Today it is known that the obesity epidemic claims more and more victims every day. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention writes “that nearly 1 in 5 school-age children and youth (ages 6 to 19) in the United States suffer from obesity.” Although many factors leading to obesity have been studied, including increased consumption of unhealthy foods, the relationship between parents and childhood obesity has not been analyzed as often. So this essay will try to answer the question: How important are parents in modeling and encouraging healthy eating habits in order to control children's weight and end childhood obesity? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Parents are role models for children in the early years of life, especially because they spend a lot of time at home with them. “Parents play an essential role because they can exercise external control over children, including social support and food management.” Parents can teach positive behaviors so that children know how to make healthy decisions to be healthy throughout their lives. “The percentage of adolescents who report eating dinner with their family at least five times a week has…increased from 47 percent in 1998 to 61 percent in 2002.” In other words, more families eat meals together. My feelings on this statement are mixed. I support the idea that eating together as a family is a good way to spend time, however parents generally use this time as a way to keep up to date with what is happening in their children's lives, not using this time to their advantage to necessarily present positive eating habits. And the remaining 39%, who don't eat together? You could say that families don't have time with busy work/school commitments. While I admit that parents have long work hours, kids have extracurricular activities, and it's more convenient to pick up dinner than make it, I still think it's the parents' responsibility to take the time to provide a healthy meal for their kids. Parents You need to set stricter rules to show children strong eating habits that they can use throughout their lives. Displaying an authoritative parenting style allows parents to be firm but flexible when it comes to letting their children choose their own foods. “Authoritative parents do not give their children free rein or hold them too tight.” This child-centered technique demonstrates self-control to children because it allows children to make their own decisions based on the healthy food that parents are responsible for obtaining. “Parents have the responsibility to offer a healthy variety of foods, while children themselves have the responsibility to decide what and how much they want to eat.” When you see junk food everywhere, you need to know how to control yourself so you can make positive choices. But just like any other parenting style, this one too has flaws. On the other hand, this parenting style requires a lot of effort from parents, especially if you are dealing with a stubborn and angry child. Being authoritative requires parents to discipline their children, which often leads to rebellion. “We cannot force them onto a treadmill and feed them a carefully controlled diet because it will lead them to rebel against such harsh measures.” This parenting style works because it requires mutual respect between parents and child. Since it mainly focuses on the child's development, parents show the child how to be independent. Children are given the freedom to make crucial decisions in theirtheir early years, allowing them to make those same decisions in adulthood and grow as independent individuals. But nutritional intervention is not effective on its own, parents need to add behavioral techniques to the program so that their child is more successful in the long term, which means weight loss/management isn't just about their childhood years. The goal is to promote healthy habits that they will carry into their future, so that they are not overweight/obese as adults. There are many different techniques parents can use, including monitoring children's food intake and limiting food supply altogether. Studies show that monitoring children's calorie intake influences their decision. In a study examining how parental feeding behaviors affected child weight, Clark et. al found that “parental monitoring of fat intake at age 5 predicts lower BMI at age 7, when BMI at age 3 is taken into account.” In other words, parental monitoring regulates children's fat intake. Some argue that monitoring is not effective, but rather harmful because it triggers binge eating when the child is not monitored. They will return to their habits and regain the weight they lost. I believe there are always risks included in a weight loss program. But therapy and behavior modification are well-researched topics that show children lose more weight with these techniques. One study showed that monitoring made "children's choices significantly lower in terms of total calories, saturated fat, and salt," when they studied a group of children under parental monitoring versus no monitoring. In other words, constantly monitoring a child's food choices will allow them to identify healthy food options and then choose those foods, even when junk food is available. Over-monitoring a child's calorie intake may lead parents to restrict food, especially if the child is not yet able to make positive decisions on his or her own. “Parents who limit what their children eat believe they are doing what is best for their child.” If you eliminate junk food from a child's life, they won't be able to eat it. But what parents don't know is that limiting junk food only increases cravings for it. According to Clark et. al, “Children may be more likely to seek out and consume restricted foods and may become overexcited when restricted foods are available.” This means that children will lose self-control when junk food is around. I believe children should have a well-stocked refrigerator full of choices, including healthy and unhealthy foods. In a world surrounded by junk food, there will never be a way to completely eliminate sugary, salty and fatty foods from a child's life. But whose responsibility is it to take the first step and make these changes to your life and eating habits? In discussions of childhood obesity, a controversial issue has been whether or not children or parents are responsible for making dietary and lifestyle changes. On the one hand, some argue that the child is responsible for becoming obese, so it should be their problem to correct it. Obesity is caused by eating “more calories for fuel than you burn during daily activities, so that the excess is stored… as unhealthy amounts of fat.” In other words, some argue that the child's food choice is the cause.