WHICH CHILD HAS A BETTER CHANCE AT LIFE?
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Which child is more likely to develop diabetes, cardiac disease, stroke or cancer?
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Which child is more likely to start prescription medication at a younger age?
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Which child is more likely to suffer emotional distress at school?
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Which child is more likely to lack self confidence as they mature?
If we can agree that LIFESTYLE (to a large extent) determines outcome, how can we as parents, teachers, doctors, religious leaders and community organizers ignore the PATH a majority of our children are following? Is addressing the issues and facing the possible retribution so daunting to each of us, we are willing to let society’s children grow up physically and emotionally damaged instead? Would we rather be responsible for paying BILLIONS into a health care system to “UNDO” the harms these children develop, than to accept the responsibility to TEACH BY EXAMPLE and lay the foundations for them to build on.
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WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT EACH ONE OF US?
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Helping our children BEGINS with helping OURSELVES.
THEY WON’T LEARN IF WE DON’T TEACH THEM!
WE CAN’T TEACH THEM IF WE ARE UNWILLING TO LEARN AND LIVE A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE OURSELVES!
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Learn what it takes to be physically and mentally healthy. Turn to professionals willing to give you their time and knowledge to provide you the TOOLS necessary to TRANSFORM your own life into a HEALTHY life. Then:
PAY IT FORWARD!!!!!!!
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When a domino is tipped over it’s not very impressive. When 100,000 dominoes tip over (one at a time) and kinetically contribute to the next domino’s movement, the event is experienced in amazement. It requires EACH DOMINO to fulfill its PERSONAL ROLE in the PROCESS for SUCCESS to occur.
BECOME A “DOMINO” IN THE PROCESS.
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Show your appreciation and gratitude for this GIFT we’ve been given called LIFE. Don’t stand by waiting for someone else to step up and take responsibility. We currently have over
42 BILLION OBESE CHILDREN.
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How much larger does this number have to become before we choose to PERSONALLY PARTICIPATE in reversing this health crisis?
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There are simply two choices:
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You can be part of the ANSWER.
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You can be part of the ongoing PROBLEM.
If you want to be part of the answer you can:
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volunteer your time to organizations that work with obese children
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contribute monetarily to support funding educational programs for obese children.
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****become a role model by following a healthy lifestyle FOR YOURSELF; a role model our our children will strive to emulate****.
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If you choose to remain part of the ongoing problem:
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allow your children to DICTATE their food selections.
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keep unhealthy food choices (in the house) as primary options for children to consume.
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give your children free reign to determine how much time they will (a) sit at a computer, (b) sit in front of a TV, (c) text message with their friends (d) just lay around and do nothing.
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****continue to complain there aren’t enough hours in the day to work to “pay the bills” and be responsible for your children’s health and welfare****.
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This OBESITY EPIDEMIC is ALL OF OUR PROBLEM. Society needs to see people stepping forward and STANDING UP as a PARTICIPATING “DOMINO.” Each person needs to CREATE their INDIVIDUAL ROLE through ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT in solving this epidemic.
I respectfully ask you to “step forward” by adding your contribution in the comment section explaining what changes YOU’RE willing to make to BEGIN reversing this HARMFUL and UNNECESSARY DISEASE. List (by number) as many ideas as you’re willing to. As people begin reading your comments, it will inspire other people to do the same. Share your ideas on social media and ask others to step forward and participate. Let’s use technology to help our CHILDREN (and their parents) create greater AWARENESS about overcoming this self inflicted disease.
Let’s begin a CONSTRUCTIVE MOVEMENT in a time of moral turbulence that can UNITE ALL OF US by giving our children their RIGHTFUL CHANCE to:
LIVE A HEALTHY LIFE!
All About Healthy Choices 
An inspiring post and a great challenge. I’m fortunate to have a husband who has been a good role model for exercise. Thank goodness our children, now young adults, have picked up on his message by including exercise in their daily lives.
I on the other hand have not. But, got your important message and begin now to be an example to my friends and show my family that I can do it.
1. Limit screen time to 1 hour a day excluding school work
2. No screens in bedrooms (phones or computers)
3. Start walking the dog each morning
4. Ask friends to join me on morning walks
5. Shop at fresh food markets to increase the fruit/veg intake
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Thank you for taking the time to share your ideas. This is a very important first step.
One thing I would like to add to your list is creating time to sit down with children and discuss what events impact their lives. Obesity is NOT just about FOOD and EXERCISE. Emotions are often an underlying ROOT CAUSE that is DESTRUCTIVELY handled with comfort foods and sedentary living. Helping children learn how to constructively handle emotions is an essential component of GOOD HEALTH.
Your willingness to participate shows you truly care. Tell your friends and those you congregate with at social events and religious events. Discuss the ideas you’re implementing and the RESULTS on social media. We need to get people to recognize the IMPORTANCE of this topic. The more they see, the more they will eventually consider the ideas.
Thank you for caring. All my best. 🙂
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Absolutely on point! It is so multifaceted that it touches every part of our lives!
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I totally agree with all of this. A vast majority of diseases can be prevented or mitigated by lifestyle factors the patient can control.
Two stories:
1. My friend is an MD (internal medicine) in a mostly rural, mostly poor area of the South. She accepted a job there about a 18 months ago after spending her entire career in a big city medical system. Since she started her new practice, she says about 75% of her patients are medically obese, and most of that group is diabetic or heading that way. She’s jokes that she feels like she’s in a endocrinology residency because she has to go outside her training and figure out how to deal with these people pretty much on the fly. Of course, all of them come from a regular diet of sugar and fried food. It’s really hard to tell these patients that their issues are totally fixable without sounding overly judgmental.
2. Two teen boys live across the street from me. One is outside running around and playing basketball almost every day, sometimes for hours. The other…the only time I see him move is when he’s chasing an ice cream truck down the street. Guess which kid is height/weight appropriate (and, by the way, gets better grades), and which kid has a future career as a Jabba the Hut impersonator? Yeah, these habits are learned young.
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Thank you for sharing this reality. These points need to be reinforced so the world can truly see the magnitude of this problem.
By the way, (since you recognize this problem) would you consider creating the list I asked for showing how you intend to help contribute to reversing the trend of childhood obesity? Would you also consider sharing your list on your social media sites?
It seems a shame when MILLIONS of women can can participate in 673 organized marches throughout the world to “PROTECT THEIR RIGHTS,” but those people looking to protect the health and welfare of our children are ignored. We claim to want a better future for our children and grandchildren, but then refuse to back these WORDS with ACTION!
I right these words so people can judge the truth and validity in this claim for themselves.
Thank you again for sharing the story. Your comments always add great value to my posts.
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Loved the visuals, they really added punch to an already powerful post.
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Thank you Tricia. THIS COMMENT IS NOT DIRECTED AT YOU. It is intended for all those people who read the comments and truly consider their content. Thank you for letting me use this spot to voice my concerns:
I would like to believe the post would make an impact, but unfortunately, I’m not so certain. I asked the reader for ideas to HELP contribute to overcoming this UNNECESSARY disease that destroys children’s lives. Two people have offered ideas. It seems our world is more focused on protesting “their wants” and “their rights” than the NEEDS of those who can’t provide for themselves.
I have no children. I do, however, have a good set of eyes and a great deal of compassion for those incapable of making GOOD QUALITY decisions due to a lack of knowledge, experience and maturity. It seems we have evolved into a society that focuses on “personal wants” (and “personal rights”) losing the capacity to see problems OTHERS are facing that far exceed our actual needs. Today’s emotions are centered around “hate,” “fear,” “anxiety” “jealousy,” “contempt,” “malevolence,” and APATHY rather than “compassion,” “acceptance,” “compromise, “benevolence,”optimism,” and LOVE.
This need of herd mentality has compromised our individual abilities to see a world outside our personal fears and concerns. The illusion that “banning together” creates UNITY is only a partial truth. Supporting a “CAUSE” to show its VALUE is meritorious; imposing this “CAUSE” with intimidation and vulgarity forfeits its legitimacy. This approach has simply caused greater division in the world we live.
It would be nice if for ONE MOMENT the world put their ATTITUDES on HOLD and LISTENED to the NEEDS of our CHILDREN and were willing to address THEIR EPIDEMIC FIRST. We claim we want a better future for our children and our grandchildren. It would be nice if people were willing to substitute these lovely WORDS for REAL ACTIONS instead.
Thank you for letting me use this space to express my concerns to the WORLD.
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Good comment Jonathan, I can really feel your frustration with all this. You are spot on too that people are so focused on themselves and their perceived “lack” that they’ve lost the capacity to help others that are truly in need.
I don’t have children either but I feel like limiting screen time as another commenter stated above is a really big thing. Habits start young and getting a kid involved in fitness and just being outdoors is a good start.
Of course many parents now “hover” over every thing their kids and don’t let them explore on their own for the day as was common when I was young. My friends and I would ride bikes all over the place, or go make forts int he woods, sometimes not coming home until dinner. I can’t imagine that happening today.
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I agree with you. Times are different. All this means, however, is that we need to adapt to different times. Regardless of the generation we were born into, parents continue to be responsible for the development of their children. This includes physical as well as mental/emotional development.
There are no trial runs at parenting. Those who have chosen this route have accepted a responsibility which many are not following through. In many cases, the PARENT AND CHILD suffer in the end.
Turning this difficulty around requires the parent to ACKNOWLEDGE this TRUTH FIRST. A problem can only be corrected if it is identified. Identifying this reality DOESN’T make the parent a bad person; it gives the individual parent the opportunity to redirect his or her life as well as their child’s life.
It is better to create a “new starting point” than maintain a path destined for pain and disease.
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1. Be active
2. Stay active
3. Engage others to be active
4. Eat healthy
5. Think healthy
6. Encourage others to stay healthy.
7. Live well
8. Think positive
9. Be kind
10. Lead by example
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It is rare to see a list of this length that someone is PERSONALLY willing to implement. I take my hat off to you. Sadly, our population (in general) doesn’t care about childhood obesity. Even this post (supported with positive feedback) only had two people supply a list they were personally willing to do. Our country is up in arms about a President who hasn’t even had enough time to do substantial harm or good, yet a REAL EPIDEMIC that destroys the quality of children’s lives isn’t worth most people’s consideration. This reflects poorly on the CHARACTER of our nation and the growing moral insensitivity.
Thank you for being a positive light in these turbulent times.
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1. Prepare and teach my children how to make healthy meals at home
2. Participate with my children in active fun!
3. Be a good role model by participating and promoting physical activity every day
4. Talk with them about the dangers of leading an unhealthy lifestyle
5. Teach them about having balance in life, you can treat yourself occasionally without feeling guilty, ashamed or a failure.
6. Encourage deep friendships with those who share positive values.
This was a good exercise, thanks as always for a thoughtful post!
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This is a phenomenal list. I hope that many people read it, “like it,” and add their own suggestions to it. Parents who follow your suggestions will likely experience great value in the parent-child relationship.
Thank you so much for sharing your ideas.
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good post….love reading and seeing the positive verses the shouldn’t be’s……xxxxkat
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I leave it up to the individual to decide for themselves “right” from “wrong.” I simply provide lifestyle comparisons to help them choose!
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I just watched “Super size me” with my kids. Just from that, they make better choices now. Lot less fighting on making choices. Agree Johathan, it’s all about the kids.
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Couldn’t agree more.
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Excellent post, as a Elementary physical education teacher, I can’t stress enough how childhood obesity affects children.
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Unfortunately, it ONLY affects them NEGATIVELY. It does not motivate them to consider changing their unhealthy habits. It strips them of value, confidence and self worth. We owe our children MORE than we are currently offering them. We chose to have them; it is our responsibility to give them EVERY possible chance to grow up healthy.
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Reblogged this on #StPsy.
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