The Epidemic of Childhood Obesity in America

Childhood obesity in the United States has become a huge concern for every parent. When I first looked at all of the assignments, read the chapter, and started to do research for a current article about childhood obesity I was in awe. I think the one thing that really stood out the most to me was the statistics, especially the ones on preschoolers in the U.S. that are obese. I have two preschool aged children and this could be a topic that really hits close to home. Neither one of my children are overweight. I know that genetics can play a role in someone being overweight, but I also truly feel that it lies in the upbringing of a child. If a child only eats junk food and has no balanced diet than that is all their body is going to crave. I do agree that if a child is overweight as a preschooler than they are more than likely going to be overweight for the rest of their life and even into adulthood. There is so much publicity on childhood obesity that parents should be aware of the health risks of their child. I just recently moved from New York and just recently there was news article in the New York Post about the lunch menu. That this school district was dropping out of the lunch plan that is popularly known as “Michelle Obama’s school-lunch plan.” They were dropping out of the federally funded program due to actually losing money from students not buying school lunch and instead the students were bringing their own lunch form home. I think this is where children are so use to non-healthy foods and would rather be unhealthy instead of eating right and being healthy. The federal government wants children to eat healthy during the time they are in school, but what about the rest of the time that they are not. This is where parenting comes in to play. If children are not taught from the time are born than