Today almost 60% of American children are obese. Children are overweight due to their bad eating habits and sedentary lifestyle which lacks any physical activity. This is an epidemic now in children. Parents need to get cautious. Only blaming yourself and getting tensed is not going to solve your problem. Children are not to be blamed. Because parents are the ones who decides for them. I am not saying to make him follow a strict diet and disciplined life, but few good habits can always be incorporated. Obese children are less active in comparison to normal children. An Obese child would walk slower and be slow in all other physical activities. This will lead to many physical deformities.
Parents who have obese children are most concerned about their children getting bullied by others. This concern is even more than the health of their children. Bullying problem has always been very common with obese children. It should also be a matter of concern with the school, workplace or communities. We all must have got bullied about some or the other reason. Be it our dress, our height, our face, our eyes, our nose, our voice and of course our weight. Obese children carry baby fat. So they look ‘chubby’ and ‘plump’. Some gain weight due to faulty eating. Few others gain weight due to heredity or genetic make up. Nothing can be done to help them from getting bullied. They cannot lose weight in seconds. No magic wand in the world can stop them from getting bullied. No Angel, no Godfather can make them lean and thin in a blink of eyes.
Children who bully on others continue doing that, because they think they appear very smart and stud among others. They also know that no one is going to harm them about this. Because very often neither the victims complains nor the authorities take it seriously. We need to teach good manners, proper empathy, kindness and morality. After all children are the future citizens of a nation. They are like heaps of wet clay, which we need to mould properly to serve them a healthy life and serve our nation with good citizens. We need to teach them ‘equality’.
It is of no effect to keep saying “Kids will be kids”. But we need to teach them basic decencies and increase respect for others. Anti-bullying programs and others may be started at schools, workplaces or communities. Heavy penalties for adults engaged in bullying may be introduced and punishments may be included for kids or adolescents bullying obese people or kids.
‘Its always better to start late than to never do it’. Parents also need to keep an eye on the daily habits of their children. They should accompany their children on busy roads, crowded places etc. Try to counsel your child about ignoring what others think about his physical appearance. Make him feel he is special for you always. Teach him good habits and make him mingle with people and others in spite of feeling down by their bullies.
