We've spent the past few weeks reading about and listening to the causes of obesity in children.
Some of the culprits are:
1. Genetics ("Fat Chance")
2. The fast food industry, with McDonald's at the forefront ("Supersize Me")
3. The beverage industry ("Bottlers Agree to a School Ban on Sweet Drinks")
4. The advertising agency ("Ban on Fast-Food TV Ads May Cut Obesity")
5. The schools, for not educating the children about nutrition and for not providing physical exercise time and equipment ("Supersize Me")
6. The parents
7. The children
Having considered all of the information, who do you think is responsible for our children's obesity epidemic? Use evidence from the above sources--and others, if you have them--to explain, support, and argue your point of view.
You can start your composition as follows:
Although its difficult to
single out just one specific cause for the obesity epidemic in America, I
believe that the major cause of the problem is ___________.
A composition is not an essay. You can write 1-2 long paragraphs to answer the question.
.....I believe that the major cause of this problem is the parents , they are part from the genetics factor however they can't change it.children whom been educated by parents and fully understanding the disadvantage of the unhealthy food and they have been serving a healthy food inside the house can easily stay away from the temptation they found .Also,parents should consider about what the children are eating or drinking where ever they are.
ReplyDeleteDo you really think its so easy to "stay away from the temptation" just because parents "educate" them about the "disadvantage of unhealthy food?" Wouldn't it just be better to remove the temptation itself?
DeleteAfter we knew alot about the causes of the obesity , we cann't assume that there is only one reason behind it. But I can consider the house and the parents are mostly the major reason behind having an obese kid in the house. I blam them because they are responsible for creating a healthy enviroment inside the house, which is the first and the baisc influence for their child. The obese kid does not born like that , he/she diffently get that according to his/her eating habbit. In other word, if it is in the genes , so the parent would be able to watch their baby gaining much extra wight than he/she should be . According to that , they would put him/her under special dite . Normally, if the kid raise up with a spesific dite and with a clear understanding of the importance of the healthy food , he/she would not be overwight on the first day school . Moreover, the parents could imprint the bad imprition for the fast food resturants . For example, when the commercial show up on the TV , parent's wise must follow that each and every time until the child memorize it and hate it . Babies start to feel like they want to eat when they see their parents do it. On other word, its all about imitation . Children start to learn every thing by copying their parents. For exampl, my son used to eat eggs until he saw his father get disgusted from its smell so he hated from that day and on . Of course , the schools and fast-food companies are partly responsble for the increasing of the obesity average but not completly.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it's difficult to single out just one specific cause for the obesity, I believe that the major cause of the problem are the parents because they are responsable for teaching children to eat healthy food, they have to create an appropriate environment at home. The kids learn the habit of the parents, if the parents eat healthy the children learn to eat healthy, but if the parents eat junk food the children probably will learn to eat it too. As we saw, obesity in children depends on the environment in which they are raised, because the kids don't born obese the enviroment made them, but genetics also has a lot to do with it. We can not just blame parents for childhood obesity because sometimes the parents teach them how eat healthy but genetic's doesn't help and also the enviroment in which they move. As we can saw the companies lure with the children in different ways, and the children can not differentiate the healthy food from the junk food, they just see the toys, colors, characters and what is more attractive to them, so that's where the parents should be teaching the kids what's the difference, although they don't have all the responsability they can decrease the chance that their children will become obese in the future.
ReplyDeleteKarina,
DeleteYou first suggest its the parents' fault but then you say that the companies are at fault.
Also, you wrote:
"As we saw, obesity in children depends on the environment in which they are raised, because the kids don't born obese the enviroment made them, but genetics also has a lot to do with it."
Actually, the evidence from that article was that genetics pays a larger role than environment in obesity (adopted children resemble their birth parents more than their adoptive parents).
Although is difficult to single out just one specific cause for obesity epidemic in america, I believe the main cause of the problem is the advertising of fast-food. Today's children consume multiple types of electronic products and spend more time in front of computer,televisions and screens than any other activities in their lives except sleeping. Children are susceptible group, they can't distinguish persuasive advertisement which try to lure them to buy the product. Advertising of fast food directed at children who is easy to imprint content in their mind, and children have a remarkable ability to recall content from the advertising which they have seen in the future. Fast-food advertising affects children's product purchase requests and these requests influence parents' purchasing decisions.
ReplyDeleteZhao Tang
DeleteYou make a clear, coherent argument.
DeleteAlthough it's difficult to single out just one specific cause for the obesity epidemic in America, I believe that the major cause of the problem is the parents. First, parents should control their children's diet from the beginning. However, if they want their children to be in a good shape, they have to teach them how to avoid unhealthy food. Also, parents should try to make every meal at home , otherwise the children will eat unhealthy food as fast food and get obese. Second cause is, most of the schools in the United States don't service healthy meals. So, the parents and the schools have to cooperate with each other to help the children of obesity. In fact, there's another major cause which is genetics. We all know generics is something run in families. So, genetics could be the reason of obesity too. In the end, to protect the children's health , parents have to make sure that their children eat healthy food everyday.
ReplyDeleteYou have to choose ONE major cause, not THREE!
DeleteAfter arguing about the causes of obesity in children, we found out a number of culprits.Yet,it is still difficult to figure out a unique and specific reason concerning this matter.However,i believe that parents are doubly faulty not only because of their genes but also because they do not care about their children's dietary habits.Obese parents should automatically know that , on the genetic viewpoint , they have great chances to have obese children.Therefore,in order to fight those previsions, they have to take the initiative of controlling their children's diet since their birth.I think , parents are the one who create an unhealthy food environment at home.In my experience, i have seen some parents buying food which contain too much fats and cholesterol.Others brought their children in fast food twice a day.Those adults are so irresponsible that they can't convince children to control their weight by practicing sport and being on diet or maybe by advertising them on the bad effects of obesity. But, children play a little role in their obesity because they can afford to take their personal decisions and they have to be able to take care of their appearance if they want to avoid being mocked or criticized by other people.They can "say no to fast foods".In fact fast food are not responsible because they do not force people to eat in their products and they do not pull them over.
ReplyDeleteWell written and well argued. Good use of vocabulary.
DeleteAlthough its difficult to single out just one specific cause for the obesity epidemic in America, I believe that the major cause of the problem is from the people who are obesity themselves.For one thing,obviously, we cannot ignore one of the causes which is Genetic, however, there are no evidence can proof that children who have obese parents MUST be obesity.the most significant factor is from themselves. on the other hand, people should control themselves, which avoids to eat too much rather than get out of control. in addition, more and more people are becoming lazy, which leads to they have lack of exercise.In the article, most people blame for Mcdonald's, which makes them fat. but.the company is not fault, why do so many people blame other people rather than blame themseleves? this is a serious problem people should concern.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, we're talking about the children here, not the adults. So its hard to blame the children for their health when they're not completely in control of their food and other choices.
DeleteAlthough it’s difficult to single out just one specific cause for the obesity epidemic in America, I believe that lack of knowledge about good nutrition is the main cause of that issue along with absence of society role. For example, schools have to be careful about type of food they are serving to their students, and they should provide physical exercise time and equipment to kids. Schools are also having part of educating the students how they can choose a healthy food which is suitable for their ages needs. In that way we can teach them how to catch the fish instead of just give it to them, because their parent are not going to be with them all the time .
ReplyDeleteSo are you pointing your finger at the schools?
DeleteAlthough its difficult to single out just one specific cause for the obesity epidemic in America, I believe that the major cause of the problem is the schools, for not educating the children about nutrition, for not providing physical programs, and for accepting commercial businesses with fast-food companies on campus. Children spend most of their time in school studying, eating, and playing. While schools dont help them to realize what are good for their health, they even agree to offer lots of unhealthy food to children via vending machines and canteens, such as potato chip, coke, soda, etc. All of them are harmful for children's health and are culprits lead to the obesity. Children have no choices in school.
ReplyDeleteThis is a thoughtful and well-supported argument. I'm convinced. Nice job.
DeleteIt's really hard to point at one specific cause of obesity in North America, I think the responsibility for this problem is shared among the main culprits . In first place I would like to mention the parents , because they should illustrate their children about the side effects of junk food and the consequences about bad nutrition habits. In second place the corporations, nobody blame them for making money but they should be more communicative about their food ingredients and all the problems that fast food/sodas can cause if people consume them in great quantities. In last place I would like to mention the schools , because they seem to be worried about their children health but they do nothing serious about the problem, they should increase the hours and resources for physical exercise in schools.
ReplyDeleteFor this assignment, you had to pick ONE major cause!!!
DeleteAlthough its difficult to single out just one specific cause for the obesity epidemic in America, I believe that the major cause of the problem is bad happit of eating. I would not like to build my opinion depanding on what I read because accordign to my experience what is in the paper almost different than the reality. However, If I compare the situation in my city and what we have in ower book, Shcools in my city specially in my town softdrink are baned and the vending machins have only milk or somthing healthy. Even though we eat alot from resturant our main meal is made at home specially for children. That is why I think it is bad happit in eating.
ReplyDeleteYou cannot blame the children's habit. You have to blame SOMEONE for enabling the habit to form!
DeleteThere are many factors that cause obesity in young people, especially children. But I believe that schools and parents play the most important role in forming children’s eating habit. Evidence shows that this job will be more effective when we educate students at primary schools as when they are used to eating chips and drinking Coke for breakfast, it is extremely hard to change the situation. In addition, if parents are well-informed about the danger of junk food and fast food, they will help their children what to eat and what to avoid. For example, in many schools in Vietnam, students’ diets are supervised by health experts and teachers have to persuade students to care about what they eat on a daily basic. As a result, students of such schools seem to be stronger because they are not allowed to eat a lot of junk food.
ReplyDeleteStudents' diets are supervised by health experts? Really?
DeleteWell, if that's true, then that is evidence of what schools could do to promote healthy habits. I have a feeling that there are very few obese Vietnamese students.
Although its difficult to single out just one specific cause for the obesity epidemic in America, I believe that the major cause of the problem is the fast food industry. I am the person who experience the fast food everyday. When I was child in primary school, I was suffering fast food until now after the first McDonald's opened in my hometown. You can not believe I ate McDonald's almost three to four times every week. Before that, I was thin with regular weight,did exercise every day, balance diet, however, since the McDonald's opened that day, my weight has continued increase until now. If I didn't eat fast food, my weight would not over weight. I believe the fast food industry is the main responsible for our children's obesity epidemic
ReplyDeleteBut why is McDonald's responsible? Isn't it your parents fault for feeding you there 3-4 times a week?
DeleteI think the government, education institutions, parents and meal business should share responsibility.The government should control the overall situation, for catering industry should be strict supervision and education institutions should also pay attention to children eat a healthy diet, the responsibility of parents is also very important, the child's health is the first.The main reason for the problem or fast food company,fast food easy led to the children's obesity,they should take main responsibility.
ReplyDeleteThey can't all take main responsibility. You have to choose one and make your argument!
Delete