First, lack of physical activity can cause childhood obesity. Children who do not exercise as much are more likely to gain weight because they do not burn as many calories. Today, kids are spending too much time in sedentary activities, such as playing popular video games or watching television. For example, my brother in law, younger brother prefers to play video games instead of going outside and playing with his friends. His lack of inactivity has led an increase to his weight, which is now around two hundred pounds. As video games become more increasingly popular, the number of hours of inactivity may increase. As a result, today you just see a small proportion of kids playing outside and getting involved in sports, while other kids are inside playing videos and watching tv.
Next, unhealthy eating patterns. Regularly eating high calorie food, such as Pizza Hut or Mc Donald’s can cause your child to become obese. Some parents for instance, both have to work and have no time to cook. As a result, they feed their children fast food on a daily basis. For example, I grew up with both parents working, so most of the time we ate fast food, which was unhealthy. My dad now must take high blood pressure because of unhealthy eating patterns.
Psychological issues may also be a caused to childhood obesity. Kids who are bored, stressed, or depressed tend to eat more to cope with negative emotions. For instance, when my nephew is bored or depressed, he tends to start eating all kinds of snacks that are high in fat and sugar.
Finally, Socioeconomic factors. People in some communities only have limited resources and access to supermarkets. For instance, some people live in poor areas and only can afford to buy low cost food that may be high in fat and calories. Parents might also buy convenience foods such as frozen meals that don’t spoil quickly.