To be shocked at the level of obesity of British children?

Some people do need their hand held though, and there are many reasons why that may be the case. People can continue to castigate overweight people, which is not having the desired results from the look of it, or seriously look, and do something tangible to help. When Jamie Oliver was doing his ministry of food, I remember watching a woman who had no idea how to cut/ dice an onion. Another woman did not seem to know how to recognize when water was boiling, and had never boiled an egg. These women were mothers, raising children, who, not surprisingly were being fed nothing but real poor quality food. The cycle is likely to continue without some form of intervention, which thankfully Jamie was willing to help with.

The ‘overweight’ child in class used to stand out, now probably half are overweight and it’s no longer shocking, looks ‘normal’ to the parents and so nothing is done. I’ve had parents say I don’t know where the weight comes from it’s just them, they barely eat, while knowing it’s a magnum for breakfast, half a pack of cookies mid morning, 2 bags of crisps after lunch, a share bag of Harribo….. I’m not making this up

If your going to take what I say so literally I will change it to kids don't walk anywhere much anymore

Really gently, and with great respect, this is the exact issue. There is statistical anysis of this issue. But instead of going " right ok, they've got an obese parent and I know this statistic, so I'll work hard to counteract and I'll attempt to get him to understand this too and let's make sure Our kids escape this" your reaction is " I don't think it will be 50% for my kids " you wouldn't do this with passive smoking, or any other health risk to kids

'A portion controlled dinner'?! They don't get a portion controlled dinner - they can choose to buy what they want. A waffle in the morning, a couple of doughnuts at break and a couple of cakes at lunch! That's the equivalent of your 5 jam doughnuts! And they can buy as many soft drinks as they like too. It's exactly the same!

Honestly, no wonder the parents are your problem if you think the current fare in school is ok.

Lots of parents are teachers or ex teachers too. Doesn't mean we agree with junk for lunch. We know that what the DC eat affects their learning and so are actually concerned about it!

@BrownTroutBluesAgain they all get takewaways! And the food generally isn’t what it was.

I learnt how to cook from books from the library at University. My parents couldn’t teach me as I’d gone veggie at age 14 and they only did meat and two veg. So I taught myself.
Not everyone needs their hand held and tbh taking a little personal responsibility would be a good thing. No one to blame then.

I was a fat child. I lost weight in my teens and kept if off until I had kids where I have yo-yoed back and forth. When I did lose weight I began to control my own portion size, prior to that my mum always served up meals. For her if you didn't eat the portion she served she would take it to mean you didn't like it. I actively parent differently.

My dh is slim as are all of my children. I cook from scratch. My mum reckons my kids are skinny and need fattening up, I spoke to my hv and she said that people's views of what is a healthy size is more skewed now as we are used to seeing fat or overweight as becoming the norm. Both my 9 and 6 year old are 99% percentile for height and 50th for weight. So not underweight but slim yes. They are more active as kids than I ever was as a child and we walk lots, they do football, dance and swimming weekly.

There's a huge difference between having a portion controlled dinner at school, which btw has veg and salad with it and eating 5 jam doughnuts a day and drinking 2 litres of coke every day. As is referenced on this thread, kids are often not the issue, they want to be guided. Our problem now is with parents who are convinced they know how to run a school and spend every night on Facebook telling everyone that

Eating habits are formed in childhood. If a child is raised on cheap, processed food, they are not going to know anything different. They will accept the food, and see nothing wrong with it, or understand that the food is low in nutrition, and even harmful to them. All these things have to be taught. How can a parent pass on, what they do not even know themselves? Too many people have not been taught even basic cooking skills. The factors involved with this obesity epidemic are legion.

My sister who I mentioned up thread will not compromise. She inherited packet soups, gravy and such like at her schools. It went in the bin. She declined a directive to use halal meat only and won't serve pizza unless it is in house made and on special days only. We are not the best of friends but she's principled and has a special interest in ND children and encouraging them to have variety in their diets which they often don't. My DD is SEN and at various points she has eaten badly particularly when she was being bullied at school. I have worked overseas and everyone eats together. It's useful in schools where the teachers eat with the students. My daughters food issues were picked up by a dinner lady who told me she wasn't eating. Everyone else was competively under eating (girls school).
I do think we need to demand a balanced nutritional meal is served in our schools otherwise we are not offering a quality service. Maslow said food and shelter are the foundation of life. We've been shit at delivering that for years. Poor housing and poor quality food puts our children at a disadvantage.

Tbh, the central dish would probably put my ASD DD off.

I was a fat child. I lost weight in my teens and kept if off until I had kids where I have yo-yoed back and forth. When I did lose weight I began to control my own portion size, prior to that my mum always served up meals. For her if you didn't eat the portion she served she would take it to mean you didn't like it. I actively parent differently.

My dh is slim as are all of my children. I cook from scratch. My mum reckons my kids are skinny and need fattening up, I spoke to my hv and she said that people's views of what is a healthy size is more skewed now as we are used to seeing fat or overweight as becoming the norm. Both my 9 and 6 year old are 99% percentile for height and 50th for weight. So not underweight but slim yes. They are more active as kids than I ever was as a child and we walk lots, they do football, dance and swimming weekly.

Most Private schools do so much more sport than state.
Not only 2 full afternoons a week ( if boarding ) but after school sports clubs as well. They are constantly on the go.
But also. Was it a boarding school you were invigilating because there meals are excellent.
If a kids boarding there’s not much in the way of crisps etc. ( except from their own tuck )

Oh and the food!!

The number of children we've had for tea who eat basically no vegetables at all. I always put out a central dish with 3 or 4 choices to serve yourself from - things like carrot or swede, green beans, peas, broccoli, asparagus, kale etc. Most children barely touch it. The same at lunch - we will always have a plate with tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, carrot, celery, beetroot etc and many children take a single piece of cucumber and nothing else.

Why do you care? Look after your own kid, stop judging everyone else's.

Most Private schools do so much more sport than state.
Not only 2 full afternoons a week ( if boarding ) but after school sports clubs as well. They are constantly on the go.
But also. Was it a boarding school you were invigilating because there meals are excellent.
If a kids boarding there’s not much in the way of crisps etc. ( except from their own tuck )

I agree 100% but the sad fact is that many adults do no exercise/activity and this is then passed on to their children

Yes I totally agree. Health and nutrition should be taught to all from primary school to age 13 imo. To include cooking on a budget etc.
It's a poor show when advocating the provision of budgeting and cooking skills is politicised instead of being encouraged.

That's 100% on the parents if the kids are doing no exercise outside of school. Parents KNOW they need to be doing it, and actively choose not to prioritise it. When I grew up, yes we all played out on the street, rode our bikes, went off to the woods for a walk without a care etc etc but we also didn't have the same access to clubs that kids have nowadays. Maybe children from lower income families should get coupons to attend sporting activities of their choice. We live in a village but we still have 2 football teams covering all ages and both boys and girls teams, we have numerous types of dance and cheerleading, we have running clubs for children, the gym offers membership for children 8+. In sure the amenities are even better in cities and towns.