Our kids are getting fatter and alarmists are calling it a health epidemic. According the Center for Disease Control and Prevention:

The report says that there are probably 25 million overweight or obese children in the U.S. The percentage of obese children in the different states varied from a low of 8.5 percent in Utah to a high of 22.8 percent in Washington, D.C. It was noted that eight of the 10 states with the highest percentages of obese children were in the South. The states in the south with the heaviest children are West Virginia, Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, and New Mexico.

So, who’s to blame? Mom? Dad? Self? The government? Yeah, let’s blame the government because our thoughts and desires ought to be controlled by the stellar capabilities of the folks in Washington.

The reports co-author, Jeffrey Levi thinks it’s most definitely the government’s fault that kids eat too many french fries:

Levi believes that individuals need help of the government to sort the problem out.

In the case of children, Levi called for moves such as restoring physical education and recess in schools, escalating the screenings of children’s weight and height and reporting results to parents among others.

For the general public, Levi reasoned, “People can’t exercise personal responsibility in a vacuum. If you’re telling people to eat healthier food and there are no grocery stores in the neighborhood; if you’re telling them to be more physically active, and they live in poor, unsafe neighborhoods or in suburban neighborhoods with no sidewalks, then you’ve created an environment that doesn’t make it possible for people to exercise that personal responsibility. That’s where government plays a role.”

While I agree that schools need to reinstate mandatory physical education classes, isn’t this more of an issue of the public who fails to support schools? Without the budgets, schools are not going to be able to provide these services and with a growing elderly population, it’s the grandparents who often set themselves up as a roadblock to helping children.

I hardly think it is the government’s responsibility to make sure every town has a grocery store with fresh produce. Part of the problem in living in such a wealthy nation, is that we eat and eat and eat and eat. Parents need to be educated on the ramifications of a free-for-all diet, but it is ultimately their responsibility and then the responsibility of the individual. I really don’t want the government in our pantry. I mean, look how well they’re doing in all the other areas, like infrastructure, the war, education, social security. C’mon people, think.

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