Monday, October 23, 2006

Are Kids Fat Because of Working Parents?

In this Slate article, Tim Harford argues that one of the reasons why more children are overweight these days is because there are more two-income families with moms working instead of staying home. In an earlier blog post, we discussed some of the other factors at work that Harford references, but this adds another idea into the mix. Here are questions to go along with the article:
In some ways, says Tim Hartford, author of the article, this makes sense: having two working parents leaves young children unsupervised, at daycare or with a nanny, who probably puts them in front of the TV and feeds them high-calorie processed foods that take less effort to prepare. And at the end of a long working day, exhausted, they may provide fast food for the children rather than cooking a traditional, nutritious meal. (Just look at it based on opportunity cost: if parents are too exhausted, the cost of cooking a meal would be much higher than the "small" weight gain associated with just one fast food meal...and then that just snowballs.) But on the other hand, for example, many kids at Walker have two working parents, and few of them are overweight. Is Hartford's proposal a plausible cause of the childhood obesity epidemic? Could it be a major player, or only one of many factors? If it is one of many, what other possible causes (within the family) could there be (i.e., parents' income levels, living in the suburbs vs. the city, even firstborn vs. second, third, etc child)?
(Source: Nicole O.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I do think Hartford's proposal can have some effect on the obesity of children. Both of my parents work and maybe once a month or so ill get fast food for dinner because my mom is out with friends, i had some sort of late game, or my mom is just sick of cooking. I dont think that a kid that ate fast food or microwavable food two times a week would be that substantially bigger than the next kid. I defintitely cant say I'm the healthiest eater but i just work off whatever bad stuff i eat by going to the gym or running or something active. A kid's psychology also has a part in this issue. Kids with depression will prbably eat more just because they are bored. I know school and homework add quite a bit of weight (no pun intended)to a kids life. The stresses of the American education system, I believe, play a significant part in this issue too. Like it said in the article, the cost of making a dinner is not as much as just buying one quickly and putting on a few lbs a month. Time is money thesedays. Fast food advertising has the biggest role, I believe, in this issue though. I recently watched Supersized Me and the fast food corps. spend soooo much $$$ on advertising it isnt even funny. In the movie they showed 4 yr olds pictures of Jesus and Ronald McDonald. 9 out of 10 knew Ronald but only 2 or 3 knew what Jesus looked liked. Thats embarassing to our culture. Kids are just growing up with more and more fast food advertising around them and the technology, like in the article, is increasingly making it easier to get a hold of just about anything frozen, preserved, microwavable, or vaccum packaged. i dont think its fair to soley blame the issue on just the working parents though because two parents that work could, in some cases, provide better meals for a child. Some parents are just lazy and dont know how to cook even if they do both work or don't.
-Austin Lintault

Anonymous said...

I agree with all of Austin's points and i want to add that with no parents being at home, kids do not have that encouragment to play outside or play sports that their parents would bring them. I think a lot of kids do not do really anything except play inside and watch TV. This could also lead to a child's obesity. Their babysitter or whoever is watching them will probaly do the easyist thing to keep the child occupied which probaly includes watching tv or playing video games. Since most working parents do not get home till its dark, they dont have time to play with their kids thaat much. Therefore, i am trying to say that with both parents being at work it is less likely kids with be physically active. Again which could lead to Obesity.

Anonymous said...

that last one was mine.
Taylor Pike

Anonymous said...

It is hard to say that kids with working parents are going to end up obeise, but it is definetly a possibility. I know if my mom ever tells me she is going out and I should make my own dinner I usually just go out and grab fast food. The cost of cooking a meal for myself and actually taking time to prepare it and do dishes is really high when it is a lot easier to drive two minutes down the road and get fast food. Kids that are left home alone tend to relax, watch tv, and grab junk food because for most people that usually doesn't happen with parents around. With working parents , kids are able to have a lot more freedom to do whatever they want, and for most kids that isn't eating healthy foods and exercising.
-Hope J.