Revelations this week about the extent of child obesity are both frightening and an important wake-up call for parents and the entire community. A recent study by UAE University of 29,410 children aged between the ages of 3 and 18 found that 40 per cent were overweight, 24.4 per cent obese and 5.7 per cent extremely obese. And as The National reported, surgeons routinely carry out gastric-bypass surgery on obese teenagers, including one Dubai 13-year-old who weighed 150 kilograms. These children require surgery because they are at risk of type 2 diabetes, sleep apnoea and fatty liver disease – conditions more usually associated with people in late middle-age.
The simple fact is that, apart from truly exceptional cases, no child should need a surgical procedure to control their weight. The condition they are in is purely a result of a poor lifestyle and, by association, poor parenting.
It is true that the average diet in this region has changed dramatically in the past half-century. Rapid development brought on by prosperity has led to an explosion in dietary options. At the same time, lifestyles have become far less active. For children, physical play and participation in sport has been replaced by increasing amounts of time in front of game consoles, computers and smartphones. Every parent knows that this is happening.
It’s a simple problem with a simple solution. Dietitians, fitness experts and teachers all have a part to play, but the uncomfortable truth is that responsibility for childhood obesity begins and ends in the family home. If children are eating too much and exercising too little, it is their parents’ responsibility to address the situation. They have to make sure that their children eat healthy meals, and that high-sugar and high-fat foods are an occasional treat not part of the daily diet. Moreover, they should encourage their offspring to be active. Parents should lead by example: healthy living can be a family project, from kicking a ball in a park to creating the perfect salad together.
It may not be easy to resist an impulse purchase of chocolate at the supermarket or to cope with tantrums when children don’t always get what they want. But the “tough love” involved in regulating food consumption is in the child’s best interests. Every parent has a duty to ensure that their children have the best possible start to a healthy, happy and long life.
