Child Obesity Who is to blame? When I interviewed my Head Teacher, he talked about how he would like to see the council bringing in rules forbidding the surrounding shops to sell food which doesnt comply with the schools healthy eating policy,

 When I interviewed my Head Teacher, he talked about how he would like to see the council bringing in rules forbidding the surrounding shops to sell food which doesn’t comply with the school’s healthy eating policy, certainly,  the shops would lose a lot of business but at the end of the day it should be the children that they are caring about.

When I asked my grandma what she thought of child obesity the first thing she said to me was, “Oh in my day you wouldn’t have caught a fat child walking down my street”. This is definitely true, and the reason for this could be, the family was much closer knit in those days meaning that you did most things as a family. If I was always eating at home I would be a lot healthier because my mum is always giving me my five fruit and vegetables a day and because in the past they didn’t let their children have such a big boundary for life they were always kept a close eye on. Nowadays with even ten year olds being allowed to roam about town eating what they want parents can’t keep such a close eye on their children.  Also children in the past were always running around and playing energetic games outside in the fresh air. We are in such a technological world now with play stations and x-boxes as much as you see the younger generation out in the streets still playing, and having fun, as far as I can remember when I turned about 8 or 9 it wasn’t cool to play in the street anymore.

The main age worry is teenagers from 13 until you become an adult when you are very vulnerable,  just wanting to go out and have fun, rather than care about your figure. I thought about myself when I was thinking of this age category. I watch what I eat to a certain extent but still treat myself when I want to, but I also do at least an hour and a half of exercise a day, which enables me to eat what I want.

Jo Swinson my local MP suggests that we need more leisure facilities in East Dunbartonshire, and even though there has just been a new leisure centre built it is not of the standard for teenagers but more for adults. Also she feels as a nation if we are going to tackle child obesity then we are going to need to put the prices up for these junk food items so that then hopefully no one will buy them, for example the price of a chocolate bar from 50p to £1.50.  I feel that it will influence people to stop eating those little pieces of heaven eventually, but it will take a lot of getting used to for some people.

Celebrities and the media can also influence obesity in different ways, the media tries to show you how perfect all celebrities really are and then makes the public feel as if they aren’t as perfect as celebrities, when really the title of celebrity is merely a title! I feel that if someone sees these perfectly thin people, they will comfort eat to make them feel better and this definitely won’t help the child obesity problem in Britain.

A lot of my research told me that the treatment for obesity was simple, eat healthily – five fruit and vegetables a day would be a start, and exercise daily – an hour a day for children. But I don’t think that it’s as easy to say that. I think that child obesity is a mental and physical cause, and that one of the main causes is the home and the parents of the child. This possibly can’t be solved if very serious but with the right professional psychological and fitness help I feel then someone’s daily routine could be drastically changed.  

The really worrying thing is that we are now being compared as a country to America, which in my opinion started the whole obesity ideas with fast food and junk food! But there is always going to be a way to stop it and at the end of the day no matter how young the individual is it is down to them, their family and their lifestyle to be able to avoid becoming obese.

In my opinion the family is to blame after bringing all my evidence together you realise that most of the problems children have come from the home and this is one problem that has grown from the home upwards. Future plans could be in the aim of schools targeting these families who do not follow a healthy lifestyle at home. Something that I will always remember was said by Jamie Oliver; “it's a way of inspiring people in the sense that if we get started on the problem now then our contribution will be massive” My understanding of this comment is that we can tackle obesity, and hopefully in years to come we will!