The count of obese individuals in India is rising day by day. The same can be confirmed by looking at the increasing statistics of obesity surgery in India.

Typically a child is sent to preschool, and nursery since the age of three to four. It is basically done in order to keep them engaged for few hours a day and help them get to socialize with friends. This duration keeps increasing as the child grows up. By the child reach the age of 10, he/she is more likely to be attending 5th/6th standard of the schooling.

At this stage, they attend 6 to 8 hours in school premises on an average. It takes at least 1-2 more hours in the transportation and 1-2 hours more on getting ready for school and retiring after returning to home. Thus, on an average, about 9 to 12 hours go by purely related to schooling and homework and projects allocated for home.

Apart from academics, children, these days are being enrolled in extracurricular activities as well. These include dance class, swimming class, singing classes and lots more, predominantly because the parents want their children to be an allrounder. Though it might sound like a good way of relaxation and often it is, engaging in too many extracurricular activities consume more hours in the 24 hours day schedule.

Moreover, when you deduct the time for other crucial activities such as sleeping, bathing, eating etc, only 2-4 hours is left for the child to have for himself/herself. Convincing them to practice yoga or physical exercise becomes very difficult. In contrast, parents, often let them have fast food, watch Tv and play games on smartphones and play station as a reward for hard work of the entire day. (Read further- How smartphones are causing obesity, including childhood obesity). In a nutshell, the children are left with all unhealthy habits that build up the childhood obesity. Sadly things do not change even after growing and eventually need obesity surgery after becoming morbidly obese in the future.

This new year, at ILS Bariatric Care, encourages every parent with young and young-adult children to be more caring towards their health than before. Though we understand that neither academics nor extracurricular activities can be completely substituted with health building classes. Instead, they are advised to encourage their children to make wiser choices. Like to be more actively involved in outdoor games as compared to digital ones. Walking to get the school bus rather than taking the car.

By adding these small efforts, we can bud a healthier childhood free of obesity.