Patrick Skrine

Ms. Gilbertsen
English 2
20 March 2013
Preventing Child Obesity
1. Statement of Problem
Child Obesity is a serious issue in our society. Obesity is one of the more severe
problems in our nation especially in children. The reason its so affective is because its such an
arduous thing to overcome. Kids who are obese can be lead into so many tough physical and
mental states of mind. Child Obesity is powerful and it takes its toll on kids. Children all over
suffer from it. From my town, to my city, to my country, obesity is a bad thing.
2. Background/Causes
Obesity comes from the Latin word, Obesus meaning intense eating (Triggle 1). In
exact words, obesity means a very high amount of body fat and in children, its where their
body weight is over what it commonly is for their age and height (Mayo Clinic 1). The
percentage of Americas children being obese has doubled over the past decade. Today in the
United States, about one third of kids are obese. That fraction is over twenty three million
children (Greenblatt 3). Obesity wasnt really medically noticed and used until the 1600s. Since
then, obesity has changed number wise and meaning wise. Numbers have gone up in extreme
rapidness. Back in the day, being obese was a sign of wealth and beauty (Smith 2). That
meaning is not the same in todays world. The fact that obesity is so common and powerful is
why its hard to prevent. It may be a simple condition to recognize but not to cure. 80% of child
obesity leads to obesity in adulthood. So for every 8 out of 10 kids that are obese, those eight
kids will be obese as adults. Bad habits early on can have an impact on your life the rest of the
way. Our countrys obesity epidemic has cost us over 17 billion dollars a year. 300,000 children
die every year because of obesity. There are many causes of child obesity. These include mainly
lack of exercise, poor diet and high amounts of food and drink, and then little sleep, laziness
related to television and video games time, alcohol and drug addiction at a young age which
causes you to be hungry for unhealthy foods, rarely genetic reasons, etc (Children.org 5).
Certain foods can be unhealthy, cultural, or set by example from parents and many kids follow
and constantly eat this certain product which causes overweightness. Social factors of obesity
are interacting with friends or playing sports. If you dont play sports and stay inside in front of
the TV with your friends all day, how do you become active? If you only eat junk food at home
and school and drink a lot of soda, how do you become healthy? In reality, you cant really by
doing these things because these are the precise factors of childhood obesity. Did you now fat,
sugar, and salt are the three ingredients Americans crave? These ingredients also play the
biggest role in child obesity along with oils. The effects of obesity have a huge part in it. Low
self-esteem, sleep apnea, social discrimination, depression, anger, stress, diabetes, heart
disease, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and pressure, etc are ally key affects that child
obesity cause (eMEDTV 1).
3. Action Plan
I want to help the children of my community and city suffering from obesity. I know
many kids experience it and that its a big problem. That is why I want to step in and make a
change. In order to help alleviate and fight the problem of child obesity, I plan to start my own
group with Max Gonzalez and work with kids 1 on 1 that are obese. I will:
Make a plan of activities for all sessions.
Next, I will contact Abraham Lincoln Elementary Schools Principal Cathy Hamilton and ask if I
can use her schools gym and field.
Ill make numerous flyers and put them all across town with the help of friends.
Call Max Gonzalez at 1 (630) 803-7422 and discuss and plan with him everything that will go
on in our program called, Shape it.
I will ask friends and family to donate money or lend me any equipment.
Buy materials needed from Wal-Mart, Kohls, Costco, Macys, etc.
Make a website where parents can learn about us and registrate their kids directly online.
20 dollars a child, and for how many kids show up, half will work with me and the other half
with Max (50 kids fill up a session).
Program will start June 1, 2013 and there is a session 4 times a week each for 1 hour.
One day we will be in the gym doing activities such as basketball, jump rope, pushups, Ab
workouts, etc. Another day we will be outside playing soccer, running, relay races, etc.
Will provide fruit trays, water, and Gatorade as well as sheets explaining good habits and the
importance of healthy diet and proper exercise.
Take pictures with my camera of the sessions and put them on the website.
Lastly, Max and I hope to form sports teams with the kids that are involved in our program.
4. Research of similar Action Plans
Many other people and programs care and want to help the same issue as me. These
certain people have led drives and campaigns to fight and alleviate child obesity. For example,
there has been a campaign that was created on February 9, 2010. It was called the Lets Move
Campaign. This group was first brought out by First Lady Michelle Obama and she added on
many followers and committee. Lets Moves aim has been to solve the struggle of child obesity.
Its all about putting todays children on the right track of healthiness and fitness so that the
next generation can lead the way of better healthy habits (Obama 1). Lets Move has formed a
plethora of programs in towns and cities all across the country to fight for child obesity. Lets
Move stresses healthy eating and a lot of physical activity. Therefore, they created five goals to
success. Goal one is, Start early, Start smart, Goal two is, My plate, your place, Goal three
is, Smart servings for students, Goal four is, Model food service, and lastly, Goal five is,
Active kids at play (Lets Move.gov 3). Every aspect of Lets Move is about these five things.
Stressing these five things and really delivering the message to people is an ongoing and takes a
good amount of time. However, so far, Lets Move has been a great success across the nation.
Lets Move has accomplished so much already in the past three years. Theyve expanded the
healthier U.S. schools program, started a chefs move to schools program, have gotten mayors
of cities and towns to take action, got Congress to pass the Healthy Hungry Kids Act to provide
proper nutrition, and has teamed up with business owners and sports organizations to fight
child obesity. Already 500 communities and 157 hospitals have chained up with Lets Move to
bring out the best in Americas kids (Lets Move 6). Those numbers will increase as we go along
and so will the healthier children of our country that go through Lets Move. The Lets Move
Campaign is gaining a great deal of momentum.
Another example of a group that strives to banish child obesity is the, NFL PLAY 60
organization. It is brought out by NFL staff, trainers, players, volunteers, partner programs, etc.
Similar to mine, its mission is to make tomorrows children the most active and healthy (About
1). PLAY 60 has and still does hold many different camps and contests for kids especially around
Superbowl time, Thanksgiving, and many more exciting events. PLAY 60 alleviates the issue by
telling Americas children to be active 60 minutes every single day in order to be happy and
healthy (About 1). Many kids join in on PLAY 60 across the United States. Whether its an obese
kid, an athlete, to a football player, everyone is interested in PLAY 60 and witnessing the
lifetime experience. PLAY 60 began in October of 2007 and since then its been a big help in
fighting childhood obesity. Children that go and learn from PLAY 60 see results on their body
and the importance of exercise and diet. NFL PLAY 60 has worked so much and has raised more
than 200 million dollars for child health and well being (About 4). PLAY 60 has and still is doing
some pretty impressive things to help child obesity. Its very good to see how many people
really care about fixing child obesity.
5. Materials Needed
Basketballs-$10 per ball-25 balls-$250 at Macys.
Jump Ropes-$6.99 per rope-25 ropes-$174.75 at Kohls.
Soccerballs-$10 per ball-25 balls-$250 at Macys.
Fruit trays-$40 per tray-4 trays-$160 at Costco.
Water-Provided by me and Lincoln School.
Gatorade 12 Pack-$8.68 per pack-5 packs-$43.40 at WalMart.
Paper for flyers-$7.54-10 packs-$75.40 at WalMart.
Camera for pictures of our program-Free(My Own)
Any other equipment or money-Free from friends and family
TOTAL: $953.55
6. Rationale
Being a smart, healthy, and active human is the most important thing in life. If you want
to be confident, you have to feel good about yourself. Obesity is a main reason of why people
arent confident, healthy, active, and smart. There are so many disadvantages to children
dealing with obesity. Its not fair to the kids that suffer and for a disease that actually has a
cure, we should all want to take serious action. A kid that plays sports, eats right, and does
good in school is happy. I want every child in my environment to have this same feeling. It starts
in my town and continued elsewhere in this country. I want my proposal, with the help of Max
Gonzalez, to be approved so I can impact kids lives and educate them about exercise and diet.
My motivation is seeing the world around me. Fit vs. obese, healthy vs. unhealthy, happy vs.
sad. Seeing kids getting their feelings hurt for being fat is what inspires me to step in. Nobody
deserves that! In my opinion, calling someone fat is just as bad as calling someone a racist
remark. Its not right. In addition, I want to answer all these kids of any ages questions about
obesity and the importance of being fit. Over the past few decades, obesity numbers and
percentages have doubled and even tripled reaching an all time high. Foods are being oiled,
fattened, and sugared more while the amount of time kids watch television is increasing with
the outside exercise time decreasing. For years to come, our Nation cant afford more obesity
and these horrible obesity numbers to get even higher. I and whoever stands with me need to
act quick. That is why Im bringing out this plan. I hope to learn new ways and strategies of
helping others with their problems. I know exactly how it would feel to be a child dealing with
obesity or being overweight. Hard work pays off and Effort is the key to success are two
mottos I live with. If you follow these quotes, youre capable of doing anything you want. When
I fight to end child obesity, I think of these mottos with integrity. Lets all take a stand and
change the world rather than waiting for it to change on its own. Dont watch the light go and
wait for it to end, chase the light and start a new beginning.