By FITSNews || Parents using the television as a babysitter is one reason America is a nation of little lardasses, an Australian study has discovered.
Babies are much better off watching their parents cook dinner or even staring out of the window at trees than zoning out in front of the tube, researchers from Deakin University say.
Here’s an excerpt from a review of the study posted on the Obesity Thunder Bay blog (editor’s note: what a great band name!) …
Lead researcher Dr. Kylie Hesketh says obesity-promoting behavior, including sedentary habits, become well established in early childhood. She describes the research project, titled the Melbourne Infant Feeding Activity & Nutrition Trial (InFANT) program, as “a controlled trial” involving 559 first-time mothers.
“We decided to target first-time parents because obesity-prevention projects tend to start when children begin school,” she says. “But a lot of the behaviours are already established by that time, which makes it more difficult to change them.”
Childhood obesity is obviously a huge problem in America – and particularly South Carolina, where according to the latest data 19 percent of all children are obese. That’s the sixth-highest rate in the nation (and nearly double the national average), which explains why we spend a disproportionately high percentage of our $21.1 billion state budget on health care.
By janet lansbury March 24, 2010 at 2:20 pm
The results of this study are no surprise. Babies are born self-learners and will focus actively on whatever they are interested in learning about. Infants are actively focusing while staring at a tree, or at a shadow, or a crack in the wall. TV draws our focus in, doing the ‘work’ for us. And babies get used to the passivity that TV creates. TV use creates the beginnings of lifelong patterns of passive “play,” leading to obesity, learning and attention issues, etc.
For more about how to set up an environment that gives parents the breaks they need, but also encourages healthy infant play, please see this post and short video on my parenting website: “Infant Play – Great Minds At Work” on janetlansbury.com Http://bit.ly/axk3SH
By concern citizen March 24, 2010 at 6:16 pm
SEE WHAT FOOD STAMPS WILL DO plus ALL OF OUR FOOD PROGRAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By FITS Gals March 24, 2010 at 7:43 pm
That and all that processed with HFC shiat they sell at the grocer.
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/
Stay healthy BIN, and stay out of the grocery!
xoxo,
FITS Gals
By Paul Murphy April 5, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Obese people are not the enemy.
I want to thank you for posting the article ,and I want to encourage all to stop by the web site .
We are having a crisis and it is time we encouraged the media to get off of the couch,in fact we need to toss the media outside. Lets build a community obesity action plan, and lower Fat Hatred and raise awareness about environments , the Food Environments are giving us exactly what we deserve.
We must stop isolating the individual and start a community action plan.
30,000 U S toddlers,called Lard asses await your response , and I suspect they are eager to receive any meaningful support. The question is whether you,the reader, are going to get inspired to do something.
http://www.obesitythunderbay.ning.com
PS Just what industry is pushing the Nanny argument,Big Brother, and Big Government Manipulation of the Obesity Crisis ? We need to inspire the media.