Question of the Day: Anti-obesity campaign

Is there something about being a special-needs parent that makes you shrug at big public health issues that others get in a froth about? I'm having trouble, for example, worrying enough about the so-called childhood obesity epidemic. I get that the increased risk of diabetes and other serious health problems is something to get concerned about; but honestly, right now I'm so focused on keeping my FASD middle-schooler alive and in school and out of trouble, and my learning disabled high-schooler from having anxiety meltdowns from all the academic and social pressures she faces every day, that I have a hard time getting hot and bothered about soda-pop vending machines in schools and junk food commercials on TV. There are more immediate concerns, you know? Yet there are plenty of folks who do have time to be concerned about childhood obesity, and they're worried that we're all not worried enough. A new report from the Institute of Medicine warns that without a major change of lifestyle, a fifth of U.S. children will be obese in 2010. Manufacturers are encouraged to make more nutritious foods, parents are urged make sure their kids eat right and get lots of exercise, and current efforts to promote those things are called weak and uncoordinated. Actually, "weak and uncoordinated" pretty much sums up my approach to exercise, but alright, we can take walks together, we can buy more fruit, we can cut down on snack foods. But I'll tell you, if a silver pouch of sugary fruit drink is the motivation my son needs to struggle through the ordeal of homework, they're going to have to pry it out of my chubby little hands. What do you think of the way efforts to prevent childhood obesity have been proceeding? Pick as many responses as you like from the poll at right, or click on "other" and explain yourself in the comments.

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