Essay on Nurture and Nature of Child Obesity

The children of the 21st century are susceptible to obesity because of change in lifestyle. Most children in the 21st century remain indoors too much time watching cartoons, playing internet games, and reading. Additionally, parents afford to buy cars, and thus children travel most distances by car. As a result, the children less active and therefore they become obese. Some kids are naturally fat because of the genes they inherit from their parents (Allison et al 2014). However, the majority of the children are obese because of the food they eat and the still life. For this reason, there is an evidence of the interactions between nature and nurture to increase cases of obesity in children.

Obesity is a threat to the health of young children. For decades, diabetes has been attributed many of the health complications. For example, most of the children that suffer from a heart attack are obese. Obesity contributes to cases of strong in children and thus a need to embrace health lifestyles to minimize the risks (Kain et al. 2013). Obesity contributes to disorders such as osteoarthritis, which is, is a risk to the life of the child. In the modern society, some cases of cancers such as breast and colon cancers result from obesity.

Obesity in children is rampant because of the interaction between nature and nurture. Most families feed their children on chunk food and food rich in fats (Kelly et. al 2013). The activities in homes today are done indoors, and thus children lack exercise hence contributing to obesity in children. Ideally, obesity is manageable because most parents understand the causes of the condition in children. Children are innocent and do not understand the excess growth they experience. Parents are responsible for managing the health of their children before they know how to manage. The children suffer from criticisms because of their weight. As a result, overweight children have low self-esteem because of the negative self-image. It is apparent that most obese children are at risk of depression because of social exclusion (Kelly et. al 2013). An overweight child appears older than their age mates do. As a result, an overweight child cannot play with other kids because they feel they are out of place.

It is time for parents to put efforts to reduce cases of obesity in their kids. For example, there is a need to engage children in physical activities at home to regulate their weight. It is apparent that children who are active at home and school are healthy and physically fit. In some cases where parents understand the genetics of their children, they need to regulate the nature of food that children eat. For example, children with the potential of growing fat need to reduce food they ate (Rosenblum,& Venkatesh, 2017).

The parents should help the children to monitor their weights regularly. Following the weights of the children, require constant weighing to detect any increase in their weights. Ideally, regulating weight is a personal activity. For example, there is a need for children to avoid food and trigger the desire for food. Journaling is an important practice because it enables the parents to record the type of food the child needs. Journaling helps the child to establish a pattern for eating food and to avoid offer feeding in particular types of food (Rosenblum,& Venkatesh, 2017).

Consistency is the key. Children who are at risk of obesity need to stick a plan for regulating their weights. For example, their need for kids to know when they need to play, eat and read. The parents need to have a timetable that guides the activities of the children. Developing a timetable for children reduces the tendency for the kids to overdo one activity in expense of another important activity.

Exercise should not be a punishment for children but an enjoyable activity. The parent needs to ensure that children develop a passion for applying and develop the love for the business. Exercising in the modern society is easy because of their gymnasium where kids can learn basic aerobics that can help reduce cases of obesity (Rosenblum, & Venkatesh, 2017). It is apparent that obesity is rampant in the society and thus victims can join hands to promote exercise. There is a need for public awareness regarding effects of obesity.

In conclusion, obesity is a product of nature and nurture. Some children have a gene for obesity, and thus a lack of exercise contributes to obesity. The food that kids eat increases the rate of obesity. Obesity is dangerous to the health of children and therefore the need to regulate eating habits and the general lifestyle of the children. Developing a plan for managing lifestyle is important to help kids control their weight. The children should understand the dangers that come with obesity. Health eating practices such as eating less fatty foods, eating fruits and avoiding animal oil are important.

Reference.

Kelly, A. S., Barlow, S. E., Rao, G., Inge, T. H., Hayman, L. L., Steinberger, J., ... & Daniels, S. R. (2013). Severe obesity in children and adolescents: identification, associated health risks, and treatment approaches. Circulation, 128(15), 1689-1712.

Rosenblum, J., & Venkatesh, R. D. (2017). Obesity. In The MassGeneral Hospital for Children Adolescent Medicine Handbook (pp. 67-75). Springer International Publishing.

Allison, D. B., Edlen-Nezin, L., & Clay-Williams, G. (2014). Obesity among African-American Women. Prevalence, Consequences, Causes, and Developing Research.. Womens Health, 243-274.

Kelsey, M. M., Zaepfel, A., Bjornstad, P., & Nadeau, K. J. (2014). Age-related consequences of childhood obesity. Gerontology, 60(3), 222-228.

Kain, J., Concha, F., Moreno, L., & Leyton, B. (2014). School-based obesity prevention intervention in Chilean children: effective in controlling, but not reducing obesity. Journal of obesity, 2014.