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“In 1999, 13% of children aged six to eleven years and 14% of adolescents aged twelve to nineteen years in the United States were overweight. This prevalence has nearly tripled for adolescents in the past two decades.” Daniel Weintraub, in “The Battle Against Fast Food Begins in the Home” emphasizes parents are responsible for the growth of child obesity. I agree with this claim for much of the reasons of why America’s weight problem is increasing because of parents.
From the day a child is born, it is the parent’s responsibility to influence their children to have healthy eating habits. A child does not know right from wrong when it comes to food, therefore the parent needs to step in and take action on saying no. When the child watches a commercial for junk food and says I want it because of the cartoon they advertise it with, the parent should say how about an apple instead. “Nicky Greenberg, who is 6 and lived with her parents in lower Manhattan… her parents buy her Kellogg’s Cinnamon Toast Crunch because she loves the commercials.” (Barboza, 36) That alone is the parents not taking responsibility for their six-year-old child’s eating conditions. Instead of getting Nicky Life cereal, they get her the full of sugar cereal to eliminate a tantrum that might occur. From a young age, my parents taught me to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables everyday. This taught me instead of going into the cupboard for a bag of chips, to go into the refrigerator and take out an apple.
Parents need to show their children that exercise is satisfying for them. Ever since I was little my parents have encouraged me to fulfill my time with extracurricular activities. From the age of three, I have been physically active in sports. Instead of letting a child sit cooped up in the house all day on a Saturday, send them outside to play hide and seek, or baseball with the neighbors. “…the state enforce and existing law requiring an average of at least 20 minutes...