Is Childhood Obesity at an All Time High?

Whether childhood obesity is skyrocketing or not, the truth of the matter is, it's become an issue of epidemic proportion in our society. It may not be because of the overeating, more carbonated beverages, or anything else similar to what we are told through the media. Sure these may be some of the contributing factors, but you won't necessarily find these to be at the core of the problem.

childhood obesity

All in the Technology?

Around the mid 1980s, gaming consoles hit the market like wildfire. While the Atari was fun, it was the Nintendo that truly turned climbing trees and backyard football games into sleep overs trying to beat this new technology. As the games became more "life-like," the pediatric obesity statistics started to increase little by little. Next thing you know, other gaming consoles were coming out to compete and the rest is history.

It wasn't until the competition between the PS3 and Xbox 360 that child obesity rates shot through the roof. Their innovation allowed games like Call of Duty and Gears of War or even Halo to be played online, which gave kids the ability to have fun with others around the world. Just add in food, soda, and hours of gaming and you have yourself a childhood obesity epidemic.

The Wii Age

Eventually Nintendo came back to compete with the PS3 and Xbox 360 with the Nintendo Wii. Its innovation brought on a whole new complexity to the gaming world. It allowed children to enjoy games that actually made them exercise without even knowing it. See, its things like tennis, soccer, baseball, basketball, snow skiing, and everything else kids normally do outdoors. Could this be a solution to chronically overweight children? Whether or not it will lower childhood obesity for these youngsters remains to be seen.

Family Time

Another area that is lacking today that could be causing the spike in childhood obesity statistics is the lack of family time. Whether it's the economy, having to work multiple jobs, or just the lack of money, many families are refraining from spending time outdoors. Instead we're glued to places like YouTube, starting up websites, World of Warcraft and other things online.

Do you remember the days when you went to the park during the winter to go sledding? How about just grabbing your bike and riding around the neighborhood? Even though some kids still do this, most of the children out there today would rather have a controller in their hands instead of bike grips. Then of course the parents are so in tune with the Internet, it doesn't bother them anyways. It's become quite evident that we have to change some habits acquired in our current culture to curb these youth obesity problems that have become so prevalent in today's society.

Crime

It's hard to believe it, but the ability for a person's child to be abducted in today's world is a big reason why kids stay around the house. Whether or not it contributes to childhood obesity is a mute point, but it's definitely part of the problem. How many people do you know today who don't allow their kids to ride their bikes for miles without parental supervision?

Spoiling the Kids

Another area that is more of brutal honesty than anything is we spoil our kids beyond belief. Maybe it's because we weren't able to enjoy the same things when we were kids, or because we act like kids ourselves today. Whatever it is, the childhood obesity rate has definitely grown because of us. Granted there are several different reasons like the ones we previously wrote about earlier, but this one is definitely a huge culprit contributing to our obese children.

What do you Think?

Do today's kids need to swap the Wii for a Baseball Diamond or Soccer field? The truth is, the current childhood obesity trends are everyone's problem, not just one family. It's our society that creates the issues at hand, and we continue the process because we don't want to be left out of the loop. The truth of the matter is, childhood obesity could be reversed if we go back to the way things were and make our kids be more active. Whether it will happen or not remains to be seen.