You can view this story as one more indication of how manufacturers can handle anything, or as a sad indicator of how epidemic obesity really is becoming. It has been announced that more than one quarter of a million U.S. kids are too hefty for the car safety seats they should be riding in. Most of them, apparently, are three-year-olds topping the scale at 41 pounds, ten more than the age group's mean weight of 31 pounds. Canada, unfortunately, is often not far behind the stats for their southern neighbour.
The cost of the seats needed to handle these overweight kids is between $240. to $270. while a usual model runs about $80. They are also harder to find, not even being listed by Wal-Mart, the biggest retailer in the U.S. That combines with the cost to have more and more parents taking the chance that their kid is big enough to go without restraints, or belt them into an adult seatbelt, in the family vehicle. The problem is that three-year-olds, whether they're husky or not, are 54% more likely to die in a car crash when they are unrestrained than when they are in the proper seat for their age, and adult restraints can decapitate kids in a crash. Car accidents are, in fact, the leading cause of death for U.S. kids and account for almost a third of pre-schooler deaths. Again, Canada's statistics are likely to mimic these horrible numbers.
Obesity has doubled for U.S. kids in the 2 to 5 year range over the past fifty years, according to a 2000 study published in the AMA Journal. Morgan Downey, head of the Washington-based American Obesity Association predicts that the number of overweight toddlers will keep rising.
Now for the way to view this story. Britax International PLC does manufacture four models of car seats to fit the little piggies riding off to market with their parents, so we can relax about all this and just wait for supply to catch up with demand, or we can take note of the alarmingly increasing dimensions of this problem, and start to do something about it. That would take major commitment from parents on behalf of little ones, and continuation of the commitment from the kids themselves as they grow, and that might all be just too much to ask. After all, what if it starts to eat away at the time needed to be an appropriately dedicated couch potato?
The cost of the seats needed to handle these overweight kids is between $240. to $270. while a usual model runs about $80. They are also harder to find, not even being listed by Wal-Mart, the biggest retailer in the U.S. That combines with the cost to have more and more parents taking the chance that their kid is big enough to go without restraints, or belt them into an adult seatbelt, in the family vehicle. The problem is that three-year-olds, whether they're husky or not, are 54% more likely to die in a car crash when they are unrestrained than when they are in the proper seat for their age, and adult restraints can decapitate kids in a crash. Car accidents are, in fact, the leading cause of death for U.S. kids and account for almost a third of pre-schooler deaths. Again, Canada's statistics are likely to mimic these horrible numbers.
Obesity has doubled for U.S. kids in the 2 to 5 year range over the past fifty years, according to a 2000 study published in the AMA Journal. Morgan Downey, head of the Washington-based American Obesity Association predicts that the number of overweight toddlers will keep rising.
Now for the way to view this story. Britax International PLC does manufacture four models of car seats to fit the little piggies riding off to market with their parents, so we can relax about all this and just wait for supply to catch up with demand, or we can take note of the alarmingly increasing dimensions of this problem, and start to do something about it. That would take major commitment from parents on behalf of little ones, and continuation of the commitment from the kids themselves as they grow, and that might all be just too much to ask. After all, what if it starts to eat away at the time needed to be an appropriately dedicated couch potato?
1 Comments:
Hmm ... biggie-sized furniture to go with the biggie-sized living!
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