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| Yes | 21% | 52 votes | Total: 247 votes | |
| No | 79% | 195 votes |
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Add to FavoritesCome on folks, call it what it is, if it looks like a duck and it walks like a duck, then it must be a duck! Weight loss camps for children under 10 is appropriate and should be promoted, encouraged and received with open arms. Although I don't agree with the terminology "fat camp", I do agree that childhood obesity is quickly becoming a health crisis in North America and treatment has been a long time coming. Much like other chronic illnesses such as diabetes, asthma and heart disease, obesity is totally preventable and treatable. The term chronic illness refers to the long-term effects of unhealthy lifestyles and poor choices. In most cases, it is attributed to a lack of education. Obesity is almost and always brought on by lifestyle. There is a small percentage of cases where chronic illnesses such as; obesity, diabetes, asthma and heart disease are hereditary. Even with the best case scenario, it must be treated and controlled to maintain a good quality of life. A weight loss camp that caters to obese children can be beneficial, given that obesity is brought on by an unhealthy lifestyle. By far, the benefits outweigh the negative stigma attached to "weight loss camps" Children need to be educated on how to treat and control obesity. Education should emphasize on the long-term effects of obesity (diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, HB pressure, decreased longevity, infertility in women, sleep apnea, etc.) with the goal of improving their quality of life by making healthy lifestyle choices and the eventual outcome of a healthier quality life. You'd be amazed how much children learn at these camps. For example, a child "diabetes camp" was first introduced about ten years ago, children were able to share their stories of the pain and impact caused by diabetes in their lives. Children suffering with diabetes were educated on how to control their diabetes with a simple change in their diet, exercise and maintaining a healthy weight. Prior to attending the "diabetes camp", many children received limited education on diabetes from a parent/guardian, well intentioned but wrong to say the least. Subsequently, children were able to distinguish between "good" and "bad" foods, they were able to return home and educate their parents on choosing and buying the right foods. Let me play devil's advocate, PARENTS! Your children are obese because you made them that way. Whether its a lack of education resulting in unhealthy lifestyle choices or just plain old "I don't know how to prepare or cook healthy meals". That's okay, because weight loss camps can teach children to choose good foods, serve portion sizes according to age, maintain an exercise regime conducive to the family's lifestyle. Parental involvement is so essential in maintaining their children's weight. A quick monitor of your child's behavioral habits is the first step, parents must then ask themselves "Is my child really hungry or is he/she eating out of boredom?", "What types of food are in my refrigerator or pantry, do they fit in with the National Food Guide?", "What is the proper portion for my child's age?", "Do I pacify my child with food out of guilt?", "Do our lives evolve around food?", etc. My point folks is that a good "weight loss camp" for children under 10 should incorporate parental involvement as well as commitment. "Commitment for a better, longer, quality life for our children" should be the motto. Last note, as far as terminology goes, if there's a stigma attached to "weight loss camps" then change the name to "healthy fun camp" for children under 10. The benefits are far greater than the perceived stigma. Your child's health now and in the future is far greater than the stigma attached to a name. Children don't need to know that it's a 'weight loss" camp, call it what you like. If your child was suffering from cancer, would you deny he/she treatment because the hospital was called a "Research Center"? It's not the quantity of years you live, it's the quality of years you live.
Learn more about this author, Robin Wolfe.
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No
I think sending kids to camp to get in better physical condition is a teffific idea.
But "weight loss camps" are an abomination. Sending a child of any age to a weight loss camp is emotional abuse and any parent who does it should be thrown in jail for life.
It's so very easy to help kids get in shape at camp! Have them play games, go on hikes, and ride horses. Serve disgusting food. (That's what my girl scout camp did! No one could possibly be tempted to overeat when that stuff is put in front of them.) Make camp fun and active and encourage the kids to explore their interests and talents. Don't force them to "exercise". "Exercise" means doing pointless, horrible activities for the sole purpose of fitting into society's little idea of what you should look like. If you want kids to be healthy and not suicidal, the only way to get them active is to incorporate physical activities into their interests. So the kid likes to draw? Have him walk around outside with a sketchbook. A group of budding musicians? Why not form a flute-recorder marching band? A video game geek? Get her into some martial arts like fencing, karate, or kendo. That way she can fantasize about being a game character instead of thinking, "I hate this. You're making me do it because you can't accept my body. You hate the way I look, so you're torturing me, taking me away from my games and books and forcing me to do humiliating exercise."
Most importantly, don't ever mention weight or appearance. You can't bring up weight without making a person feel self-conscious about appearance. Kids who are not the skinny Hollywood idea shape are rejected by their peers. Getting the same treatment from adults is too much to take. I know adults think it's somehow "different" when they do it. "I'm saying it cause I care, kids at school say it cause they're mean." Do you honestly think a kid can make a distinction?
Weight in our culture is not about health never will be. It's about acceptance, love, sex, character, morality. When you say someone is overweight you are calling them ugly, unlovable, lazy, glutonous, and disgusting. Every bite of food incurs remorse, every idle moment is filled with gnawing guilt for not exercising. But exercise and starvation are torture, horrible torture, and life is unbearable, hopeless, the only way out is death.
Is destroying someone's mental health for life really worth it for the sake of losing a few pounds?
Making any activity into a weight loss program makes it sickening. The Nintendo Wii would have been fun for me if I could have thought of it as a game system. But all the media buzz about weight loss ruined it. Now I play that stupid tennis game I totally hate and think "am I doing enough? Can I keep from gaining weight? Should I keep playing? Do I have to play more? Am I buring enough calories? I should definitely play more. I'll never be good enough, pretty enough unless I exercise and exercise and exercise until I scream myself hoarse shouting about how much I hate it because I can't keep the hate inside!" Even second I spend on that damn game reminds me that I don't look the way men want me to, especially when I am in my real body, my 160 pound body, the one God gave me.
Is that how you want your kids to feel about games and sports? Because that's exactly how I felt about sports as a kid. For a couple of days the Wii was new and different and I didn't have the weight loss association with it. Once the association was made, I couldn't forget it.
I think weight loss camps and programs are detrimental to anyone's mental state, under ten or over one hundred, it doesn't matter. When you're happy and have a full life with things you care about and love, you forget all about counting calories and torturing yourself with exercise. You laugh, you think, you dream and hope. And unless you're genetically predisposed to be thin, you get fat. God didn't want us all to be the same- that's why he made us different. Trying to force yourself into a mold you're not meant to fit takes all your concentration, all your effort, all your life. The cost is your soul, and I know because I've paid it. I now weigh 125 pounds and have high blood pressure (which I didn't when I weighed 160). I'm too sick and depressed to work. I wake up at 2 am unable to sleep, haunted by memories of going to the gym and the horrible starvation I felt before I started taking perscription drugs for weight loss.
If you want your kids to be healthy, treat them as human beings and don't make them feel judged by their appearnce. Don't keep junk food around the house, but don't make them feel guilty about eating it a friend's house or a restaraunt. Take them outside to shoot baskets but don't call them lazy for reading a book or watching TV or playing a game. Try to get them to enjoy the lifestyle you want them to have. If you tell them "do this to lose weight", that means you cannot accept them at their current weight. And whatever it is you just told them to do, be it "go roller blading" or "eat a carrot", becomes associated with the feeling of being unaccepted and criticised. Physical activity and healthy food become associate with those horrible negative emotions. That's what will happen at a weight loss camp.
Learn more about this author, Raven Lebeau.
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