Working moms to blame for obese kids?
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I saw this on my local news station's Website in the video section and here is the transcript from the CNN Website. I am throwing this out there to you because I love to start debates!  Just want to know what you all think.
There have been studies that indicate a parallel between women entering the work force and a rise in the number of overweight kids.
WZZM13 video Go to where it says "Health Reports"
CNN Transcript
GUPTA (voice-over): "Working Nine to Five" was a movie and a mantra in the 1980s, as American women entered the work force en masse.
That's about the same time American kids started packing on the pounds.
TERRY MASON, CHICAGO PUBLIC HEALTH COMM.: We saw that started to happen. You could track childhood obesity. There was a direct correlation.
GUPTA: So did working women lead to chubbier children? Sixteen percent of children six and older are overweight. That's triple the number from 1980.
LEW FULLER, OBESITY SOCIETY: We don't have the traditional approach of a woman being at home, cooking dinner, taking care of the kids, getting the kids outside, getting the kids exercise.
GUPTA: Families now eat out an average of four times a week, a big jump from 30 years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being a working mom, I do find myself taking my children out to McDonald's and fast food a lot, because when I get back after the commute, I'm too tired to fix those meals.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that blaming women for childhood obesity is absolutely ridiculous.
GUPTA: Others say obesity may be caused by a variety of factors.
KATHRYN THOMAS, ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FDN.: At its very simplest, our kids are taking in a lot more calories than they're burning off. But there are a lot of reasons for that. It's not just because they're not eating as many dinners at home.
GUPTA: Regardless of cause, there are steps to help kids stay leaner.
THOMAS: We need to get physical education back into schools. We need to get the junk food out of schools. We need to make communities safer for kids to walk and bike and play. It's harder to do that than it is to say, mom and dad, you're not doing the right thing. I think mom and dad are doing the best they can.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: I think mom and dad are doing OK, as well. Children eat almost twice as many calories, though, at restaurants than they do during a meal at home. So I want to give you some tips to help tip the scale towards you.
Number one, pre-cook and freeze meals on the weekends to heat up later. That might help. Number two, you've heard this before, limit TV, computer, and video games. And number three -- this actually works really well -- cut out the soda. That could really add a lot of calories. Hope that helps.
Wow! Let's blame it all on working moms - low test scores, poor behavior, low functioning immune systems, mental and attention disorders ... sheesh! And what are they using to measure "obesity"? I've never been a fan of weight charts. Every kid is different. "cut out the soda" what a joke. Straight juice has a lot of calories on its own.
I think, like most items in the media, this suffers from flawed presentation. There was not study specifically studying "obese" children and their environments - had that been the case, and most came from dual income households where the parents gave them McDonald's every day, then the story would have some validity.
Since there is absolutely no scientific study to support the hypothesis - then that's exactly what this premise is - hype! Once more thing to try and blame on moms who are just trying to make a better life for their children.
Ame
I've always said the origin of the obesity problem was brunch at TGI Fridays. They started making these FOUR egg omelets and I remember in the 70s sitting there at the table, looking at their new brunch menu and my parents and grandparents were flabbergasted with the thought of eating FOUR eggs in the same meal.
Then portions got bigger and bigger everywhere. So I think it's eating bigger portions causing the obesity issue. And I think bigger portions are more likely in a restaurant (at least consistently) and if working parents go out to eat more (less time, more money) than I can see their kids being bigger.
Because we all know kids can't just run around outside all day because it isn't safe.
My own thinking is that it is always easy to blame the working mom - it's almost a knee-jerk thing. Especially if that's what you want your study to prove. I remember recently reading of a study which purported to show that day-care kids were more problematic and acting out in school. Turns out the study wasn't very well designed (how would you design a study like that to have only two variables - day-care kids and non-day care kids? The variables are much to great.) and the difference between day-care kids and non-day care kids was only a couple of points - like less than 3% - by whatever standard they used to measure problematic kids vs. non-problematic kids. And I've seen a lot of obese kids with moms who stay at home.
I do think that letting kids have what they want when they want it is part of the problem, and I do think as a society we have tended more towards letting children have what they want instead of parents deciding what is best for the child and sticking to it. And I think the multitude of non-active entertainment plays a role. Not to mention schools cutting back on PE because they need more class time to prepare kids for the ever-increasing number of tests.
I also think the prevalence of junk food and fast food does play a role, and again, that comes back to the parents. I was a stay at home mom until my youngest was 7, and then a work outside the home mom. But snacks were almost always fruit. Juice, yes, and for a treat, Koolaid (made with 3/4 cup sugar instead of a cup) or Kookaid popsicles. They were allowed a couple of cookies after lunch or dinner (and that meant eating lunch and dinner, or no cookies), but not in between. After school snack was a handful of pretzels, or fruit. It wasn't that I was particularly concerned about health, other than not wanting them to have much sugar or excess salt - mostly, I was just broke, and I could buy a 5 pound box of hurt pretzels from the candy store that made its own candy. When we watched a movie on TV on a Friday or Saturday night, I made popcorn. We did very little fast food simply because I couldn't afford it, and also it just wasn't part of our life-style. McDonalds was a very rare, major treat.
But as you all know, I was a mean mother. I set the rules and if my sons whined or had a tantrum, that made the "no" set in stone. I would never, never allow my kids to manipulate me by tantrums, tears, begging or "I hate you" or "You don't love me", or "all the other kids". Not that my kids were angels - heaven knows we had our share of problems. But on the whole, I am glad I was a mean mother, and they have told me that they are glad I placed a strong value on appropriate behavior and on discipline. (And I don't mean physical discipline.)
I watch my son and dil in their raising of my beautiful granddaughter, and she is now, at 18+ months, eating table food all the time. My dil is almost fanatical about a healthy diet and watches things like fat and salt and sugar and red meat very carefully, so they almost always eat in a very healthy style. And they watch carefully what Brooke eats, especially watching for additives. Greg told me recently they give her (pasteurized) organic milk, because "she doesn't need extra hormones". For the same reason, they use very few packaged foods, because of the excess salt and additives. It's more work - and they both have demanding jobs, so it is really more work for them to prepare the healthy meals. So I guess, in my mind, it boils down to how much time and effort a family wants to put into eating healthy and making sure the family - and especially the children - get outside and get exercise. It is almost always easier in the short run to let a kid play videogames a couple of hours a day instead of making him/her go outside and ride a bike, but in the long run taking the easy way out is not good parenting.
I've moved away from the original topic, I guess, and this is, of course, one of my soap-box topics. Parents who work at parenting (instead of taking the easy way out) are much more likely to have healthy and, in the long run, happy kids.
And yes, cut out the soda. Yes, juice has calories, but soda is strictly empty calories with no food value at all (even the sports drinks don't have very much real "food value".
PE is still important, in my school district and in the last few years, have started emphasizing "life" sports, like roller-blading and bicycling, rather than the stupid field hockey I had to play, as a teen. Both of my kids have gotten to roller-blade and ride bikes, at school. I think it's more appropriate to show kids what they can do to keep fit, than play team sports. I've never played field hockey, since I graduated from high school, but have roller-skated and ridden a bike!
My kids like to go out and ride their bikes and have been known to ride their bikes to the library, instead of asking for a ride! (and I do work!)
I think the rise in obesity in children has more to do with the way our lifestyles have changed.
It is just not working moms that are eating more and more fast food. When I was at a playgroup a few years ago with stay at home moms, I was shocked to find out that I was one of the only moms that cooked dinner each night. Most of them said they eat fast food 3-4 times a week. My neighbor who is a stay at home mom feeds her kids nothing but junk most of the time. She constantly gives into them and gives them what they want. So, stay at home moms are just as guilty of giving their kids unhealthy foods, for whatever reason. I think that everyone is on the go so much these days, it makes fast food more appealing. It is quick and easy.
We are not big on fast food, mainly because my youngest ds has severe GERD. He can not have a lot of fat in his diet. I have to constantly watch what he eats. So, fast food is a once every couple of weeks/a month thing around our house. Eating healthy is a lot harder these days. I know I am forced to do it. I don't have a choice if I want my son to be healthy. Would I be this way if not for him? I don't know.
Also, kids just don't really play outside anymore. My dks love being outside. They are outside every day, either swimming in our subdivision pool, riding bikes, scooter, shooting baskets, etc. Since summer has started, they are usually the only two kids outside in the neighborhood. If they go get friends to play, they want to play inside. I am one of those mean moms that kicks everyone outside after awhile. But, we are also the only house in the neighborhood that has a basketball goal, and tons of outdoor toys and activities. Gosh, I remember when I was growing up, my brother and I would leave the house first thing in the morning, and not return until dark(except to come home for meals) We just hung out on our street with all the neighborhood kids..riding bikes, playing games, etc.
So, no I don't think working moms are the problem with obesity.
Ditto Ginny. *I* was and still am a working mom, and my kids are not obese.
It's all about life style - unless your child has an illness or condition that promotes obesity.
Diet and exercise play HUGE roles in this, as do sleep habits, emotional issues, problems in school, etc. And you can't blame all of those things on working moms.
Geez................let's make the working moms of the world feel *more* guilty.............
Ditto Debbie, almost exactly. We eat out (fast food or semi-fast like Subway or chinese food) once every two weeks and that's because I see such a difference in my ds's behavior after super-processed food. We keep track of the food groups eaten each day and try to get as many fruits and veggies in each day but most of my friends' families eat out multiple times a week and snack on junk all day long. If their kids get any physical activity, it's an organized event once or twice a week. My kids get one hour of screen time a day and have to spend at least two hours a day outside, swimming, playing basketball, baseball, tag, running in the sprinklers, or just using their imaginations. Many of my dks' friends have limited time for TV or video games but still spend all of their time inside in sedentary activities.
I'm blessed that two of my dks take after their father's metabolism and naturally stay thin but my youngest is built like my mother and sister and tends to be a bit chunkier. She also has a huge sweet tooth and is uncoordinated. She is definitely going to be the one that has to work at not putting on extra weight but, at this age, it's easy to play off the extra calories. I just have a responsibility to make sure she's able to. Not all parents care enough to and it really doesn't matter if the mom works or not, IMO.
I do think that some WOHMs have to choose their battles and physical activities and non-processed foods aren't always a battle they are willing to fight over. But I think America's lifestyle is to blame more than anything else. We are a over-scheduled, high-paced, high-convenience people that live in a unsafe environment that makes it hard to promote the values that lead to a healthier lifestyle.
My mom was a stay at home mom, and we ate vegetables from our garden and had a home cooked meal every night, and RARELY went out to eat because there were just too many of us and it was cheaper to just eat at home. We played outside all day and yet, I still had a weight problem even when I was young. Later on in life I found out I had PCOS, and an underactive thyroid, and I really think that had/has something to do with my weight problem, although now, I admit that I don't eat exactly right, but I did then. However, we had no choice but to eat what my mother made. There was no compromising that, or having something different from everyone else. I have a friend who is also a SAHM, who has an obese child and she said to me that her daughter won't eat certain things including veggies and only will eat things like chicken nuggets, etc..., and junk food. To me, the concept of allowing a child to have that much control over what they will and wont eat is foreign to me. But what could she possibly do if the child just flat-out refuses to eat or gags up the food? She's not a strict disciplinarian. We got spanked or sent to our room for the night if we didn't eat regardless of whether we liked it or not - even brussel sprouts! LOL! (which I kinda like now)
Sandy, I love brussel sprouts, my kids do to actually...
I don't think working has a thing to do with weight issues in our children.
One of the biggest children I have ever met had a stay at home mom. Her mom did the same as Sandy's "friend" and let her daughter eat what ever she wanted.. She actually made two different meals a night so her dd would/could eat... It didn't matter what mom made, she would still have to make a special meal for DD because DD didn't like whatever the main meal was even if she had requested the very same special meal the week before..
Sandy, I'm with you. I can't imagine allowing a child to control what s/he eats unless there is an allergy involved. What I grew up with (and what my kids grew up with) is - the meal is on the table, eat it. For me, my parents left no option - you had to eat it. For my kids, the option was you have to try it on 3 separate occasions, and if you really, really can't eat it, you don't have to, but I am not fixing anything else so you'd better fill up on what else is on the table. There was never a question about veggies - veggies and salads are one of those blights parents inflict on their children and you eat them. Period. Before you get seconds on meat or starch and certainly before you even think about dessert (including brussel sprouts, which I also love). The only thing any of my children would not eat was cottage cheese (for one child) and fried eggs (for another child - scrambled or hardboiled OK, but not fried).
As for a child gagging up the food, I would suspect that it is deliberate. And my response would be - oh dear, I guess you're too sick to eat, so you'll have to go to bed and just have tea and chicken broth for the rest of the day (and, if it's the evening meal, then for tomorrow also). I didn't and don't believe in spanking kids for not eating, but I definitely don't believe in letting a child manipulate like that. The trick is to out-manipulate - out-smart, really - the child.
With my first child - you know, the child you learn/practice on - and had concerns because he wasn't eating his meals at about age 2-1/2, the pediatrician told me that very few children will voluntarily starve .. just keep putting the food on the table at meals, don't fuss, no snacks in between meals, and after a reasonable time the meal is over. And, it worked. It took about two weeks of him eating very little for five meals and then going for seconds on the sixth meal, until he got the message.
By the way, Bobbie, have you ever seen brussel sprouts growing? I grew them one summer, and that is a really weird plant.
Okay brussels sprouts are really not my favorite, but I have a long list of other vegetables that I love and will eat anytime! DH likes them, though. I like parsnips in soup, though. They are weird, too, but are good in soup.
I've thought about this before. I don't think it has as much to do with working mothers specifically as much as lifestyles. I think most kids nowadays are spoiled rotten even though I think most parents mean well. They want their kids to have better than they did, etc. I have worked and stayed at home and though I prefer to stay at home it's still busy, with plenty to do to make you not feel like cooking dinner. When I was growing up Mcdonalds or anything like it was a treat. It doesn't help that kids get little to no pe or recess time in schools and you can't let your kids outside to play without keeping a close eye because they could be snatched out of the yard. We recently just put the stops to eating out. My kids weight didn't concern me, but I was concerned about how spoiled they were getting to be. They began to whine if they didn't like where we were going or they'd be like "that's it?" if we said we were going out to eat. Dh and I decided no more, it'd be a rare treat just like it was for us growing up. I also question some of the additives that are in our foods as well.
Ginny, my grandmother grows them every year. Last year my middle sister put in a full garden and had them too.. So yes I have seen the funny looking plant growing, lol..
Dawn, I love brussel sprouts, too! My dh thinks I'm nuts.:-)
I grow tired of these "studies". Enough all ready. All one has to do is give some thought, and the whole premise falls apart.
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