Afterward
After conducting our research, we found that the food companies, schools, and parents each contribute significantly to the childhood obesity epidemic in America.
We found that food companies provide the majority of their influence through advertisements that are targeted at children. Food companies take advantage of the fact that children are easily persuaded. Their advertisements capture childrens' interest with flashy colors and images of friendly cartoon characters. Many times these advertisements are for sugary snacks and unhealthy foods. This makes unhealthy foods seem more appealing to children than healthy foods. Because parents listen to their children and buy these heavily advertised unhealthy foods, they create bad eating habits in their children.
While researching the schools' role in childhood obesity, we found that many preventative measures can be taken. Schools can help children establish good health habits by teaching about well balanced, nutritional meals and demonstrating those habits in the cafeteria. The education should not stop in the cafeteria. Exercise is an important part of maintaining a healthy body, so physical education classes should focus less on developing specific sports related skills and more on overall physical fitness activities.
Although we found much valuable research about food companies and schools influencing childhood obesity, we came to the conclusion ultimately it comes down to the parents. It is the parents or guardians' responsibility to instill healthy eating and exercise habits in their children from a very young age. If children are equipped with the proper knowledge, food companies and schools (especially lunch choices) will have less of an influence. However, when schools are doing a good job of teaching healthy habits, if parents aren't reinforcing these habits at home, they can be quickly reversed. In the end, we found that our research all stems back to parent's having the most responsibility.
In the end, we found that our research all stems back to parent's having the most responsibility.
If anything is to be done about the childhood obesity epidemic in America, ALL of these factors need to working simultaneously toward the goal of making and keeping our children healthy.