Childhood Obesity
Childhood Obesity: Prevention in Schools
Christina Carrigg
English Composition 122
Professor Jen Miller
December 10, 2012
Childhood Obesity: Prevention in Schools The youth of America is on a path of destruction. Let’s Move!, a campaign launched by First Lady Michelle Obama, reports that the number of obese or overweight children has tripled in the last three decades. They also say that if this epidemic is not stopped, one-third of children born after the year 2000 will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives and others could face problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. ("America 's move to," 2012) Children spend majority of their day at school five of the seven days a week. This is where a healthy lifestyle needs to start. School hours of today are mostly focused on subjects covered on state assessment tests. While providing students with the education they need to pass these tests is an important issue, children need to learn a healthy way of living and eating as well. It is true that parents need to be held accountable for the health and well-being of their own children. However, it is not solely up to them. Children spend roughly forty hours a week at school if they attend for five eight hour days. Some attend after school programs also. Majority of their time is spent away from their parents and in an environment that is meant for teaching them. Why not teach them how to lead more healthy lives and put an end to this controllable epidemic? The youth of the nation’s health is at stake and school systems must make a positive effort to reduce the growing rate of childhood obesity, or many of these kids will not have a future. In the 1950’s and 60’s, most American families ate a home cooked dinner, as a family, together at the dinner table. Children took sack lunches and ate healthy breakfasts before running off to school, sometimes literally. Children of that generation walked everywhere they
Christina Carrigg
English Composition 122
Professor Jen Miller
December 10, 2012
Childhood Obesity: Prevention in Schools The youth of America is on a path of destruction. Let’s Move!, a campaign launched by First Lady Michelle Obama, reports that the number of obese or overweight children has tripled in the last three decades. They also say that if this epidemic is not stopped, one-third of children born after the year 2000 will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives and others could face problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. ("America 's move to," 2012) Children spend majority of their day at school five of the seven days a week. This is where a healthy lifestyle needs to start. School hours of today are mostly focused on subjects covered on state assessment tests. While providing students with the education they need to pass these tests is an important issue, children need to learn a healthy way of living and eating as well. It is true that parents need to be held accountable for the health and well-being of their own children. However, it is not solely up to them. Children spend roughly forty hours a week at school if they attend for five eight hour days. Some attend after school programs also. Majority of their time is spent away from their parents and in an environment that is meant for teaching them. Why not teach them how to lead more healthy lives and put an end to this controllable epidemic? The youth of the nation’s health is at stake and school systems must make a positive effort to reduce the growing rate of childhood obesity, or many of these kids will not have a future. In the 1950’s and 60’s, most American families ate a home cooked dinner, as a family, together at the dinner table. Children took sack lunches and ate healthy breakfasts before running off to school, sometimes literally. Children of that generation walked everywhere they
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