Re: Children's Obesity Epidemic

My comments in ()

I believe the breakdown of the traditional family has affected the way children are brought up.

(This could be true to a point... but I believe it is much more complicated than that)

Everything is so expensive, both parents have to work or you cannot have a home.

(I do not believe this statement is entirely true; we have come to want/expect more and THINK we require 2 - 3 incomes in order to "have" things. Most people did not live beyond their means or have 2 cars or 4,000 sq ft houses when we were kids. Heck, my crib as an infant was a dresser drawer.)

Instead of mom or grandma looking after the kids, TV and other children have become the guardians.

(yes, this is true and expanding on your first statement, do not forget the computer)

Instead of family dinners, frozen dinners or MkDees triple burgers with cheese and super size fries with a 6 gallon coke have become the norm.

The fridge is always open, no more "you can't eat anything before dinner" - now pizzas are delivered 2 for the price of 1 as an after school snack.

We had to work at home had chores and no matter where we went, we had to help.

We were not allowed to sleep past 8:00 am and that was on our sleep in day.

And at school: we had 2 recesses and a 2 hour lunch to WALK home.

At recesses - TWO - we looked forward to screaming and playing basketball, tag, or any other games we thought of and there were many.

(The above is all true as well expanding on your first statement)

Yep, part of the problem is the elimination of EXERCISE during the school day AND extra Curricular programs.

grz
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