According to a recent survey, SERMO has found that 69 percent of doctors out of the 2,258 who contributed believe that parents are significantly responsible for the childhood obesity epidemic.
Childhood obesity is one of the biggest serious public health threats of the 21st century, according to the World Health Organization. Obesity puts children at serious risk for Type 2 diabetes, asthma and heart failure. And the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says one in six children in the United States is obese.
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Here’s some feedback that SERMO received from the survey, which ran from August 17 to August 19.
One doctor, an obstetrician/gynecologist said:
“While it is likely true that in some instances excessive childhood weight is genetic, it’s hard not to think that in most cases the etiology is environmental. The most important component of that environment is parental control. Obesity is more a result of diet than exercise (as many have found, it is very difficult to “work off” excess consumption). Whether it is giving a young child a large bag of potato chips to keep him quiet in the store, or insisting she eat all her dinner, then give her dessert or multiple additional snacks, many parents have abandoned their responsibility to make the right decisions regarding their children’s health in exchange for expediency.”
A pediatrician said:
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“Clearly, parents need to shoulder some of the responsibility, and the blame. As parents, we have to set an example and to promote within our families healthy eating and healthy exercise. However, children are beset on all sides by their non-parental environment as well, which includes access to cheap, high-caloric foods; glitzy advertisements; a raft of screen and video entertainment; low-nutritional value school lunches; and on and on. Parents can be perfect role models, and still lose in this effort. But at least they stack the odds more favorably for their kids.”
But on the other side of the equation, some physicians didn’t believe parents should necessarily be blamed. An ophthalmologist said:
“So we have now gone from fat-shaming saying the fat person is lazy to now blaming the parents of obese kids. Are they not knowledgeable? They don’t parent firmly enough? They won’t admit that their kid needs to lose weight? What is the excuse now? I won’t deny that there are some examples like this but I don’t think it is the majority.”
Generally speaking, the findings from the survey aren’t surprising. Parents of young children are the ones deciding what they eat, at least when they are at home. They are also in a leadership role when it comes to providing opportunities to be physically active.
Of course there are always exceptions. Advertising for certain unhealthy products inevitably plays a role, and what is being offered to kids for school lunch is crucial to the cause. But perhaps these findings might enhance the message that is already out there for supporting general health in kids.
Photo: Flickr user U.S. Department of Agriculture
