“Nearly 1 in 8 children are overweight.” “More and more people are living with obesity” ……These news titles are frequently seen nowadays. Needless to say that the obesity problem is deteriorating especially among children. Consequently, the number of cases of cardiovascular disease, hypertension and the most popular health problem which is hyperglycaemia is exacerbated by leaps and bounds and it is undeniable that most are happening in teenagers and children. As a result, physical health problems arouse a wide public concern to keep an eye on obesity and discuss about ways to mitigate this problem. A question comes to mind, “Who is responsible for this rise of obesity in children, the government or parents? In this essay, I will discuss the responsibility of both government and parents. However in my opinion, government is more responsible for this obesity problem as it plays a vital role in the country’s health and safety.
First and foremost, the government should take proactive measures. Particularly it should emphasize health and physical education in school and focus on health of students in school. It is well acknowledged that, health and physical education are crucial aspects need to be taught in school to ensure students know the ways to have a healthy lifestyle instead of just imparting curricular knowledges to students as in this modern era many parents are busy earning a living instead of spending their time with children . To illustrate, the government should have talks regularly in school about ways to eat healthier, like eating according to food pyramid and less consumption of food that in calories, especially, high content of salt and sugar. Besides having talks, the government also should emphasize on the importance of having physical education in school by encouraging students to take part in sport activities regularly. According to the Ministry of Health in Malaysia, about 64.73% of students in primary and secondary schools dislike doing exercises as they reckon that the activities are tired and time consuming. Thus, the government should change the mindset of the students by implementing some physical education classes in school and urge the students to participate in sports. The government can also hold some sports tournaments anually to boost up the interest of students.
At the same time, the government is responsible for controlling the price of healthy food and imposiing levy on food that are unhealthy. In today fast-paced world, people are more likely to consume fast food which is labelled as unhealthy food as compared to healthy food such as salad, steamed fish, etc. According to research made by McDonalds Singapore, it said that 65.76% of the people in Singapore prefer fast food because they are cheap and timesaving as compared to buy groceries and spend time to prepare dishes. Many people argue that the price of healthy food is getting more and more expensive and they hope the government put some efforts on it by controlling the price of food. For instance, the government can impose levy on unhealthy food such as carbonated drinks, salty snacks, and fast food. Besides, the government can subsidise the healthy food such as vegetable, fruits, and protein sources to ensure they are cheaper than the unhealthy food. By doing so, people will intend to buy food are cheaper which are healthy food and control of price will deter others to buy unhealthy food.
On the other hand, there is an inextricable link between parents and a rise in obesity of children. Needless to say, parents are the person who are affecting and shaping their children. Hence, parents play a pivotal role in promoting a healthy living in family and educate their children about how indispensable a healthy lifestyle is. For instance, parents should urge their children to have an appropriate bedtime and at least 6 hours of sleep a day. Apart from that, parents can do exercises regularly with their children to have a healthy body and away from diseases. By doing exercises, children can avoid sedentary life, particularly, sitting all day to study and play mobile games. Furthermore, in this 21st century, snacks and fast food that high in cholesterol and salt are bleeding into our daily life, and children love to eat them. A statistic by Ministry of Health Malaysia shows 78.89% of children love to consume snacks and fast food and 65.43% of children dislike to eat vegetables and fruits. It is vital that parents stop their children to eat the unhealthy snacks and coerce them to eat vegetables and fruits that high in fibre, vitamin and mineral to avoid them to become obese. In toto, parents should practice what they preach and obligated to take good care of their children
To conclude , both sides, the government and parents are accounted on the rise in obesity of children and should work hand in hand to tackle with the rise of obesity in children as this problem takes two to tango. However, the government is more responsible as if the government take pragmatic measures to solve the problem, parents will also do so instead of playing the devil’s advocate by putting attention on the health of their children. If both government and parents overlook the rise of obesity in children, the future generations will become more and more unhealthy as well as ill. The productivity of a country will deteriorate as future generations are sick, and economy of a country will lose it competitive edges in global market. Obviously, solution on the rise of obesity in children should be came out as it impinges on diverse realms.