Tazlina Zamila Khan
What usually becomes a serious concern for parents after they get their child enrolled in a school? In most cases their grades and marks. The ‘Report card day’- is the most important day for both parents and students. It becomes a matter of shame for some parents when they don’t get the satisfactory results from their children. But, is it the only trepidation as a parent?A child comes to a school early in the morning. Each teacher gives different classwork and homework. Then at a scheduled time tiffin bell rings. Your child opens his or her tiffin box. What is inside? A piece of cake, one packet of chips, a piece of singara or samosa, one chicken fry, fruit juice or one packet of biscuit. These are the food now a days a child is consuming during the tiffin period.
Being a teacher, I found this as an alarming situation for the children. As a result, most of the child we see in a school suffer from obesity problem due to excessive consumption of fast food. Most of the students are suffering from tummy pain. They feel aches during the school time.
In a study published in Child: Care, Health and Development (a European public health journal), researchers analysed the fast-food consumption and test scores in Maths and reading of 12,000 fifth-graders. They found that children who ate fast food four to six times within a given week tested significantly lower in Maths and reading compared to children who did not.
The problem doesnot end here. These junk foods are replacing other nutritious foods. When you are providing more junk foods for your child during tiffin break, it is ultimately changing his or her taste. They later on don’t like to consume wholesome foods like fruits or vegetables, which will decrease their vitamin C and fibre intakes.
Moreover, high amount of sugar in junk food causes fluctuation in their blood glucose levels. This is the reason why most of the students feel sleepy and edgy during class time, leaving no room for motivation at all.
Have you ever noticed your child speaking about their abdominal pain? Eating less fibre food causes constipation, which leads to this pain and discomfort.
A child’s daily calorie intake needs to be taken care of. A girl needs between 1,200 and 2,200 calories from age 4 to 13. When she reaches her teen years, she needs 1,800 to 2,400 calories. Young boys need 1,200 to 2,600 calories during pre-adolescent years and 2,000 to 3,200 calories a day as teenagers. These calories need to be consumed to make them active and free from diseases.
The South Pacific island nations of Kiribati, Samoa and Micronesia – have the most children with obesity problem. Among the more populous countries facing the worst scenarios were Egypt – where more than a third (35.5%) of children aged five to 17 were overweight or obese in 2013 – Greece (31.4%), Saudi Arabia (30.5%), the United States (29.3%), Mexico (28.9%) and the UK (27.7%).
According to The World Obesity Federation more than 3.5 million children are now suffering from type 2 Diabetics. However, the experts assume that the number might increase to 4.1 million by 2025.
Nutritious foods are irreplaceable. One cannot replace water with any other soft drinks. Also, wholesome foods cannot be replaced by junk food. Junk food can mitigate only the hunger of your child with harming effects on their health. But, consuming wholesome and nutritious food can give their health and mind a positive growth.
Schools in Maxico city don’t serve lunch. It is considered as the main meal of the day. Children eat their lunch at home. School in Uttar Pradesh in India have banned junk food. These attempts are taken to refrain children from taking high amount of junk food. When are you going to take a step for your child?
Children are less concerned about their health. So they need their parents’ attention and care in these issues. If you want your children to active and healthy fill their tiffin box with nutritious food and bin the junk food.
Think about the foods you gave your children to eat this week. Did they eat healthy foods, like vegetables, or junk food, like candy bars, chips?
(The writer is an English Language teacher at Premier School Dhaka, Uttara)
