Band 6+: You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write about the following topic: In many countries, childhood obesity is a growing problem. What are the reasons for this and what can individuals and governments do to tackle the problem? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.

Childhood obesity in a modern society is becoming more problematic compared to the old days. I think this is because parents nowadays tend to give more free time and options to their children than in the past.

The major problem that can be seen often in modern society is a lack of parenting, which leads to obesity. Since most women were dedicated to their household work, rather than working outside the house, they were able to provide the right education on what to eat at home. However, recently, many parents give more opportunities for their children instead of taking care of them to make time for the parents to work. For example, in Japan, parents give money to their children to spend their own time when the parents are working; however, children would spend their money on cheap snacks instead of buying expensive proper foods. The change in the time parents spend with their children can be considered a reason for recent obesity.

To avoid these cases, the movements from both aspects, individuals and governments, would be required for the children’s care. The demand for parents to provide a correct amount of money to spend and educate their children on the appropriate ways of using money is increasing. The deep understanding of the effect of eating unhealthy foods, and the importance of planning the way of spending money instead of spending on what they want in that moment, would help for prevention of spending too much money on unhealthy food. On the other hand, the governments would need to make a place where children can spend their time with a supervisor. Since society has changed so that women cannot look after their children as they did in the past, the government would need to adapt which cover the role of women to take care of their children.

Overall, I think giving children more opportunities with money is the major problem that leads children to eat too much unhealthy food, and leads to obesity. To prevent this problem, efforts for the parents to educate their children on the right use of money and the right food to eat are needed, in addition to governmental support to take care of their children.