Parents greatly influence children obesity. Obesity of parents is a prevailing risk factor of children obesity. Family factors, including a social and economic status, play an important role in the formation of parental constitution. It is important to know how general family factors influence weight of a child.
Influence of General Family Factors on Weight of a Child
Obesity is a chronic degenerating disease leading to numerous serious illnesses and demanding a lifelong treatment. Nevertheless, many people consider excessive weight and obesity to be a personal problem, which can be solved independently before it can cause any damage to a body. It is a dangerous error. Successful and competent treatment of obesity is possible only under the supervision of qualified medical experts. The problem of obesity and excessive weight reached the status of a global problem as it describes the whole society’s health hazard.
Modern society provokes inadvertent obesity among population, especially among children, promoting consumption of a high-calorific food with a big maintenance of fats and, at the same time, due to the technical progress stimulating inactive way of life. The World Health Organization came to the conclusion that a lack of spontaneous and laborious physical activity of children in combination with overconsumption of fat and high-caloric food became a principal cause of obesity epidemic in the world.
Nutritional health is the consumption of products which have beneficial effect on the overall organism’s functioning and a person’s well-being. The level of a person’s health is determined by the quality of food he/she received as a child. It is the time when a child grows quickly and all metabolic processes proceed intensively. Therefore, it is important to compose a daily diet to make sure the organism acquires all necessary substances. Moreover, if a mother’s nutrition during pregnancy and breast-feeding is improper, it increases the likelihood of children to suffer from some diseases ranging from diabetes to depression. It was found that teenagers’ food habits do not strongly influence their development as compared to the food of a fetus within 9 months of a prenatal development. Children are the reflection of their parents, and their eating habits are influenced by the overall habits of the family. A child will reflect the way parents eat; this is the reason why consumption of healthy food should be guaranteed at home.
Impact of the Way of Parents’ Life on Obesity Development of Their Children
The way of parents’ life greatly influences the obesity development of their children. Even during infancy, life conditions can influence the changes of a body mass and the development of metabolic deviations in the future. According to the scientific data, the growth of fatty tissues begins in embryo period of an organism’s development (within 30 weeks of pregnancy) and ends approximately by the first year after a birth:
Two things set the stage: what food you offer and how you act around it. Kids watch what you do-and what you do not do. Moms have to establish and consistently model good habits.
Therefore, preventive maintenance of children obesity should start long before a child is born. A superfluous meal of a pregnant woman, especially in the last period of pregnancy, leads to the superfluous food of a fetus and involves strengthened development of fatty tissues, and stimulates excessive reproduction of adiposities. Thus, a correct balanced diet both of women during pregnancy and children, especially during the first year of life, is very important for the preventive maintenance of children obesity. Adiposities can reach 190%, even 350% in the organisms of obese children in relation to their number of children with a normal weight.
Children copy food behavior of their parents. Thus, it is extremely important to show a good example of eating habits to children. They need a balanced nutrition that will prevent them from excessive weight; moreover, parents should help children to form healthy eating habits. The most important task of parents is to control their children in food consumption.
However, some things are outside parents’ control. Obese parents in most cases have obese children. It can be explained from the genetic point of view and heredity. Nevertheless, besides the genetic contribution, obese parents in most cases give the unhealthy habits to their children. The closer children are to their parents, the higher there is the probability of assimilation and memorizing of habits, norms and belief of parents. Therefore, obese parents have to be very attentive not to transfer their own addictions to their children.
The Harm of the Unbalanced Nutrition
Unbalanced nutrition is often a norm for children, and it is controlled by parents. They should cook healthy food at home; a balanced diet should consist of vegetables, fruit and cereals. Usually children get used to food which they eat in infancy and get used to such nutrition. It is useful to prepare food and eat together with children. Thus, Gerstenzang recommends taking children to grocery and motivating them to eat fruits and vegetables saying that it is very useful for health. Mothers should give positive comments on food like
This chicken will help you build strong muscles so you can run and play.
Food habits are transferred from a mother to a child. There are researches that note a correlation in overweight mothers having children whose weight exceeds the norm. The problem is not in genes only %u2011 adopted children also grew obese. The only way out to make children healthy is to show them a personal example. Only improved personal eating habits and balanced diet can give positive results and affect children’s health. Fulfilling all these requirements by parents can help avoid hypocrisy %u2011 to eat hamburgers in front of TV facing a child will be simply cruel and dishonest. Children’s health depends on parental eating habits. Besides, parents should also take their children health more seriously and control the food they eat.
In conclusion, it is necessary to say that the problem of obesity has become urgent since 2000, and the governments of the world states pay a huge attention to the prevention of massive obesity, especially among children. The world health organizations should take immediate and rational measures to stop the epidemics caused by obesity. Besides, parents should also take care of their children health and control the food they eat.