By Sara Boileau – Early Childhood Education
I am a student at Ferris State University in the Early Childhood Education Program. I would like to talk about how much child obesity has increased over the years.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Child obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years.” Obesity can lead to many health problems including cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, diabetes and can increase the risk of cancer.
One major reason I think child obesity has increased is because of too much technology. Children sit way too much playing video games, watching television or even playing on tablets. If we limit the time on how much children are on technology, I believe that will be a big change in child obesity.
There are things we as teachers or parents can do to help prevent more children from becoming obese. One major thing is we can have our children participate in 60 minutes of play. If we get our children outside playing for just 60 minutes a day, we will be leading them to a healthier lifestyle with just this one change. Another change we can do is give our children healthier food options to eat throughout the day. If we stand together and make all of these small changes, we can decrease child obesity and save children from the many health problems they can get if we don’t start now.