Fat Kids, and what we can do about them

I hate to admit it but.... My mom was right! Many, many, years ago I really wanted a Nintendo Entertainment System, yet my parents were dead set against it. All my friends had one, I felt totally left out. My parents warned of a depersonalized society devoid of human contact and decreasing activity in community projects as a result of personal entertainment. I of course thought they were bonkers and plain mean by not rushing out and spending $100, or whatever it cost back in 1990, on a video game system for me to play Mario on. Oh boy is hindsight twenty-twenty.

The breakdown of the American community that has been able to rely on neighbors and friends for literally hundreds of years is responsible for this public health crisis. It's one of our strengths as a Nation, being able to count on each others when it matters most. People today likely don't know their next door neighbors. I'm not going to hunt for studies about this, I'm sure that they are out there for the finding, and I'm certain of what I would find. That Americans know less of their neighbors than they did two decades ago. And we have, FAT KIDS! As a result of living increasingly isolated and compartmentalized lives, our kids are less likely to organize that neighborhood game of football. If parents don't know their neighbors they are less likely to let their kids go play next door, where the kid might actually get some exercise. Of course this may be nothing new, and I would toss it off as such if it weren’t for the alarming rate at which childhood obesity has been increasing as of late. It's wacky that we have to address this topic with such sensitivity. GET OFF YOUR COLLECTIVE ASSES AMERICA!! Young kids should be running around causing all sorts of trouble, not sitting in front of a computer or TV screen. Trust me, you'll have plenty of time to sack out in your 30's, but for now go run, climb a tree, organize that neighborhood football game, etc... Parents - please encourage your kid to go get some exercise!

So, yes my Mom was in fact right (certainly not the first time), that there would in fact be negative consequences to the personal entertainment craze. And here we are, FAT KIDS!

Who Are You Calling Fat?

By Sandra G. Boodman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 18, 2006; Page HE01

Some doctors call it "the other f-word" -- a problem they see on a daily basis but many are reluctant to address: kids who are too fat.

The issue is not new, but experts say it has acquired greater urgency as obesity has ballooned in the past 25 years, accompanied by sharp increases in diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol, conditions that used to be largely the province of those middle-aged or older. In 1980, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 7 percent of children and 5 percent of teenagers were overweight; today the figures hover around 19 percent and 17 percent, respectively. Doctors at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, where 38 percent of patients are obese, say that in recent years they have treated a 9-year-old who suffered a heart attack, a child with a body mass index of 52 (a 5-foot-6 adult with a BMI of 52 would weigh 322 pounds) and several others so dangerously fat that they underwent gastric bypass surgery.

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