Parents must take lead in fighting children's obesity

There  is now widespread agreement that obesity is an epidemic, especially among young adult.That is a tragedy.  Obesity at young age is a struggle you never outgrow.  Of course, along with obesity come deadly adult afflictions-heart disease and diabetes- not o mention low self-esteem.We seem to be dealing with obesity as an action-reaction problem.  We insist on dealing with the symptoms but not the cause, with the result being all the diet pills, diet books and now even surgery for young adults.I believe that as a society, we are setting up our children for failure.  We need only watch television for an evening to see what's happening.  Most of our children's role models are either anorexic appearing teenage actresses, or heroic muscle men.  Our children are pressured to be like these so called perfect human beings, who are liberally used by advertisers to sell products to our kids.  Children are also bombarded with fast food  and soft drink commercials.As parents, we fill our pantry with sugary drinks, high fat chips and preservative  loaded snacks, then preach willpower.  It's too mush to ask from a child.  I admit I have no willpower when it comes to ice cream.  My solution: I simply don't have any in my house.We shouldn't wait until obesity sets in, afflicting our children. We as parents need to go back into the kitchen and start to cook from scratch healthy meals, someone said "if you have 30 minutes to watch cooking show then you have time to cook".  We should stop drinking and buying sodas. We need to encourage  vegetables and fruits as snacks. We as parents need  get active with our kids, your child will not take you seriously if you are telling him to exercise while watching TV and a large bag of chips resting on your lap.  Taking charge of our children health  requires willpower and discipline from us but it is worth it