Are Parents Making Kids Heavyweights?

NYT –There’s an underlying assumption here about what adults can control, and about how children can be controlled, if only their parents would take the trouble, or make and enforce healthy rules for the whole family, or read the nutritional information on the back of the cereal box. Certainly, there’s some confusion and disagreement out there about what foods are healthy, even among experts. And of course, some would say that if you’re truly concerned about healthful eating, you’re better off not buying much food that comes in a box. But does better nutritional awareness by parents actually translate into children eating in a healthy way? Obesity experts would say that we all live in what they call an “obesogenic” environment, with fast food heavily marketed, and often cheaper, than food prepared from scratch. Screens distract us from the social give and take of family meals, even while advertising processed foods, and other societal factors encourage everyone to keep on snacking and sipping. But we don’t really understand all the intricacies of why some children eat to excess and become overweight while others, often in the same family, stay lean.

I’m not a parent nor a doctor but I’m gonna give this one the ol’ backseat try.  Lets start with some factual statements:

• Do most American adults consume a western diet full of Junk? Yes
• Are around 50% of Americans parents? Yes
• Are children’s brains technically information sponges throughout their childhood? From what I’ve been told Yes
• Do children spend the majority of their time with their parent? In most cases

Now that we’ve laid out some parameters lets do a nifty If-Then statement:

If most American adults diets consist of unhealthy choices then most children’s diets consist of unhealthy choices

Hmmm…..

Now are their other factors in play? Yes
Are school lunches putting children in a position to lose? Yes
Do kids make Intelligent Choices? Never
Were Lunchables awesome? You Bet

Is there a simple answer? No

I wouldn’t say that parents are making their children fat but they definitely have an influence on the food that their kids consume. A number of other factors are at play and of-course theirs that thing called genetics, but that shouldn’t stop parents from getting involved(they get involved in everything else). Mainly by setting the framework and healthy habits to put their children in a position to win.  The problem is, if parents can’t adapt healthy habits how can we expect their kids to? It usually takes extra time and effort, plus a thing called life often gets in the way.  Naturally our brains opt for simplicity over complexity, nature doing nature things.

Good news is, effort is trainable and coachable, the information is available (and free) so why no action? One could say the very same thing when it comes to normal adults health, change in lifestyle  is difficult and most don’t see it through long enough to allow habits to form. Children follow suit, they are constantly consuming the world and it’s ways, who are their influencers? Well until they discover Logan Paul it’s their parents.  Lets try one more If-Then statement:

If parents put themselves in a Position to Win then they put their children in a Position to Win

Just like being on an airplane, adults must first secure their own mask before assisting others. Now just switch out mask for food and we’re Cookin…