My daughter has allot of chubby kids in her class. I was glad when she told me they stopped selling certain snacks at lunchtime. We have Diabetes and Heart Disease in our family so my kid knows about this and we always discuss this with her. My kids don't eat fast food and if they do it is a rare occasion. The problem is nobody cooks anymore. I know plenty of parents that have their kids doing 20 things after school, therefore they do not go home and cook a meal and eat. It is more important to brag that their kid has softball and then after that piano lessons in one night instead of getting home and feeding them. bla bla bla
I agree with you. It seems more important to most parents to keep their kids in organized things (sports, music) than spending time at home with the family. These are good things in themselves, but when they come to substitute for family time at home, they can get to be destructive. Home cooked meals usually also mean dinners together. Research has been showing that success in school is more closely associated with eating meals as a family than any other one factor. And the health of the family is a major responsibility of the parents in my opinion, too. Home-cooked meals do not have to be elaborate. My daugher used to get them when I raised her as a single parent and had a very demanding full-time job. I just learned how to cook my own fast (but good-quality) food. Lots of soups and raw veggies... We loved it!
It's a result of grade inflation. If everyone has straight A's then you HAVE to do these 20 things to get into college. Unintended consequences...
My kids are heavily involved in sports, its a family thing. My husband coaches, my older sons help when time allows. We also have dinner together as a family which I cook. I think part of the problem with overweight kids is they don't do anything. Starting physical activity early in life tends to stay with you as an adult. Although, sitting like a couch potato will stay with you as well. As for organized sports, my kids have worked very hard to excel in sports, I have 2 teenage boys, right now its summer, they're in bed early everynight because they have practice every morning. They don't hang at the mall or sit around doing nothing. They have specific goals regarding their sports, basketball and football, in order to play they MUST STAY IN SHAPE AND GET GOOD GRADES. In the long run, keeping them busy has kept them focused and out of serious trouble.