by Ethel Smith

Created on: July 30, 2007

Many western countries have experienced significant increases in childhood obesity, in recent years. America, much like, England saw this trend begin in the 1950's after World War Two. A generation who had to do without, were suddenly much more affluent than of late. As such, their desire to spoil their children, and shower gifts and the good life on them, became evident. Not only did parents have more disposable income, there were more goods readily available in the shops.

The 1950's saw the birth of the 'Teenager' as an accepted part of the population . Mums began working, and spending less time in the kitchen, and TV dinners became part of most households. These trends continued through subsequent years and fast food and takeaways began to become widely popular and available. Most of these foods were laden with Trans Fatty Acids or Hydrogenated Fats, which are not especially healthy but are extremely fattening.

With prosperity most families owned cars and began to use them for even the smallest journey. As the technological age moved onwards and upwards our activity levels dropped to an all time low. Computers, DVD's and computer games became the norm in most households. On the whole parents felt the streets were less safe and children did not play on them as much as of old. This brief summary of the post war years is done to show the changes which inevitably led to fatter adults and even fatter children.

Children in particular are much less active. Not many these days ride their bicycle to school, let alone walk there. Obesity in American children is unfortunately a rapidly increasing problem. On average in 1964 one in 10 children in America was obese. By the time we had reached 1994 this figure had doubled to one in 5 children. Today this figure is thought to be more than 11% of children who are obese, with 16% of American children falling into the overweight category, which is far too many. Working out if a child is obese needs you to use a calculation which takes into account their height, weight and age. However most of us can tell when a child needs to lose some weight and is seriously overweight.

Being an adult who has struggled with being overweight since childhood, I feel for these children. Fair enough some weight issues are genetic but really a lot can be laid at the parents door during childhood. We owe it too our children to give them the best start. Occasionally that means being cruel to be kind. Refusing to drive your child to school but walking him, or her, there will do you both the power of good. Cooking freshly prepared low fat meals is easy once you have a little practice. All the family should benefit and you may even save a little money.

The facts about obesity in American children are that unless parents make a conscious effort to help their children and stop them eating themselves to death they will probably do just that.

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