The Real Reason Kids are Fat

Posted By Suzanne Venker
December 26, 2010 @ 10:00pm

The Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 that was pushed through Congress just last week is a terrific example of all that is wrong with the Left. The proposed legislation includes $4.5 billion over 10 years for programs that are designed to…teach children how to eat.

Yup, the United States government has officially become Mom and Dad — which works out well for moms like Monet Parham, who’s suing McDonald’s for offering Happy Meals on their menu.

I am concerned about the health of my children and feel that McDonald’s should be a very limited part of their diet and their childhood experience. But as other busy working moms and dads know, we have to say ‘no’ to our young children so many times, and McDonald’s makes that so much harder to do. I object to the fact that McDonald’s is getting into my kids’ heads without my permission and actually changing what my kids want to eat.

This is a classic case of inept parenting. Lucky for her, Ms. Parham has a friend in another inept parent: Michelle Obama.

She was also once exasperated with trying to feed her kids. During her Let’s Move campaign last year, she said this:

Before coming to the White House, the president and I lived like most families: two working parents — too busy, not enough time, and I found myself unable to cook a good meal for my kids. Going to fast food more than I’d like, ordering pizza, and I started to see the effects on my family, particularly my kids.

Today, Mrs. Obama has a cook to oversee her children’s eating habits and has conveniently forgotten the significance of what she learned. Rather than suggest parents change their lifestyle to accommodate the needs of children, she passes legislation designed to take the onus off parents. According to Mrs. Obama,

We can’t just leave [the obesity dilemma] up to the parents.

Yet last year the First Lady also said this about childhood obesity:

This isn’t like a disease where we’re still waiting for a cure to be discovered – we know the cure for this. It doesn’t take some stroke of genius or feat of technology.

No, it doesn’t — which is why the Obama administration has just thrown billions of your tax dollars down the toilet. Today’s parents have all the information they could possibly need about nutrition. Spending more money trying to educate them — by requiring front-of-package labeling that discloses a product’s nutritional value, for example — is futile. As Obama herself points out, it doesn’t take “a stroke of genius” to discern the good stuff from the bad stuff.

The truth about childhood obesity is that which we refuse to admit: kids are fat because parents aren’t doing their job. What’s the common thread in Parham’s and Obama’s arguments? That working moms can’t keep up. That working moms can’t fight the culture because they’re too busy.

Childhood obesity has tripled in the past three decades, which is — not coincidentally — the same period of time in which women have been encouraged to divorce their husbands (causing them to have to take full-time jobs outside the home) or leave their children in day care in search of their true calling. It is impossible to overstate this new reality in American households. Simply put, no one’s in the kitchen anymore. And with fewer moms at home to keep their children on a healthy routine, children’s health suffers.

To be sure, there are other factors to consider: the eradication of recess at school, for example, and the proliferation of candy and pre-packaged convenience foods. But even if schools offered great lunches, even if recess was put back in our schools, even if restaurants stopped making super-sized portions and candy ceased to be available at Sports Authority, children still have to be taught how to eat right — and the only people who can do this are parents.

That’s not how the Left think. To them, anything bad that happens in their personal lives is the direct result of someone having screwed them, or made their lives so challenging they can’t possibly navigate the world on their own. Rather than admit this, they manufacture a group of victims and package their solution in such a way that people feel compelled to jump on board.

By calling the new legislation the Hunger-Free Kids Act, Americans conjure an image of starving children throughout America — and who could feel good about themselves if they denied children food? Meanwhile, the 4.5 billion is merely needed to give parents an out.

Got a fat kid? That’s not your fault — it’s society’s fault.

We can throw all kinds of money at the obesity problem, but it will not make obese children any less obese. The only way to make a dent in childhood obesity is for parents to make serious changes in their lifestyle — and learn how to crack open a cookbook.

Full article:
http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/12/26/the-real-reason-why-kids-are-fat-1/