by Michelle Wilkinson

Created on: June 30, 2009

Childhood obesity is a real problem in Britain, with almost a third of children classed as being overweight or obese. Obesity seems to be a concern throughout the West and as Britain has one of the highest rates of obesity in Europe it is not surprising that the government wants to be seen to act. Consequently the 'change4life' initiative came about in an attempt to encourage parents to feed their children a healthy diet and to get them exercising more, as it is basically by following a poor diet and not exercising that British children have become fatter over the years.

Obesity can be bad for both a child's mental and physical well-being, as they have to contend with self-esteem and body image issues, as well as the physical difficulties of carrying too much weight. Obese children are likely to grow up into obese adults, and thus develop weight-related illnesses such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease, which will have seriously implications for the NHS and wider economy if obesity rates continue to increase. Even more worryingly, though, is that some children are beginning to develop health problems at a younger age as they start to move past being overweight into obesity and beyond. Some youngsters are even having bariatric surgery in order to manage their weight. Surely it doesn't have to reach such a stage, though.

British children have been getting fatter over the years because they generally eat too much junk food and sit around the house watching DVDs or playing with their games console rather than playing outside. It is parents who ought to control what their children eat, making them eat a nutritionally balanced diet, but the truth is that in most cases parents have some bad habits of their own, which they pass on to their children. Of course children are going to eat rubbish if that's what their parents are eating. There are also instances where parents might not be aware precisely of what their children are eating, though, especially if they give them some money to do with as they wish. It is therefore not unusual for children to buy sweets on their way to school.

As far as exercise goes; again, parents are leading sedentary lifestyles, and so their children are picking up on this. Parents aren't always prepared to take their children to the park, but are also fearful to let their children play outside by themselves, and thus encourage them to stay indoors. Children need at least an hour of physical activity a day, which they are clearly not getting.

With more and more children consuming more calories than they are burning it is only to be expected that they will keep getting fatter. Until parents start to address their own lifestyle habits and think about how their actions influence their children this situation is unlikely to change in the near-future.

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