Childhood obesity.

So this week for my fully online journalism class we had to find a video on YouTube that we felt was newsworthy or was important to society and we had to write a commentary on it and the teacher encouraged us to watch and comment on our classmates' videos. I picked the civil war in Libya and after I had submitted my video and commentary, I decided to look through the videos that had been posted so far and possibly comment on some of them. Needless to say, the two I commented on were teen pregnancy and childhood obesity. I'm sure when/if these girls read my comments they are going to think I'm crazy! I've already had my rant on here about teen pregnancy and whatnot and watching the video on childhood obesity and commenting on it really got me thinking and I decided to blog about it. 

Remember, this is my personal opinion and I don't expect everyone to agree with me. 

Childhood obesity rates have risen dramatically in the last couple of years, and I find this so sad. It's sad because in society, if you are not "skinny" you are ostracized by the public and adults have a hard enough time dealing with these types of things, can you imagine how hard it is to be a young child and be taunted everyday for being heavy-- it's hard enough being young in general sometimes. Some people may disagree but I really feel like it's the parent's fault for their children being obese. And if you don't know what obese is in child standards, it means your BMI is in the 95 percentile (I think I worded that correctly). I feel like the parent's are to blame because running by McDonald's for dinner or sitting your child in front of Spongebob makes their life easier. Who cares that that Mighty Kids Meal you are feeding your child every night has like 600 calories in it and who cares that those 600 calories and numerous carbs are just sitting there dormant because you aren't making your child exercise. I CARE! When I was little, my mom let me have McDonald's but 99% of the time I ate at home and had a balanced meal. I've never been a fan of potato chips, cookies, nor candy but when I was allowed to have it, I had it in moderation. Moderation is key. Also, at school, we had PE two or three times a week and had long recesses-- all times to run around and get exercise. I also played outside once I got home or to the daycare or babysitter. What do kids do now? They get PE maybe once a week and they barely get recess. They get off the bus and run into their homes and plop right down in front of the television and turn on Disney or some video game. If children want to play outside what typically has to happen? A parent/guardian has to be outside with them. Well, they're supposed to be anyway. Well in society these days, parent's don't want to take the time out of their "busy" schedule to sit outside with their kids. The television is the new babysitter and that's the problem. I was a nanny for 5 kids ranging in age (when I left) from 5 to 18. The baby, S, was a little chunky butt but he was presh but he never wanted to go outside. He always wanted to sit in front of the television, watch Spongebob, and eat. Granted I made him eat healthy snacks (which he hated), he still wasn't exercising. On pretty days I would turn the television off (which usually ended in him pitching a fit) and tell him that we were going to go play outside. Once he got outside, he would play for maybe 30 minutes and then say he was hot and would wipe his head of his not-even-there sweat. I'd let him go back inside but I was content with knowing he had atleast ran a little bit. One of his brothers was 8 and also hated going outside and would literally CRY when I would tell him to go outside and play. B would come in from school and go straight to either the computer or the television. And he would sit there, staring at one of them, for hourssss. You  may think I was such a mean nanny for making my babies go play outside but I really felt they needed it. I was a semi-primary caretaker for them and the Michelle-mommy side kicked in. 

Society needs to slowwww back down and realize what the easy, fast lane lifestyle is giving them. These children are getting medical conditions that only a 50 year old man should have! 

I know that some issues dealing with being overweight and/or obese comes from genetics. Some people have this disposition to just be a little bigger but they still should eat better and exercise. 

This is all my personal opinion and if I offended any of you, I am truly sorry! 

XOXO, Michelle