Band 6+: In some countries, a lot of children have health issues and are becoming overweight. Some people think that the government should be responsible for solving this problem. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

It is true that children in some parts of the world are becoming obese and unhealthy. I agree with the role of the government in resolving this vexing issue. However, I also believe that we also should emphasize the role of parenting and school settings.

Childhood obesity and children’s health problems should be partly blamed on authority. We cannot deny the fact that overweight children are of high chance to be vulnerable to numerous serious diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, which poses a dire threat to the national growth of any country as they are the future’s human resources. As a result, the authority should be accountable for mitigating this problem. Take China as a good example. The governing body has been taking action to lower the obesity rate among children by organizing boot camps where children are physically trained to lose weight and take up a daily healthy habit. This is because China’s political activists are scared of the scenario that these overweight children will not be able to meet the physical demand to join the army.

Besides the governmental role, parents and schools are also liable for their children’s good health. Regarding the former, working parents nowadays tend to devote virtually their whole time to work to ensure material well-being, which means that they may spend less time carefully taking care of their children’s diet. Therefore, without supervision, children might eat unhealthy food or lead a sedentary lifestyle. This explains why close parental care and control are crucial in ensuring children’s balanced diet and healthy lifestyle. In terms of the role of education in teaching children about healthy living, some schools are inclined to place emphasis on theoretical subjects as math and literature and neglect the importance of physical education, which reduces their students’ workout frequency. School efforts to promote a healthy diet and engage students in physical exercises are irreplaceable in tackling the problem of child obesity.

In conclusion, the government, parents, and schools should all shoulder the responsibility for protecting their children from obesity and unhealthy lifestyles.