Why Are So Many Kids Overweight? (The Collapse of Parenting: Chapter 2)

Bismillah. As promised in my previous post on Dr. Leonard Sax's insightful book The Collapse of Parenting, here are some notes on Chapter 2 "Why Are So Many Kids Overweight?".

The number of obese and overweight children are on the rise. Even children who are 'slender' are increasingly unfit compared to their counterparts in decades past. 

Three-fold explanation of why:

1. What Kids Eat
2. What Kids Do
3. How Much Kids Sleep

What Kids Eat

• It used to be that parents decided on meals and told their children they would get no dessert unless they finished their meal, veggies and all!
• It used to be that parents enforced a "no snacking between meals" policy.

"Ad lib feeding throughout the day appears to disrupt circadian rhythms, interfering with normal metabolism and disturbing the balance of hormones that regulate appetite" (Sax, p.40).

• In the culture of disrespect where there is no parental authority, however:
• the frequency of pizza, potato chips, fries, ice cream and soda have replaced fruits, vegetables, and milk.
• soda consumption is on the rise, especially in teens
• fast food consumption has increased by 200% over a couple of decades
• Even on short car rides home from school, parents pack snacks for their children. Can children not endure hunger for 30 minutes? Will they die of starvation?

"Kids who have never been hungry will grow up to be heavier; yet psychologically they are likely to be more fragile. They haven't learned to master their own needs" (Sax, p.41).

•  Food choices are the first thing to slide when parental authority is compromised. The ultimatums of previous generations: "no dessert until you finish your broccoli" has morphed into questions like "How about if you eat three bites of broccoli, and then you can have dessert?" or requests for kids to do the parent a "favour" by eating...and the children really believe they've done the parents a favour that must be returned...!

What Kids Do

• Kids are no longer outside playing, but increasingly watching TV or on some screen inside.
• In 1965 the average person watched 10.5hrs/week of television. Today, the average 9 year old has 50hrs/week of screen time and the average teen has 70hrs/week of screen time (!!!)
• Televisions used to be one per household and shared by the family to that it was supervised by parents and often a family pastime. Today, screens are individualized and private, with more and more parents knowing little of what their child is doing or watching on the screen. (Scary!)
• Turn of your screens! Go outside and play with them! Walk to school or the grocery store!

How Much Kids Sleep

• Kids' sleep is on the decline. One major factor is screens in the room that distract children and lead them to delay going to sleep.
• According to the experts this is how much sleep kids need:
• 2-5 year olds: at least 11 hours a day
• 6-12 year olds: at least 10 hours a day
• 13-18 year olds: at least 9 hours a day
• The majority of kids today cite sleep as their favourite pastime. Why? Because they are sleep deprived!
• Less sleep leads hormones that regulate sleep to get messed up and confuse our brain in bad ways. It starts to say "I am tired...I need chips, cookies, cake....NOW!".
• Culture of disrespect is connected to fatter kids because not eating well, not being active/doing chores, sitting at screens. Therefore, the more disrespectful the child, the more likely they are to be fat. There are many studies to prove this.

The Upshot?

Eat Right. Veggies before pizza and ice cream.

Eat Less. Don't supersize. Prepare small servings that need to be completely finished before taking seconds.

Exercise More. Turn off devices. Go outside. Play.

YOU CAN DO THIS!