Are Kids Waistbands Getting Wider?

by Mandy, Josh, and Brittany

Over the years many parents and doctors have noticed some disturbing changes in the eating habits in today’s young children. Not only has their active lives diminished greatly but the amount of food they are eating has increased. In the artical Report Links TV Ads and Childhood Obesity by Marian Burros Doctors have speculated that some of the causes of heart disease and diabetes is the amount of junk food advertised on television. This is occurring in younger and younger children and people in their mid to late teens.

Most of the ads seen on television are targeted to children under twelve years of age. Thirty two percent ads on the air waves that are targeted to children are for junk food. These aren’t very good statistics for the war against obesity. As stated on the artical, TV Ads Contribute to Child Obesity on MSNBC.com, Many concerned parents believe that if junk food companies would start advertising healthy food to kids instead of junk food, many of the nation’s obesity problems would be under control. As stated in the Kaiser Foundation Report, “There are rarely any commercials aimed at young children promoting fruits and vegetables.”

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220 Amherst Avenue

Sheboyqan Falls, WI 53085

30 May 2007

The Sheboygan Press

632 Center Ave.

P.O. Box 358

Sheboygan, WI 53081

Editor:

As students in our Cyber English class we were assigned to write a small report on the effects of advertisement of children between the ages of three to nineteen. We looked at an Empowerment Cycle where the last step is taking action. By writing this letter, we hope to change the way commercials effect the youth, even if it is a small portion.

The growing concern that has caused schools to have a Media Literacy unit is caused by the growing waist bands of our nation’s youth. Heart diseases are another big issue with worried doctors. Heart disease and other diseases such as diabetes and obesity are caused by kids sitting in front of the television, eating their favorite brand of sugar filled foods and not moving an inch until lunch time, where they will eat more of those unhealthy snacks and treats. Some people ask if parents are to blame, but could it actually be the commercials that they see with the T.V. shows?

Stats on the Kaiser Family Foundation Report written by Henry J. Kaiser, show that children between the ages eight and twelve see an average of twenty-one ads a day and over 7,000 in a year. Most of them are advertising junk food. Sooner or later those ads are going to get to the kids and they are going to be stuffing their mouths with Pop Tarts. Parents may not be completely blamed for this but that doesn’t mean they are off the hook. Agreeing with the artical Overweight Children Can Start to Thank Mom,dad by Jimmy O'neill Having time to cook a healthy dinner might be hard but passing that up for something at McDonalds is not a smart choice. Cooking a meal in the morning or some other time, then putting it in the refrigerator for later will help.

Television commercials show kids what companies think they should be eating with no regard of the children’s health. Parents should keep a watchful eye on what their children watch on T.V. and eat. Also, they should be the strong influence on them, not the television.

Mandy, Josh, and Brittany

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