Article on Kids, Media & Obesity

I saw this interesting article linked from the OAC newsletter. It's about childhood obesity and the time children spend in front of the TV. Obviously, we all know that the more time they spend in front of the TV, the less time they are spending outside running around. However, the article also goes on to state that the type of programming a child watches can be worse for them, especially if there are a lot of junk food commercials.

With two young children myself, I found some of the information from the article very interesting, such as:
-Kids see 5,000-10,000 food ads each year
-children as young as 2 are being asked if they have a television in their room by their pediatricians
-This direct quote from the article caught my eye: "American society couldn't do a worse job at the moment of keeping children fit and healthy - too much TV, too many food ads, not enough exercise, and not enough sleep."

As a parent, this article made me sit back and think about what my kids watch (when they do watch television) and what I should be looking out for - as well as any bad habits we may need to break.

Click here for the full article