Everything appears to be expanding and growing larger in America, including the children. As we look around, numerous amounts of people-young and old- show signs of obesity. Every single year the rates of overweight children steadily increase along with the healthcare and financial costs to support them. Nowadays, one third of children and adolescents in the United States are overweight or obese. To diminish this concerning issue, schools should implement and execute policies to help combat and prevent childhood obesity in order to avoid future repercussions.

The government ought to require almost every child enrolled in public and private schools to partake in physical activities or athletics. Caring for the student body’s wellbeing must be a top priority for the school, and that should definitely include the children’s fitness and weight levels. P.E. and athletics help prevent students from suffering from lifelong diseases and illnesses by creating a fit and in-shape body. Moving around and exercising burns the extra amount of calories in order to stay in an adequate condition. However, removing or reducing the standards toward physical education proves to have harmful results and only increases the students’ BMI or body mass index. The BMI depicts one’s weight class (underweight, average, or overweight) in accordance to their age and height. Studies demonstrate that childhood obesity correlates with insufficient physical activities. Presently, young kids and adolescents do not have to walk to places or have that utter desire and urge to go outside and play anymore. Technology in our generation lures kids to sit at home and play games on their phones or computers rather than applying themselves to the outdoors or physical activity. Just imagine the increasing number of kids who engage in online communication rather than face to face communication. To stimulate fitness and physical activity, schools need to regulate and set requirements to avoid larger and heavier students who sit and do nothing productive all day. Many students already have to sit and learn for a majority of their day at school and when they arrive at home, most of them surely do not feel the need to exercise or walk outside. However, students who take advantage of the schools’ physical activity opportunities have the odds of becoming an overweight adult decreased by 5 percent. Lowering the chances by just a fraction can benefit the society and lower the obese population more than anyone can project or predict. Some argue that schools need to focus their attention on academic subjects and to divert money needed to support gym and other opportunities for physical activities. However, academic success should not be traded in return for regular exercise. Children should reach the top of the priority list, not the schools’ academic qualities, the children. Promoting and ensuring physical activities at school also permits students to gain lifelong habits that can mold their lives into happier and brighter ones. Schools obtain the ability to control and help their students, and applying physical education to the students’ curriculum will certainly benefit the students and their futures.

Furthermore, schools need to provide a healthy source of nutrition and foods that guarantee and promote healthier eating habits for the kids and adolescents. Typically, children tend to spend a large part of their lives in school, usually starting at age five, and remaining in school until age eighteen. There are some 31 million children participating in federal school meal programs, or about 60 percent of all school attendees. Serving approximately 31 million kids one meal a day, for five days, for almost 36 weeks per year, can create extremely impactful results and consequences on a child’s health. If a child consumes an unhealthy lunch provided by the school almost every day, the number of obese children would probably begin to rise even more than it already has in the recent years. Right now, the nation is at its best, but also its worst. Money allows the country to produce larger portions of foods than in the past, but now we begin to observe the excessive amounts of food taken in by Americans and school kids every day. The government has the responsibility, then, to ensure that schools serve more nourishing foods in the cafeteria and replace junk food with more healthful fare. Abundance in vegetable and fruit options, rather than breads or processed foods, seems more beneficial to kids. If cafeterias only offer healthy foods, then the students will not have a chance to buy foods saturated in fats and calories, and their daily intake of harmful sustenance that contribute to childhood obesity will most likely begin to gradually decrease. The saying “you are what you eat” appears true because if one eats foods containing fats and sugars, they will start to become fat as opposed to the lean and healthy kids who consume vegetables enriched with nutrients and vitamins. Schools need to provide more nutritious selections of foods such as vegetables, fruits, and replace the breads with whole grain and reduce foods such as potatoes or pasta. Although, vegetables taste hardly more appealing and 42 percent of cooked vegetables-and 30 percent of raw vegetables and salad- ends up in the trash, the veggies nourish and cleanse the body and help save the poor victims who suffer from eating unhealthy and unappetizing cafeteria school food. More prompting from the school needs to happen in order to promote more kids into buying the actual healthy foods rather than the ones that appeal to their taste buds. Young kids, unaware of the effects of some types of foods, only take in the most appetizing, yet fattening foods. The kids must comprehend that what they eat certainly affects their future and how quickly their stomachs can begin to grow. Reforming the menu and choices of school lunches will benefit the children of the United States and prepare them for a better and healthier future.

Lastly, school interference in childhood obesity can create a simpler and easier future for the child in terms of finance costs and health conditions. Nowadays, rates of obesity are rising especially fast among children, creating some future consequences and serious health risks of obesity, combined with rapidly rising obesity related health care costs. These negative impacts may threaten a child’s life and cause great strain upon them and their family. Spending great loads of money and time due to the effects of an overweight child can surely be avoided if policies were instated to avert such problems. With school intervention, our nation might reduce these unwanted risks and help families possibly save countless dollars towards health care bills. Also, the lifetime cost for a child with obesity is about $19,000, and the child may also face a lifetime of chronic conditions as a result of obesity. Numerous amounts of children fall victim to extreme health conditions caused by insufficient physical activity or good nutrition every year. According to recent studies, childhood obesity poses a huge risk to future severe health conditions. To create optimistic outcomes, schools need to take steps towards healthier futures for kids by increasing recess or P.E. time and allowing a healthier selection of foods during lunch. Although some people may disagree and argue that making schools responsible to treat childhood obesity is expensive and invasive, the overall outcome allows a better lifestyle for millions of kids living in America. Katie Wilson, Ph.D. and president of the School Nutrition Association, says that schools can either provide healthy foods and go into debt, or allow unhealthy options, which generate revenue but are also a contributing factor to weight gain. Debt concerns many people, but the lives and wellbeing of children are at stake. The children and their lives should be put above money because the end result will surely create a better and healthy nation. Nowadays, schools have started to change, but they still fall short and definitely need to step up and provide the necessary nutrients and meet the quota for physical activity for the sake of the kids. Ultimately, both the children and the society will gain if schools push more aggressively in the direction in which they are already moving. Childhood obesity needs to be put to a sudden halt through school movements and actions to prevent future problematic outcomes.

Everyone agrees that childhood obesity has negative impacts on children and their futures, but the way to stop it has been a widely debated and controversial topic. We must stop debating and arguing, but instead take action and enact certain laws and policies to prevent the rates of childhood obesity from increasing any further. For our future generations to come, we pray for healthy and fit children, so we must put an end to this increasing issue through schools and the government. We need change, we need reform, and we need new policies. To deal with the troubles of childhood obesity, schools must take charge in this matter, and they must start now.