Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, the most prescribed pills in the world, have become a family affair.
I try not to be a one of those sanctimonious parents who looks down on how other people parents their children. I have been a parent long enough to know that sometimes you do what you have to do, and that never is a REALLY long time. I have had to eat my own words long enough to know that they had better be sweet.
One day when we were at the baseball field, surprise there , huh?, there was a mother who was feeding her child junk food after junk food. The little girl was extremely overweight. Not chubby, this child was obese. And yet I watched this mother, on more than one occassion, buy her daughter a never ending stream of junk food. And even more telling to me was that the mother was overweight, but always wearing work out clothes. So clearly this is an issue for her as well.
I didn’t judge the mother so much as I felt bad for the little girl. None of my children are overweight. And I still would never allow them to eat the amount of junkfood that I watched this child eat. Not only that but she would ask other people to buy her junk food also or ask other children for someof theircandy.
It saddens me that this child is being easily set off on the path of bad eating habits, and we know how habits are made and hard to break. It is equally sad to me that children are being placed on cholesterol lowering drugs when for the vast majority of children they probably are not necessary. We all talk about how children don’t go out to play any longer, how video games have replaced actual play. But what do we do about it? Even kids who are not overweight would benefit from more outside play time.
I know that people will say, well the guidelines are pretty specific regarding the prescription of these medications, but I know that doctors will start prescribing them to overweight children across the board. What about the side effects? What about the long term risks?
Are people going to begin relying on the statin drugs for their children rather than encouraging healthy diets and exercise?
It is truly sad, though I can just count myself lucky that my kid is skinny, because I do let her eat more junk than she should. At least she was enthralled with the purple carrots at the farmer’s market!
I think some of the lack of outdoor play time might be tied into how structured every minute of most of our kids’ lives are these days, increased rates of asthma, plus safety concerns about child-predators after our unattended children, but I have no ideas on how to reverse those trends.
Comment by Brigitte — July 25, 2008 @ 5:34 am
I agree with this. It is very frustrating to see overweight kids with overweight parents feeding them candy, cookies, etc for snacks. I am a Mom also, and from the beginning (baby food) I have fed my children a variety of meats, fruits & vegetables to try to have them not lead a life of fighting their weight. My children are now 6 and 9 and both eat great including salad, green beans, broccoli, tomatoes, most fruits etc. I use a rule my mother used, and after feeding us a healthy dinner, if we did not finish our healthy dinner because we were “full”, she wrapped it up and put it in the refrigerator and if we came back and hour later asking for ice cream because we were hungry… Guess What? She pulled out our unfinished dinner. Parents who feel their children won’t eat anything but macaroni & cheese, & peanut butter & jelly…. Wrong. If they get hungry enough, they will eat a healthy meal. And if they don’t eat for a few hours, they weren’t hungry to start with. I NEVER cook “two meals” to satisfy my children with the exception of if my husband & i would like something spicy with peppers. If you stop buying the junk, and stock your home with fresh fruits, carrot sticks, celery, yogurt etc the children will eat when they get hungry. Try the carrot sticks or celery with a small amount of peanut butter.. great snack with vegetables & protein. Of course I buy the occassional pudding, popsicles etc, but my kids still sometimes go for the fruit over pudding. Most restaurants now offer healthy sides also.. .my kids will often order fruit instead of fries, or if they want fries, we have one child order fries, and one child order the vegetables and they split those items. If you are in the habit of feeding your kids junk, please consider starting to make small changes over a month or so, and pretty soon, it will become more natural for you & your children. I do let my kids have some of the junk food… IN MODERATION… and that is the key.. it needs to be in moderation and not the standard.
Comment by Kim — July 31, 2008 @ 7:27 am