Child Health And Responsibility

Can you be sued in the future for what your child is eating now?

Imagine twenty to thirty years down the road when the millions of children today with bad diet and lifestyle habits will have grown into adults that suffer from obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure. They’ll be swimming in medical bills and this will be caused by the establishment of poor eating habits and lack of exercise when they were young.

In their frustration, they form support groups with other adults who share the same health problems and humiliation due to being obese. Eventually they look for something to blame and finally decide and point their accusing fingers at the ones that played a major role in their developing years- their parents. They might even take Mom and Dad to court and win; as the judge will likely be one their own- himself a victim of bad diet and lack of exercise during childhood.

Funny as it sounds, this scenario can really happen. Sadly, some parents these days are being blamed by their offspring for the myriad of problems our society is suffering from. The numbers say it: scores of people a few decades from now will suffer a cacophony of ailments stemming from bad childhood diet and lifestyle habits.

The Journal of the American Dietetic Association published a study recently which showed that the diets of toddlers and babies in these times are as bad as those of average unhealthy teenagers who live mainly on junk food.

It’s sad, but most of the respondents that did report having a vegetable as part of their diet thought French fries qualified as one. A third of the children surveyed by researchers from the Tufts University School of Medicine did not even have fruit and vegetables in their daily.

Quite shocking that in the survey, carbonated beverages, found to be the main cause of obesity along with the health complications it brings, were even given to infants poured in baby bottles. Since most of these soda-suckling kids spend most of their time being couch potatoes, all that sugar obviously doesn’t get burned-off.

As can be expected, 25% of preschoolers are obese and those numbers are increasing every year. Given that eating habits are formed during the ages of 2 and 3, you can bet the statistics will get worse. Most cases of diabetes and cardiovascular disease stem from unhealthy food and lack of exercise in a person’s formative years.

Can anything be done to curb this deadly trend? Things may look bleak but as parents, we ultimately have the power to affect the way our children eat and run their future lives by setting-up proper guidelines. Becoming fit, health-conscious role models ourselves can have dramatic effects on how they eat and go about their daily activities as they grow up.

We’d never know, but down the road, 20-30 years from now, babies that have had the good fortune on having parents that helped them form healthy eating habits and lifestyles will become smart, fit and successful adults. These healthy members of society may even recognize and show some appreciation for the thoughtfulness their parents had in helping them form healthy habits in their childhood. Doesn’t this sound like a way better alternative to a lawsuit?