Hmm... I'm not an expert or anything, but I don't believe in surgery unless it's absolutely necessary. For example, a broken bone!

I don't keep up with statistics or anything, but I do have kids and notice others that are obese. I can say that as a parent it is hard to provide kids a healthy lifestyle, but that is the answer to childhood obesity.

I understand that finances, convenience and taste make it hard to do the right thing in terms of giving our kids the right kinds of foods, but ,as parents, it's OUR responsibility. And, I KNOW, our kids don't make it easy for us, but ,again, it's OUR responsibility.

I'll admit that my kids don't eat as healthy as they should. However, they are far from obese. The two things I do to try and keep them straight is control their sugar intake (make sodas a rarity and give them juices with the highest juice content) and MAKE them go outside. I don't have cable or game systems in my house, although I do have Netflix. Every opportunity I can, I take them outside to do something... anything.

My kids are young, my oldest is in kindergarten, so it's pretty easy to control this right now. At the same time, these are their foundational years, so I'm trying to set the tone for the rest of their lives. They all love playing at the playground, going on trail walks, pretty much anything outside. The first thing my oldest asks for when he gets home from school is if he can go outside!

I know I'm speaking from a biased perspective, since my kids aren't obese, but I hope that helps.

Lastly, I would ask that if someone is considering giving their child bariatric surgery, would you be willing to go through the surgery yourself? I'm a member of this sight because, yes, I'm obese and I wouldn't have the surgery myself. In fact, it's not an option. So, I would never consider it for my kids.

The childhood obesity trend is highly alarming! I do not yet have children, but I have kept up on the issue. I feel that where the solution really comes from is education. Most of the cases of childhood obesity comes from non-education of the parents about healthy lifestyles. America as a whole (and unfortunately it is slowly starting to infiltrate more and more developed countries) is poorly educated in making healthy choices. While the surgery is a good last resort it is difficult for children to make the kind of drastic life style changes necessary to accomplish it. Think of everything a child is going through as far as development mentally, physically and emotionally. Now throw on top of that a tremendously intense need to control the diet.

I personally believe that the problem really needs to be addressed before it gets to the point of needing surgery. There needs to be a vast improvement of the way that people are educated in health and fitness - starting in grade school. Parents of obese children should be offered - through the child's doctor - classes on health and fitness. Not waiting until the child is unhealthy in weight, but at the first signs of being over weight. Community centers need to offer a lot more in family fitness courses. Places where whole families can go to learn together how to lead healthy fulfilling lives.

Honestly we need to be so much more proactive than we are as a whole. We need to not let it get to the point of having to let children undergo serious procedures, and major lifestyle upheavals.

no what do you think children would feel knowing they have to get a surgery for losing wieght think of that instead