Has the ever present media made our kids fat?
There is also a study on whether a working mom has an effect on their child's weight. I can't help but notice that as media became more present in our lives, so did the obesity rate in our nations' children. Adult- type diabetes is on the rise in younger and younger children. Childhood diabetes has risen more then 30% in over 20 years according to the CDC.
Another factor to look at is the advertisements directed at the young age group. They see the ads for Fruit by the Foot, ice cream or a sugary cereal and want it. It takes parents control as well. The parents are the ones that pay for their unhealthy eating habits. I know from personal experience that it is easier to go to the store and let my son pick out a treat. But I put restrictions on the type, price and when he can have it.
It takes a whole family to make the right decision for a child. Limit the screen time and make better options as a family. With a little work, eventually, the child will learn to make the right choice on his own. The hard work pays off!
I thought you had a good topic to work with and that made me want to dive right into the post. I love the picture you put up in the post. Your sources were good as well and fairly up-to-date. Kudos for using the Kaiser Foundation; I used a different study from the same organization for one of my posts as well.
ReplyDeleteAs far as writing style, this one was a little harder to follow. I felt like I had to struggle to put together what you were trying to say Were you trying to talk about the problems that arise from obesity and solution? Were you trying to talk about causes of media induced obesity as well? Were you looking into solutions for the problem?
You have wonderful facts and stats and I would have loved to know what exactly you were trying to prove other than it is a growing problem. Your blog is really quite interesting. Good job with this post and I look forward to reading more.
I really like your use of multi-media in your blogs. I think they add an overall great appeal to your posts and really help tell your story. I think using more than one multi-media image or video in your blog can really give your blog a better feel for an audience to read. Although the topic may sound interesting, visual appeal is important to a lot of people as well, and I think you did a great job of doing this.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I noticed is that your blog post seemed to be short. I commented about this in someone else’s blog too. Although the requirements are only 400+ words I don’t think you should just stop there. I find what you write about to be very intriguing and it makes me want to read more but it seems to fall short on this post. You’re a great writer with an interesting topic; don’t cut it short because the requirements say so.
Your topic is interesting but you could go into more detail about the factors of childhood obesity. You mention advertising. That is one angle that you could talk more about. There are certain laws that prohibit what can be advertised to children and how it can be advertised to children.
ReplyDeleteAlso, sugary cereals are advertised "as part of a balanced breakfast" because by itself, it is not healthy. The FDA requires that to be said so that it doesn't deceive parents (and older children). So in future posts, see if there is another angle you can examine or more detail that goes along with your point.
One minor thing that I noticed that has a big impact is this sentence: "the child will learn to make the right choice on his own." You could mean your son, in which case it would be appropriate, but for readers, this sentence excludes girls because of the use of "his."
I would recommend making the sentence plural so "children will learn to make the right choices on their own" or saying "his or her own." I know it's nitpicky but it would be a good professional trait to use in your upcoming posts.