Why/How do parents let their children get overweight?

1. 94

   peeplesposted 13 years ago

   Why/How do parents let their children get overweight?
   
   Granted it's not my place to judge but it bothers me when I see an overweight parent walking with an overweight child. I feel bad for the child. Why and how does a parent allow this?

   replyreport
2. 61

   nightwork4posted 13 years ago

   you're going to get that "oh , it genetics answer" from someone but it's a lot of bull. to me the reason is that it's easy. what i mean by that is that it's easy to keep your kid occupied by feeding them. it's easy to keep your kid occupied by letting them sit around watching tv. it's easy to let your kid play video games for hours each day. what isn't as easy for some is to get outside with your kid and play. it isn't as easy to make them something healthy to eat as it is to just hand them pre-made junk food. it's called laziness and it sucks.

   replyreport
3. 59

   MickSposted 13 years ago

   Sitting them down in front of the telly with an oversized plate full of junk food.

   replyreport
4. 80

   TripleAMomposted 13 years ago

   Definately some issues are parents not setting limits on food intake, allowing their children to be stationary, not encouraging outside play or extracurricular activities. Parents often reward their children with food and food becomes associated with pleasure, fun, positive. 
   
   It IS difficult to judge, however.  There are many medications that cause weight gain, and if a child is on any of these medications, weight gain is inevitable and this can cause the child embarrassment.  Meds like cancer drugs, some psychotropic meds, and quite a few more.  So though it's often difficult, we have to be careful not to automatically assume anything.

   replyreport
5. 85

   peachpurpleposted 13 years ago

   What you see is what you get. The child sees what his parents does, he follows and he gets them too. Parents eat junk food and unhealthy diet, kids follow them because kids are innocent human being. Adults who don't think overweight is a big issue just shrug off the negative looks from outsiders and walk proudly. Problem with adults are they are stubborn, selfish, ignorant and set a bad example to the poor kids.

   replyreport
6. 61

   BrianMI6posted 13 years ago

   The answers to this are complex.  Becoming overweight is nearly 100% related to insulin and insulin resistance with the number of calories being of negligible effect in real-world scenarios.
   
   In short, kids get fat the the same reasons that adults do.  They eat too many carbs and boost their blood sugar levels.  The body responds by releasing insulin into the blood to address the glucose situation (as glucose is toxic in it free-floating form in large amounts) and insulin works to bring blood sugar levels down by shuttling the glucose into the cells.
   
   Of course, free glucose in the cells is not any less toxic, so the cells begin to close the "windows" through which the insulin inserts the blood sugar.  This is known as insulin resistance.
   
   When this happens, the cells in the body which will get this overload of sugar will be the ones that are LEAST prone to closing these insulin-windows, the ones that are the LEAST insulin resistant.  Can you guess which cells these are?
   
   The fat cells of course.
   
   Once insulin resistance has been realized, the body will begin racking up fat quickly.  Children of insulin resistant (fat) parents are even more at risk.  Why?  Because in the womb the baby is exposed to the mother's blood sugar landscape.  Since the blood sugar is high for the mother, the baby responds by quickly developing and abundance of insulin-producing cells in its pancreas in the womb.  The result is that the kid in these circumstances is born ready to pump out LOTS of insulin and is more able to quickly develop insulin resistance of his own unless carb intake is severely restrcited.
   
   Of course, many of these people come from families on the lower income levels who tend to feast on cheap, carb-saturated foods like pizza, cereal, and McDonald's instead of steak and salad for every meal.
   
   The result is this.  Mom is fat because she's poor or ignorant (i.e. she doesn't know that calories alone don't make one fat but the consumption of carbs does) and so she has a bad womb enviornment for her kid who is predisposed to becoming fat once s/he's born and then is pidgeon-holed into becoming fat because of the food that is provided while growing - cheap food.

   replyreport
   1. 60

      Msvirgoposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Sometimes it's hereditary.I know a teenager who's over weight and eats pretty healthy.One side of her family is overweight and the other side is thin.She happened to get the big genes from one of her parents.Can't always judge.

      replyreport
7. 66

   Lisa HWposted 13 years ago

   Some parents don't have, or know (or care) about healthier eating habits; but I think it can be more complicated than that.
   
   My own (now grown) kids were always very slender kids (so I don't have personal reasons for wanting to defend parents of heavy children).    I've known mothers, though, who have children who want to/need to eat some things (or amounts), no matter how much the mother knows it isn't "the greatest thing". 
   
   I can't help but think that, at least with a lot of kids, some of the overeating may be caused by stress (either at home, at school, within them for some reason, etc.); because people who are stressed will crave high-carbohydrate/high-fat foods.  When that happens, the person feels as if he can't function, and doesn't have any energy at all, unless he gives into the craving.

   replyreport
8. 68

   libby1970posted 13 years ago

   Most of the time it is the parent's fault for allowing the child to overeat... however there are times when a child does have thyroid problems or health issues that cause them to be overweight. I know of one little girl who gained 60 pounds on a medication. This child was small beforehand...but gained it quickly in a few months! So it's not always the parents fault. Sometimes it is!

   replyreport
9. 60

   Msvirgoposted 13 years ago

   what if the parent is thin or average and the child is overweight?does it still bother you?

   replyreport
   1. 94

      peeplesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yes it does. Honestly, not as bad because it at least shows they take care of themselves which would imply that the child is over weight for an unrelated reason. My mother was large, her mother was thin and I am thin, her issue is medical.

      replyreport