We believe the causes of childhood obesity are easily discernible and just as easily dealt with. They are simple: eating to much and exercising too little. We can’t do much about making children exercise more; that’s a job for the parents and the schools. But we can certainly help decide what food is made available to them.
Parents also have a very important role in the education of their children regarding healthy eating habits. The foundation set in the home during a child’s formative years is very difficult to shake. The Catholic church used to say, “give me a child until he is 7 years old, and I care not who has him after that.” Something to that affect any way. The point is that habits we form early on tend to be very difficult to shake in later years.
But that being said, they can be broken, for better or for worse. Even the child who was brought up in the healthiest home may fall prey to a school environment in which there is nothing but junk food surrounding him or her.
We are attempting to do just that. When we can stem junk food advertising, which has a hold on the minds of our youth, as well as make healthier choices a more viable alternative to convenient, unhealthy good, only then will we have a chance to beat the child obesity epidemic. The tide is turning.
