Do you think the kids today are fat because of Fast Food Restaurants or their parents?

Question

I honestly think it's their parents!

Answer 1

most deffinatly both. parents and fastfood restaraunts can take a big part in weight. and notice that you normally need your parents to take you there in the first place. So it's both

Answer 2

Parents......they are the ones that should set an example....most 'fat' kids have similar parents. It isn't just fast food but also that kids don't play outside as much any more, nor do they have creative, imaginative play either. A lot of parents have become lazy themselves. All these so called advances in technology are just dumbing the parents down along with the kids.
Fast food used to be a treat, a luxury. NOT an everyday day occurence!Home cooked meals were the norm but so many parents will not take the time to do so now. And cooking can be a fun way for a family to interact with each other.

Answer 3

I love the answers this line of questioning generates. I think some realism is needed. You need a lot of fast food eating to blame the restaurants. I suppose that is the case sometimes. Yes, the parents are responsible for feeding their children. However, their primary responsibility is to raise well educated, emotionally adjusted and socially competent children. Just becuase the children are fat does not indicate any of those qualities are lacking.

My parents and siblings were and are not fat. We always had good food at our homes and rarely ate junk food. I was the fat one. Why? I loved to eat and I loved being fat. I developed as a happy, very bright and socially well adjusted child. I also developed as a very fat child from 200 in 4th grade to over 450 when I finished high school. I lost the weight and kept it off in my 20s and 30s more or less. In m early 40s I finally realized I was happiest when I was very fat and put on 400 pounds in the last 8 or 9 years and now weigh 620. I love it.

Am I fat because I was raised wrong as a child. Absolutely not. I knew I was eating a lot as a child and I knew very well I was fat. When your waist size goes zooms by the 30s and ends up at 80 or so, you know you are fat. I simply liked myself that way.

So while the parents do have a say, the key is raising a child who will be a good adult. Some of us choose to be very fat and that is OK. There is not necessarily blame that needs to be spread - it is often a choice. Kids are smart - they know what they want to be and how they fit in.

Answer 4

It is a team effort. Usually both parents are busy working and the last thing most people feel like doing after work is spend an hour at the grocery store and another hour cooking food. So they stop off and get everyone a tasty value meal. You can call it lazy or poor parenting but it is what people do and want to do so the resturaunt business only fullfills their wants. I guess legislation could be introduced to better educate people on the detriment of eating too much fast food. And getting the nutrition facts of all fast food. If a bottle of water requires nutrition facts then a triple whopper should have a label too

Answer 5

If the kids are fat, the ultimate responsibility falls to the parents. However, that is a very simplistic answer to a very complex question.

While parents are supposed to raise their children to the best of their ability, it helps when society as a whole participates. How? If the schools still offered daily physical education; if the fast food companies backed off the calories in their "childrens meals"; if video game software manufacturers could develop more wii type games that required some physical interaction; if after school sports programs were more about teamwork, good sportsmanship and exercise rather than win-at-all-costs;

Answer 6

Kids are definitely fat because of their parents. The parents are to lazy or busy to cook so they take the kids to fast food restaurants. So in a sense both are responsible but mainly the parents.

Answer 7

I would have to say it's the parents because they buy snacks high in sodium and sugar and children have access to it and no one is really stopping them. When someone says something about it the child's weight problem, parents tend to use the excuse that "he/she is a growing child" or "being big means that he/she is healthy." Since children can't drive themselves to McDonalds or Burger King, they have to rely on the parents to get them there and the parents allow them to eat whatever they want then even though fast food restaurants do have some healthy choices for food. Many children do not know what foods are healthy for them and it's the responsibility of the parents to teach them. So, once again, it's the parents' fault.

Answer 8

I agree. Parents don't discipline their kids anymore. When i was young, being sent to bed without supper was a common punishment.

Now it would be "child abuse" in our over-sensitive and politically correct society.

Plus, kids sit on their fat butts playing video games, surfing the net, and watching TV. instead of playing baseball, riding bikes, etc.

And heaven forbid some fat little brat would have to do chores around the house to get some exercise. Kids as young as 3 or 4 can pick up stuff off the floor, use a broom, etc. at 6 or 7 can rake leaves, vacuum, etc.

now the morons writing parenting books says that damages kids. Screw that. Let's get back to how we were in the 1950's. There was no fat-free or sugar-free ANYTHING, and everyone was skinny.

Answer 9

Well, I don't think one can be removed from the other. In other words kids today are fat because of fast food that their parents buy for them. Since most parents work, it is easier to just grap something on the way home and present it as dinner.

Answer 10

well look at it this way the parents are the ones taking them to the fast food chains and buying it.
so no matter which way you want to look at it, wouldn't it always come back to the parents??

I have two babies (ages 4 & 1 1/2) and they get restaurant food (sit down, take out or salad bar) about once every 3-4 months. I cook most of their meals and make sure they get a more balanced diet.
I grew up going out for hamburgers every Sunday and my mother died at 52 from heart disease I do not want that for my children.

Answer 11

It is the parents b/c... most kids can not get to a fast food restaurant without their parents taking them. parents are so busy today that they go through the drive through b/c it's easier for them. and portions have become so big that i think parents have become used to that so kids or people are getting bigger portions today. so yeah fast food restaurants aren't the best and they do give u so much food but the parents are the ones taking their kids to these places to eat.