There is an escalating sense of urgency concerning the “childhood obesity epidemic.” Although it is true that children are packing on unhealthy pounds at an astonishing rate, this is a symptom, not the problem. The real problem is that we have held on to eating behaviors that would have served us well when food was scarce or required a great deal of energy to obtain, which was true for most of the history of humanity. These days, however, our energy requirements are nowhere near where they were in the past. We have been so successful at inventing and distributing labor saving devices—cars, washing machines, indoor plumbing, prepared foods, and remote-controlled equipment to entertain us—that we barely have to take a step or lift a finger to do much of anything.
For children today, the problem is compounded in a very serious way. They are not only less active, they are often virtually sedentary. Recent advances in brain science have revealed that movement is essential to new learning. To be a child has always meant to play—to engage in vigorous activity, usually outdoors, and almost always with other children. Our present environment is unnatural and pathological for children. It is also insidious because it sows the seeds of potential lifelong afflictions, such as diabetes and heart disease, that may take many years to surface. Currently, there is no cure for these diseases. We can only manage them at significant cost to the individual and society.
It is unknown what effect the lack of play and normal activity will have on children’s capacity for learning and development. Time and technology have something in common: they never travel in reverse. It is a futile strategy to try and “undo” what has been done or “go back” to the way things used to be. We live in a high-speed world with no signs of slowing down. Any racecar or speedboat driver will tell you that in order to be successful they must keep their eyes on where they are going and not on the obstacles in their path. It they focus on the obstacles, they will crash. We, too, must direct our attention to where we are going, to the future we want for our children.
Diet? Don't Do It
Looking to the future means developing a new set of behaviors and habits that are appropriate for the modern world—the one we actually live in. Children today are packing on weight at a record pace and we are starting to panic. Our first response is to put them on a diet and exercise program. Such programs fail because they are attempt to undo what is already done. Dieting is like trying to “uneat” the calories we have already consumed and are now storing as fat. Exercising to lose weight is trying to make up for the activity we didn’t engage in.
Children learn by observation, not by lectures. What are they seeing now?
Because at any given time the majority of adults in this country, particularly women, are on a diet the eating behavior children are observing is often their parents frustrating, stressful, inconsistent and ultimately futile struggle with food. Unfortunately, although many diets work in the short run, they have an abysmal long-term success rate. Restricted eating has an even more ominous prognosis for children – they actually get fatter! Children require the structure and security of consistent family meals as the context for learning how to choose food appropriately. They need parents to provide this environment and to demonstrate a healthy positive relationship with food. Adults and children must stop the infantile “on demand” feeding schedule so that they have the opportunity to become better attuned to their own hunger and satiety, both physically and emotionally. We are the adults, and we must change our behavior if we want them to change theirs. This is the only way our children will have a chance for a healthy future.
