Childhood Obesity

One of the biggest problems we currently face as a society is obesity. People all over the nation question why we are having this problem and who is responsible. Who do we turn to to educate our society so that we may address this problem the correct way? The answer: healthy eating habits and exercising should be taught early in a child's life. An excellent place to build these fitness foundations is where children spend almost a third of their time: at school. Physical education should be available for all kindergarten through twelfth-grade students in order to tackle the problems of obesity.

The number of overweight youth has more than doubled in the past thirty years according to an article, 'Is Physical Education Becoming an Oxymoron' written by Vicki Worrel, a Physical Education professor at Wichita State University. In addition, fifteen percent out of nine million children, ages six to nineteen, are overweight according to the article 'The Growing Cost of Obesity.' Obesity is one of our nation's largest and most expensive health problems. Obese children have a higher chance of growing up to become obese adults (Troxler 24). As you can see in the statements above, it?s obvious that obesity is a continuing and growing problem and all starts at an early age.

Physical activity should be encouraged at an early age. It would be best to make physical education a required school curriculum. A student taking a physical education class will have many benefits. For example, a child taking a physical education class will learn about proper exercising. It would also be wise if the instructors integrated information about healthy eating habits into the curriculum to further increase a child?s knowledge on good dieting. This will help a child develop physically more in strength and endurance which in turn will build healthy bones, muscles, and muscle development. Furthermore, at the same time a child will maintain a healthy weight from eating a nutritional diet. Having studied some physical education classes from personal experience, the coach was very passionate about being healthy. Before leaving P.E. class everyday, he would review all the major food groups and stress that the students stay away from fried foods and consume more fruit in their diet.

There are many benefits to exercise. Physical activity can help increase self-esteem and reduce stress an...

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...education to all the children in school. This will, in turn, guide our future generation to follow a hale and hearty exercising and diet programs. In addition, such programs will initiate a smaller percentage of children becoming obese and thus growing up as regular healthy adults. As a society, we should depend on the schools to educate our children on physical education and healthy eating habits. Physical education classes should be available for all grades from kindergarten to twelfth grade in order to face the problems of obesity in our society.

Works Cited:

Loewy, Michael I. Working with Obese Children in Schools. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2012.

?The Growing Cost of Obesity: An Article? National Association of Convenience Store Online. 15 May. 2013. < http://www.nacsonline.com/NACS/News/Daily_News_Archives/May2013/nd0515034.htm>

Troxler, Howard. ?Much Mind Exercise and Too Little Physical Education Cause Flab.? The Times. October 2013.

Worrel, Vicki. ?Is Physical Education Becoming an Oxymoron: An Article? University Communications, Wichita State University. 19 Sep. 2013. < http://webs.wichita.edu/dt/newsletter/show/?NID=1768&AID=4006>