Obesity in Children

Tynisha Knox
Bachelor- Human Development
Specializing in early childhood
Pacific Oaks College
Professor Opstad

September 12, 2014

487 Research 1

Tynisha Knox
In my research question many people may wonder what is Obesity?
Why is obesity a
problem in children? How are children affected? What can we do as a
community to fight or
prevent obesity in children? In my description these questions interest me
for I work with
children and Im very concerned about their well being. In my life experience
I professionally
work in the field of early childhood, and supervise children ages 4 years of
age. Throughout the
years that I have been working with children, Ive noticed an increase in most
of their weight
size.
However, I began to wonder what was the problem and I looked at
their parents and
the parents were over in size as well. The children I worked with that is over
in normal size,
have complained of tiredness or sleepy often to me. While outdoors at yard
time a child who
was obese was running not even for a minute and laid down on a big bean
bag saying, Im tired
teacher, barely catching his breath, heavily breathing with sweat dripping
down his face in the
form of tear drops. While indoors I was doing music and movement activity
with the children

and the child who was over in size sat down to catch his breath. During
group time teacher is
talking or reading a story and the children obese are falling asleep, I noticed
a few of their eyes
getting weary and slowly closing. While at work time a female child says,
Im tired teacher
and went to lie down. I wondered what was the problem of these children
being tired and
sleepy majority of the time.
487 Research 1
Tynisha Knox
I observe them in weight and height and noticed that they were over in
size. A few of
the boys in class had developed breast as a girl and when they run their
chest would bounce.
The girls also had developed breast and enlarged stomachs, which made it
difficult for them to
do any activities involving movement of the body. On the other hand, I
imagined how these
children felt emotionally and physically, so I made it my job and felt it was
very important to
investigate in the subject of Obesity in Children.
In doing research I found out that Obesity is defined as a body weight
that is 20 percent
or more above the weight that is considered normal for the persons age and
height. In the

United States Childhood Obesity is rising (U.S. Department of Health and

Human Services,
2000). Experts believe that 20 to 30 percent of North American Children are
obese, and has
doubled since 1980 (Dietz, 1999). The numbers probably has raised more
for its now 2014. For
children with obesity have less exercise and increase risk of high blood
pressure; and may have
serious health problems in middle adulthood, heart disease, stroke, and
diabetes (Freedman et
al., 1999). According to the United Nations obesity is now considered as a
health problem of
epidemic publically, in many regions including North America (World Health
Organization,
1998).
Working with children I not only notice that a few children were over in
size, but in
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Tynisha Knox
observation I noticed that there biological parents were obese as well.
Children whose
biological parents were obese are more often over weight ( Grilo & PogueGeile, 1991).
Children are affected with obesity for many reasons first is through genes
that vary from
generation to generation and Environment, which is the major reasons for
the recent increase

in childhood obesity (Robinson & Killen, 2001). The Factors are lack of
exercise, nature vs.
nurture, poor quality food, television watching, cultural values. This is one of
the reasons Im
doing my research to find out the actual data from human beings
themselves, and from the
information given, I will be better equipped to help not only the child, but the
parent as well.
In order to help the parents and children in becoming fit, I would need
to know extra
information as 1. How much exercise do your child and you get on a daily
basis? How often do
you eat fast food daily and weekly? How much TV do your children watch
daily? What type of
foods do you and your child eat on Birthdays, holiday, etc?
To collect my data the best method I chose to use was a survey. I plan
to have parents,
teachers, directors, or anyone who have interest in obesity, or who have
children, or know
someone who have children and the experience of dealing with obesity, to fill
out the survey
and answer a few questions. I chose this mythology for I wanted to get a
better understanding
of why the children are obese. As an educator I feel this will help me in my
research to be able
to find information that will help me to be able to educate the parents in my
class on how to

487 Research1
Tynisha Knox
help their children become healthy and fit, including themselves. In doing
this I will explain that
Im doing a Survey on Obesity in Children for there are many children in the
US who are
suffering from Obesity and I just want to find out ways that I can help parents
and children
become healthier and fit to prevent this wide spread epidemic.

Obesity in Children
Survey Questions
1. What is obesity to you? And how do you feel about it regarding children?
2. Have you ever had an experience of obesity? Or know someone who
have?
3. In what ways do you think obesity effect children?
4. Why do you think obesity effect children in those ways?
5. What ways do you think we can prevent obesity in children?
6. How often do you or your child exercise daily?
7. How many times do you eat fast food a week with your child?
8. How much does your child watch TV daily?
9. How often do you eat fruits and vegetables with your child?
10. What type of food do you or your child eat on birthdays, or holidays etc?
What were your thoughts of the survey?

Thanks for taking the Survey

487 Research 1
Tynisha Knox
Critical Assessment of Research Design as I reflect upon limitation and
problematic
issues I realized that a problem for me to collect data would be the BMI Body
Mass Index define
as a technique of weight assessment based on the relationship of weight to
height. It is a
formula used to detect the percentage of your weight. If your BMI is 20 to 25
percent or higher
you are define as obese.
However, I will not be able to collect data on children to see if they are
over their BMI or
not, only a doctor can check out a child for BMI and obesity, and to see if
they have any risk
factors or health issue. But I will make it my job to learn as much as I can to
help parents and
children become more healthy and fit within the classroom and to stop the
wide spread
epidemic that is in the US and abroad.