely do non desire to take the incrimination for doing their childs fat so they blame schools for non learning them how to take attention of their organic structure right. Parents are at mistake for the fleshiness of kids. Teaching right wonts can do for a long life healthy life style. If you raise a kid on good wonts. it will non be difficult for them to follow in the same footfalls and go on that life style into their maturity. Cite this page https://graduateway.com/parents-responsible-for-childhood-obesity-essay-1541-essay/ You can get a custom paper by one of our expert writers Check more samples on your topics Should parents be responsible if their under age child commits a crime. As we get older, our responsibility towards ourselves increases and we become less dependent on our parents. However, it is important to recognize that since the moment of our birth, parents have always provided us with support and guidance. It is worth considering that even though the legal age for criminal responsibility is 10, parents Childhood obesity in London borough of Newham Childhood Obesity According to World Health Organization, health is a state of total mental, social and physical completes as opposed to earlier definitions that it is the mere absence of sickness. Healthcare on the other hand is the preservation of all these through medical services. Urbanization is the migration of people from the rural areas to urban Hypothesis testing on childhood obesity Research Paper Abstract In accordance with Oeffinger et al on the Journal of Clinical Oncology in 2003, childhood obesity is an important predictor of many adult diseases such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and ultimately, cardiovascular disease. Even modest weight gain from age 20 years is strongly associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease. Population-based studies Childhood Obesity: Trends and Potential Causes The Future of Children correlates causes of obesity to calorie intake to lack of calorie expenditure by reviewing research on energy intake, energy expenditure, and energy balance. Youth who consume ‘empty calories’ and work off fewer calories through physical exertion are more likely have obese tendencies than other children. Anderson & Butcher (2006) suggest that Childhood Obesity in United States Childhood obesity has progressed as to what other people may call it as an epidemic here in the United States, and progressively this issue begun in children. Obesity is a measurement of overabundance fat in the body and today, it is classified as a disorder. It is a tragic to know that it is classified Growing Problem of Childhood Obesity Childhood obesity can be very harmful for our nation's children and not only cause health problems but psychological issues as well. We made assumptions when they were young where the fat would melt away and a healthy adult would emerge. Unfortunately for some adolescence this was not the case. One section that I related to Childhood Obesity Issue in United States Childhood obesity is a complex issue within the United States which can lead to immediate health problems as well as future health complications. Childhood obesity is defined by the CDC as children having a BMI at or above the 95th percentile. The body mass index (BMI) is a measurement tool used to determine whether an Problen of Childhood Obesity Essay Obesity leads to significant long-term health consequences. The World Health Organization claims obesity as one of the most prevent and costly health problems facing our society (WHO, 2018). According to the Centers of Disease Control, in the United States, thirty percent of the population suffers from obesity and 1 in 3 children are either overweight Eating The Hand That Feeds: A Look Into Nature Vs Nurture With Childhood Obesity Obesity In America With obesity in America rising more and more every day the question must be asked, who is to blame? Today children ages 2-19 have an 18.5% chance of becoming obese during their childhood and adolescence (CDC, 2020). That being said there must be something that could be done to help kids with weight gain, but Hi, my name is Amy 👋 In case you can't find a relevant example, our professional writers are ready to help you write a unique paper. Just talk to our smart assistant Amy and she'll connect you with the best match. 282 COMMENTS Parental Responsibility for Childhood Obesity Essay Similarly, if parents eat fruits and vegetables regularly, children, nearly 20% are more likely to eat healthy meals than children whose parents do not follow any diet (Driscoll par. 7). That is how parents are responsible for their children's obesity because of their own eating habits. Nevertheless, even if parents lead healthy lifestyles ... The Obesity Pandemic—Whose Responsibility? No Blame, No Shame, Not More Without considering aspects of responsibility, obesity management is severely compromised. There are at least two sides to personal responsibility: medicalizing obesity, which reduces it, and parental supervision, which emphasizes it, since fat children are at high risk for adult obesity ( 7 ). Finally, I suggest an integrated nine-level ... A Discussion of Whether Parents are Responsible for Childhood Obesity Introduction: Obesity in children in the US and Canada is on the rise, and never ending because new parents or parents with experience, either way tend to ignore what is happening with their child. Background: A study at UCSF tells us that "A child with one obese parent has a 50 percent chance of being obese. When both parents are obese, their children have an 80 percent chance of obesity." Childhood obesity: are parents really to blame? Within a modern understanding of health, the fat body is also seen as the failure of individuals to look after their own (or their own children's) bodies. By judging fat people as irresponsible ... Embracing parenting role in childhood obesity Grounded in the Family System Theory, family-based interventions need to consider two types of changes: (1) behavioral changes of members at the family level; and (2) dynamic changes on family structure, rules, communication, and responsiveness. In summary, parents' role in the prevention of childhood obesity is critical and widely acknowledged. Childhood Obesity: An Evidence-Based Approach to Family-Centered Advice The prevalence of childhood obesity continues to rise despite decades of clinical and public health efforts. Early identification of children at risk of developing obesity is essential using newer electronic health systems, which move beyond traditional growth charts to provide a wealth of information about body mass index and other relevant parameters such as social determinants of health and ... PDF The Role of Parents in Preventing Childhood Obesity Ana Lindsay, Katarina Sussner, Juhee Kim, and Steven Gortmaker argue that interven-tions aimed at preventing childhood overweight and obesity should involve parents as impor-tant forces for change in their children's behaviors. The authors begin by reviewing evidence on how parents can help their children develop and maintain healthful eating ... The Role of Parents in Public Views of Strategies to Address Childhood Several authors have suggested recasting the issue of responsibility for childhood obesity as a joint responsibility of parents as well as schools, government, the food industry, and health care providers.9,41,53 Increasing the perception that external actors should help address the problem may hold greater promise in encouraging broader ... Parental Responsibility and Obesity in Children Parental obesity in itself is probably not a true causal factor, since it is difficult to imagine a mechanism by which parental obesity directly produces obesity in the child, but it is probably a proxy for a large number of genetic and environmental parent-related influences on child development. How parents can confront childhood obesity Excess weight and obesity in childhood and adolescence has become a serious public health concern in the United States. Today, nearly 1 in 5 children and adolescents are affected by obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Specifically, in 2020, 12.7% of 2- to 5-year-olds, 20.7% of 6- to 11-year-olds, and 22.2% of 12- to 19-year-olds were considered obese. Childhood Obesity: The Parents' Responsibility Introduction. Childhood obesity is a complex disease characterized by exceeding the age-growth norm of a child's body weight. One should recognize that obesity in children has spread in many countries over the past three decades, and today this phenomenon represents a severe global concern (Han et al. 1). The condition, noticed in childhood ... Childhood Obesity and Parental Responsibility Sometimes it looks forward, in the sense of prescribing who should undertake a particular responsibility. This chapter considers how these meanings are connected and how they relate to the situation of parents-who are often held responsible for childhood obesity, and who certainly have a responsibility for their child's health and welfare. Parents' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Childhood Obesity in Childhood obesity has been established as a major health crisis, threatening the health and well-being of children worldwide (Karnik & Kanekar, 2012).From 1975 to 2016, the global rate of childhood obesity increased from 4% to 18% ().While studies have found that the rising trend of children's and adolescents' BMI in high-income countries has been plateauing since 2000, the BMI of children ... Child Obesity Essay Outline: [Essay Example], 681 words Child Obesity Essay Outline. Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic that has raised significant concerns among health professionals, parents, and policymakers alike. With the rise of sedentary lifestyles, increased consumption of processed foods, and lack of access to healthy options, children are facing unprecedented challenges when it comes ... 134 Childhood Obesity Essay Topics & Examples ️ 9 Tips for Writing a Childhood Obesity Essay. In many countries, obesity is becoming the leading cause of death. From an overabundance of unhealthy food to a tendency to be less active, the habits of parents often transfer to their children, resulting in the acuteness of a childhood obesity essay. Preventing Chronic Disease: September 2011: 11_0038 ESSAY Ethical Family Interventions for Childhood Obesity. ... they are ultimately responsible for their child's obesity. Though childhood obesity is far more complex than parental choices alone, and no one decision or action can cause obesity, some child health advocates suggest that, by failing to prevent obesity, parents are accountable for ... Mothers are not to blame for our childhood obesity crisis The findings hit the media last week with some overblown headlines claiming that working mothers were to "blame" for the child obesity crisis. Some even suggested that we, as scientists, were pointing the finger at mothers. As a mother of three myself, the irony of this was not lost on me. However, the fact that we found a link between ... Essay on Childhood Obesity: the Responsibility of Parents Obesity: Nutrition and Obese Takes Essay. Abu-Jubara Professor Boumarate ENC 1101 CRN#15555 12 October 2014 Parents are responsible for childhood obesity In the beginning they look terribly cute then grow and grow to become terribly obese. There is nothing cute about being obese. In fact, it is life-threatening. Childhood Obesity Parents are the Blame This essay will discuss the role of parents in the context of childhood obesity. It will explore how factors such as dietary habits, lifestyle choices, and parenting styles contribute to the prevalence of obesity among children. ... When it comes to knowing who is responsible for childhood obesity, there are various answers. Need a custom essay ... IELTS Essay: Parents and Governments and Childhood Obesity Write a topic sentence with a clear main idea at the end. Explain your main idea. Develop it with specific or hypothetical examples. Keep developing it fully. Vary long and short sentences. 1. However, since governments often fail to protect the public interest, parents should take responsibility themselves. 2. Parents Responsible for Childhood Obesity Childhood obesity often leads to obesity as an adult which can put a person at greater risks dealing with the heart, diabetes, and many other obese related diseases. People want to blame the schools and today's technology for childhood obesity, in reality, the responsibility lies in the hands of their parents. Don't use plagiarized sources. Essay about Childhood Obesity: the Responsibility of Parents Although children have such an impact on their parents' money I believe there are steps that the parents can, and must, take to improve their children's health. Additionally, by cooking at home instead of eating out, over time parents will end up saving money. A child having. Get Access. Free Essay: Childhood Obesity: The Responsibility of ... ⇉Parents Responsible for Childhood Obesity Essay Example Parents Responsible for Childhood Obesity. "Parental behavioural forms refering shopping. cookery. feeding and exercising have an of import influence on a child's energy. balance and finally their weight" said diet specializer. Anne Collins ( "Childhood Obesity Facts" ) . Childhood fleshiness has more than tripled since the 1980's ... Kolkata doctor's rape case: Parents remember daughter who was ... The parents said their daughter's death had brought back memories of a 2012 case when a 22-year-old physiotherapy intern was gang-raped on a moving bus in capital Delhi. Her injuries were fatal ... assignment essay homework paper phd report resume review speech thesis