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I'd like to hear your opinions about the article below from the LA times
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Interesting. I see lots of kids riding their bikes and walking to school around here, even little kids that I wonder if they are old enough to look both ways before crossing the street. It seems that parents around my neighborhood are pretty lax, and don't supervise their kids enough. I don't think a 3 or 4 year old kid should be playing outside without a parent supervising. I've nearly run over kids on trikes in the middle of my street many times. (I'm careful, I go slow because I want to prevent that.) Unless their parents teach them street safety and courtesy toward other people (like not playing in other peoples' yards and driveways) they shouldn't be outside unattended at all.

Anyway, seems to me kids around here have much less paranoid parents than the ones in LA.

Cindy

This was in my local Sunday paper last week and I completely agree with the writer. I've thought for a long time that the rate of childhood obesity had a lot to do with parents who are too paranoid to let their kids exercise outdoors.
In my neighborhood there are a lot of kids between about 5 and 12- usually when they're outside biking and scootering there's at least one parent sitting on a stoop to keep a general eye on things. A decent balance if you ask me.

I don't think you can blame the rising obesity rate among children on a single element, although desire to keep our children safe certainly could be a factor. It is true that parents are more paranoid about leaving their children to play outside unsupervised than they were in the past. It's also true that working parents have less time to supervise children than non-working parents. And it's also true that there's simply more traffic around in most neighborhoods, not to mention that people are generally more involved in their own careers and families and don't know their neighbors as well as they may have 50 years ago. All this makes parents a little less likely to let their kids walk to school, which can add to the obesity problem.

In addition to that, there is the increasing proliferation and popularity of passive forms of entertainment such as video games and the computer, as well as the large amount of food advertising targeting children, and larger portions being served in restaurants and fast-food chains (which some working parents rely on more often than they did in the past) added to the mix. All of this taken together can definitely lead to heavier children.

And don't forget that the population as a whole has the same problem. I don't think we can blame the increasing obesity among adults on parental paranoia about kids walking to school, however!

May I PLEASE print out this article and put it under the wipers of every single car that parks here in front of my house dropping off or waiting to pick up their kid from school? PLEASE???? This is SUCH a problem in my neighborhood. I NEVER see kids playing outside. There are only a few kids who walk or ride to school, and the school next door has 450 kids. Maybe 1/4 of them walk/ride.

And the parents all use these excuses. Even the moms that I work with are like this. One of them has a 7th grader. She won't let the girl ride her bike 1 mile to school because someone is going to kidnap her. ON A BIKE? I rode my bike to and from junior high every day if it wasn't snowing, and it was 1.5 miles for me! And I was 11 in 7th grade. (I also started babysitting at 11.) She won't let her 9-year-old walk to school, either.

I keep saying, if they are in a group they are FINE. I walked to school in CICERO. I'm sure you have all heard of Cicero ... and I walked 4 blocks to school crossing 2 busy streets. Gang fights on the playground every day and my mom was a teacher there. But she made me walk because it taught me to be independent. (She was right.)

I was the subject of an attempted kidnapping when I was 7, and it didn't work because I ran into the house and got my grandma. If kids know what to do, they will be FINE.

I do think parents are very overprotctive of kids now. I am not saying there arent dangers but I think the media inflates them. Now we have a news networking service that instantly reports every crime against a child for rating and this causes parents to be overly fearful. One thing that drives me mad is that the evening news never stops talking about internet sex predators Im not saying they dont exist but its so obviouos that they trump it up for ratings. Kids need to have some freedom and independence even if it means risks. I feel bad for the parents hwo feel they cant let thier kid ride a bike its entirely the fault of the media and are overly fearful culture.

Actually I agree with you about the other factors as well. I used to have a set of dishes from the 70s that I bought at a thrift store. When I replaced them with new ones, the new ones were bigger by at least 20%; this definitely encourages bigger portions. Bigger portions, more "screen time" (although I'd argue that parental paranoia contributes to more screen time, as well as the availability factor), more fast food... it definitely all contributes.

For some reason parental paranoia about playing outside bugs me more though.

This attitude is very prevalent where I live. We used to live down the street from a high school, and tons of parents would drive their kids to school (in their SUVs). I can almost understand it for elementary school, but high school? And this is California, where the weather is not usually a problem. But, there are kids who walk and ride bikes, so I don't know the percentages.

There was an article about this in The Sun magazine...do any of you read that? It's a great magazine. I can't find the issue where it had it, and it looks like they don't put their articles on their website, but I found an interview with the same guy here:

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Also, statistically, it's not a stranger kidnapping them that's the real risk; it's uncle Charlie molesting them (or somebody they know...a neighbor, a coach, a priest, etc.). These people watch entirely too much local TV news. Perceptions of crime have gone up even as actual crime levels have declined...and it's all because of the "if it bleeds, it leads" M.O. of local "tabloid-style" TV news.

Elise

I see what you are saying and I agree with some of your points but when it comes to childhood obesity parents ARE to blame simple as that.
A childs health is the sole responsibility of the parents.

I do feel sorry for parents trying to raise children today because it is a more dangerous society but as someone pointed out ut is usually someone within a childs family who hurts them.