Numerous studies have shown that a bigger contributor to childhood obesity isn’t the amount of junk food advertisements children are exposed to, but the amount of television they watch. One 2003 study concluded that children who watch three or more hours of television a day are 50 percent more likely to be obese than kids who watch fewer than two hours and that “more than 60% of overweight incidents can be linked to excess TV viewing.” Another found that in “12- to 17-year-old adolescents, the prevalence of obesity increased by 2% for each additional hour of television viewed.”

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, when you include videos, DVD’s, and other prerecorded shows, children watch about four hours of television a day. Times that by seven days a week and that means kids, on average, are spending slightly more than an entire day in front of the boob tube. The amount of television viewed shouldn’t come as a complete surprise considering the average home now has more televisions (2.73) than people (2.55) and one third of children as young as six have a television in their bedroom.

With the copious amounts of television being watched in American households, is it any wonder kids are becoming fat?

The solution to the growing obesity problem doesn’t involve government advertising regulations or lawsuits against the junk food companies but, quite simply, better parenting…

Sadly, most kids probably get their television viewing habits from their parents. Those who watch a lot of television are probably most likely to have parents who also watch a lot of television. Part of getting kids off the couch and involved in more physical and meaningful activities may include getting their television-addicted parents doing something as well…

Source: Blogcritics.org
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