Babies & Kids Blog

I read this article today on MSNBC and all I can say is: thank goodness we are too cheap to eat out very often. The amount of fat and calories most restaurants are serving to children is appalling! This is one of the worst offenders:

All kids like a good ice cream sundae right? How about a sundae with 860 calories and 38 grams of fat? Keep in mind, this is a dessert, this doesn’t even count as their meal!

Uno Chicago Grill Kid’s Sundae
860 calories
38 g fat (20 g saturated)
94 g sugars

Consider the repercussions of slapping three Baby Ruth bars’ worth of fat and sugar onto the end of your child’s meal. Weighing in at an astounding 3/4 pound, this abominable sundae is twice as big as the Kid’s Pasta, and twice as caloric as a child’s entire meal should be.

Reading this article made me angry. Childhood obesity is a major problem. Today we have more children than ever with diabetes, strained/injured joints and asthma. Recently it was reported that 18% of all children are obese. Obese children have a 70% chance of becoming obese adults.

So, if the restaurants and convenience food manufactures won’t do much to offer healthier foods, what should we do as parents? The most important: Cook at home. Stay home. Slow down your life and stop relying on the drive through. Your child’s life literally depends on it.

image: stolenchildhood

So, we all enjoyed/wanted to yack at/were affected by the documentary Super Size Me.  Soon after McDonald’s replaced their “super size” menus with healthier options & many other restaurants followed.  These days we are more consciously aware of the need for us to “go green” not only take care of nature, but take care of ourselves. It’s no surprise that a national poll conducted by C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital on Children’s Health lists parents’ top concern as obesity.

Here are the top ten overall health concerns for U.S. children in 2008 compared with 2007:

1. Childhood obesity -This was bumped up from number three.  

2. Drug abuse - This concern remained at number two.  I don’t think this concern will fall from the top ten anytime soon.

3. Smoking - Same with this concern.  This basically switched places with childhood obesity and was at number one last year. 

4. Bullying - This concern goes along with the “school violence” concern at number eight last year.  It jumped four spots.

5. Internet safety - This was bumped up a couple of spots I’m assuming due to the growing popularity of the internet with kids these days & shows like “To Catch a Predator.”

6. Child abuse & neglect - This concern was at number ten last year.

7. Teen pregnancy - This concern actually moved down a spot.  Could this maybe be evidence that teens are not learning to get pregnant from movies & TV?

8. Alcohol abuse - This one was pushed down four spots.  Maybe parent gave up & think kids will drink as long as they have peers to help them along.

9. AD/HD - Sexually transmitted infection - This concern stayed put at number nine.

10. Chemicals in the environment/Not enough opportunities for physical activity - This concern is new to the top ten and frankly, I’m glad it made it!  I do think that “not enough opportunities for physical activity” goes along with the concern over childhood obesity.

The concern from last year that did not make the top ten this year is driving accidents.  I’m sure if we compared top news stories in the media to this year’s top new stories we can tell why parent’s concerns change from year to year.

All these ”issues” are what parents feel they have no control over.  However, parents do have some control over this, and not too sound too “The More You Know”, but really….talk to your kids about these things before their friends do!  How would you suggest parents bring up issues like these with their kids?

Click here for more information on these poll results.

I’ve heard this theory before, but scientists now aren’t sure if children are overweight because they don’t get enough sleep, or if overweight children have trouble sleeping.  Julie C. Lumeng of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor conducted more studies to determine which causes which.   

The study didn’t mention whether the parents they surveyed had children who were involved in physical activities on a daily basis.  You would think that all the activity during the day would promote better sleeping habits. 

Read the results of this study here.