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Gyana Cezanne Cureg

Professor Nazanin Keynejad
English 115
6 December 2016
Physical Burden at a Young Age
California is a large diverse state, from different race to different socioeconomic status.
This is why there are so many issues occurring in this state. One of this issue is the increasing
rate of childrens obesity from ages six to eleven years old in Los Angeles. There are different
studies that show the increase in obesity rate since 1970. According to Rachel Urangas article,
Bleak Future for Kids Inactivity, Bad Diet Fuel Soaring Diabetes, Obesity Rates, obesity rate
has increased three times while Janella Melius mentioned in her research study, Overweight and
Obesity in Minority Children and Implications for Family and Community Social Work, that
one of the factor of increase obesity rate is being part of a low-income family and living in a
poor and unsafe neighborhood (np). Children who belong to a low-income family tend to have a
parent whos too busy working and spend little to no attention on what their child is eating and as
a result, the child slowly gain weight until they end up being obese, and this is the only time
where parents will start to notice their childs health or in some situations parents would think
that this is normal. As a solution to this problem it will be a good idea if there is a state law that
will allow experts to transfer fats from an obese child to their parents and the only way to avoid
this punishment is for one of the parent to go on a parent-training intervention.
Socioeconomic status is one of the factor that leads to obesity for children. Children who
are part of low-income family are not receiving enough health attention from their parents. Most
of the time their parents are busy at work and are more focused on earning money than their

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childs health situation. Parents who are busy working and still earn low salary dont care about
buying healthy foods anymore, they buy the food that is cheap and the ones that are affordable
and dont spend their time thinking whether it is healthy or not. For parents like this, all that
matter is for their family not to starve. They will keep doing this and since unhealthy food can
make someone gain more weight children who are consuming this food will gain more weight
than what they are supposed to. But for their parents this is an accomplishment, parents will say
to themselves, I might be doing a good job since my son or daughter is gaining weight. I should
keep doing this. Parents from a low-income family dont have enough knowledge about obesity
so they think that when their child is fat it means that he/she is healthy. Head of Childrens
Hospital Los Angeles pediatric department, Dr. Robert Jacobs said, "You can't expect families to
work this out on their own These are chronic problems that require a diversity of
interventions." (Rachel Uranga np). Which means parents are recommended to go to intervention
for them to have enough knowledge about their childrens weight and health because before they
can help their child, they need to help themselves first.
Another factor that can cause obesity is the neighborhood where these low-income
families live. Most low-income family live in an unsafe neighborhood where children are
prohibited by their parents to leave the house. Due to these, children are forced to stay home with
less to no physical activity at all. Janella Melius research states that, Poverty has been linked to
the increased obesity risk through food insecurity and decreased access to healthy food and
physical activity (120). Because of parents not letting their children go out, they end up staying
home all day sitting on their couch or laying on their bed playing with their cellphones, PS4, and
PSP while eating a whole bunch of unhealthy foods. Janella Melius included in her study that,
Less desirable neighborhood conditions may make parents more concerned about neighborhood

safety and limit their childs outdoor activities

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Restrictions on outdoor activities may

encourage youngsters to engage in more sedentary activities such as television viewing that has
been associated with increasing BMI rates over time (120-121). It is nice to dedicate yourself to
your job but these parents have bigger responsibility for their children and it seems like they are
not doing it. They deserve to be punished by transferring their childs fats to their body through
injections. Parents lack of guidance to their child is a reason to why children grow up to be
obese. If they dont pay attention to their childs health, then they might as feel the same way as
their child. Parents need to realize that they didnt give birth to their child for them to suffer
obesity while growing up and if they only focus on earning money then why did they even
decided to have a child at the first place. They need to consider that their children need them to
make sure that they are healthy and that money isnt more important than their childs health.
One of the reason why there should be state law to punish the parents of obese children
is because these kids are the first generation of Americans to have a shorter lifespan than their
parents (Rachel Uranga np). The article also mentioned that children who are already obese
between the age of six to eleven years old are also prone to illnesses like type 2 diabetes, asthma
and heart related problems. The increasing rate of obesity also lead to increasing number of
children who are suffering of health complications and the more these kids gain weight the more
health complication they will have. This is something that parents need to know and they need to
act quick. As I continue to talk about this issue, I cant help but to think and ask where are the
parents of these children? Of course, they are working. Parents tell their children that they work
hard for them but the money they get from their job isnt enough for their children to lose
weight. Parents need to be punished by letting their obese children gain more weight. They
should receive twice the fats that their child gains. For example, if their child gains two pounds,

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then the fats that will be transferred to the parents is four pounds of fat. This is reasonable so
parents will suffer with their child. Once they feel the suffering their children are feeling then
they will start to act and focus more about them.
One way to help these parents be aware on what to do to help their children is for them
to go on a parent-training intervention that will teach them how they can help their kids lose
weight. During this training parents will learn what food they need to purchase and what they
need to avoid. They will also learn how to give a balanced diet and help their children be
physically active. A study was conducted in UCLA, where they had a parent training intervention
with a group of parents, mostly mothers, are attending the intervention itself and a control group
of parents that was just given a manual to a healthy diet. After one year of their study it shows
that nine percent of parents who attended the intervention successfully helped their child lose
weight and sixteen percent of parents who only had manual made their kids gain weight. This
study proves that going in an intervention is effective because having just the manual isnt giving
enough help. Dr. Wendy Slusser from UCLA said, "The intervention was unique because it
blended nutrition, physical activity and parenting topics that were delivered in a participatory
manner and where mothers learned from each other and practiced the skills at home" (Parenttraining Intervention Curbs Pediatric Obesity Rates, Study Show np). Parent-training is truly
helpful for both parents and their kids. Parents start to be more concern to their kids losing
weight but like the research said only nine percent of parents who came in the training
successfully helped their kids lose weight. For the rest who werent successful in helping their
kids, they should still be punished by transferring a pound of fats to their parents. Through this,
parents will work harder on helping their kids since people tend to work harder when there is a
punishment. This will help both parents and kids because parents will have more knowledge

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about obesity and will care more about their kids health. Kids will benefit by losing weight
which makes them less prone to illnesses like diabetes, asthma and hypertension. It might take
plenty amount of time and work but it will be all worth it at the end.
As for the punishment of fat transfer it can be avoided through going on parent-training
intervention or making sure that the children in your family will continuously lose weight and be
healthy. Parents also need to prove this by monitoring and recording their childs improvement
every month and this needs to be verified by an expert who is either part of the parent-training
intervention or the childs pediatrician or else parents will receive the punishment.
At the end of this issue, it is easy to say that obese children ages six to eleven are suffering
because of their parents lack of guidance and focus to them. Children these young will eat every
food, most commonly chips when parents are not around because they are not aware of what is
healthy and what is not. This is the age where they are starting to learn about how to be healthy
and it is sad to see that before they can even have the chance to decide about their health, it is
already ruined for them. No one can blame these kids because they dont know what they are
doing. This is all their parents fault. They are probably worried and concerned because they are
working and they need to earn money for their childs need as they grow specially for their
education but health is more important than the money they earn. If parents pay attention to their
childs health they will spend less on medicine and vitamins for their obese child. Also, parents
need to remember that being fat isnt healthy for their child. It is probably healthy to gain few
pounds but a 200-pound child of the age six to eleven years old is not good. Therefore, the
punishment will be perfect for the parents. They need to experience a little bit of cruelty for them
to be fully aware that they need to do something for their children. Transferring fat is the only
way they can help their children. At the end of the day it is their choice to go in a parent-training

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intervention or just keep receiving fats from their children because they dont have the time
which means they prefer their jobs more than their childs health. Hopefully they will sacrifice
time to help their children healthy and for their childs better future.

Works Cited
Melius, Janella. "Overweight And Obesity In Minority Children And Implications For Family
And Community Social Work." Social Work In Public Health 28.2 (2013): 119-128.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.

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http://libproxy.csun.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=aph&AN=85901395&site=ehost-live
Rachel Uranga\, Staff W. "Bleak Future for Kids Inactivity, Bas Diet Fuel Soaring Diabetes,
Obesity Rates." Daily NewsMay 01, Los Angeles, Calif., 2005.
http://libproxy.csun.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/282454433?
accountid=7285.
"Parent-Training Intervention Curbs Pediatric Obesity Rates, Study shows." Targeted News
Service Feb 15, Washington, D.C., 2012. http://libproxy.csun.edu/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/921562078?accountid=7285.