to ask what can or should be done about childhood obesity?

[Bakingtins]

Prompted by this article of which I think the worst bit is not the headline grabbing 24 stone 10 yr old, but the figure that 20% of children are now obese. It's something that I have increasingly noticed at my son's swimming lessons (and those are the kids whose parents do take them swimming) and at school.
Current weighing kids at school and 5-a-day, change-4-life campaigns don't seem to be working. What do you think the government, parenting organisations, the BBC etc. could or should be doing to reverse the trend?

I think that is a big part of the problem, it is so hard to know what you are actually buying. Short of growing everything yourself you can't be sure what is in your food.

I tend to use butchers and green grocers as they aren't slightly better (I hope!) than supermarkets but that comes with the negative of being more expensive.

Lots about food here.

My solutions would be:

don't let locals plan their play equipment and parks
Yes. That sounds harsh, but when a specialist in play designs a park the results are far better - variety of equipment so children of all ages and abilities can play at once - no one is bored or messing around with and breaking equipment not designed for them.
They often come up with ideas Jo Bloggs wouldn't think of as well - one fabulous park I take my kids to has outdoor adult fitness equipment eg cycling machines positioned so adults can be active while supervising their kids instead if just sat on benches.

more use of sports funds to encourage young children to join sports clubs and active groups
Often these things are free or cheap for over 8s and really expensive for under 8s (i know this is to do with adequate supervision, but there are ways it can be handled) - the younger you get children into good habits with exercise the better. And while some young children will happily get their daily quota of running around without clubs, others are more placid or don't get the opportunity so would really benefit.

sports clubs at schools should be open to everyone
I know this gets debated a lot on MN, and fair enough if child A isn't actually particularly good at netball there's no reason why they should have to be on the team and going to cup matches - but if we want fit and healthy children there is no way we should be excluding children not on the team from taking part in a sport they're interested in - they should be allowed to take part in practices and social games. Not every school allows this, and it's really unhelpful.

Wrt food, my only one is better education on portion sizes.

As well as what a healthy child + adult looks like. - this one bugs me, because of course the more overweight children and adults their are the more out perception of what is normal is squiffy - being told to compare your child to others isn't helpful.

This is more aimed at secondary pupils. But I'd like to see Food Technology abolished as a subject, and replaced with a short, compulsory course on Cooking, Nutrition and Household Budgeting.

Interested to more that size 10 was considered 28 inch. In my day, it equated to size 28 jeans - but that was for hip clearance (no "women's fit" back then) and the waists hen not in men's-sized garments was 25 inches.

We need to dramatically reduce our DCs' intake of refined carbohydrates. And dramatically increase their consumption of protein.

It would be great if schools provided more opportunities for exercise, but I think they should offer more variety for non sporty children.

You can tax bad food and incentivise good food (that is, raw ingredients) through the VAT system. VAT at 20% on processed foods, and at -20% for raw ingredients such as meat, fish, vegetables, etc.

I think cooking and nutrition should be taught from primary school age. Not in a "this is good this is bad" way that healthy eating is too often taught now but getting children to understand what makes a balanced diet.

It is possible to make low gi smoothies. Use water instead of juice as the base, kids don't even notice, add a couple of vegetables in or make a breakfast smoothie using milk/yoghurt/banana. They don't have to be 100% fruit.

Personally I think the reasons for childhood obesity lies firmly at the parents door.
Too many parents scared to upset their children by saying no for a start. People seem to think they can make their kids happy by giving them whatever they want when really what they're giving them is a lifetime of health issues.

Too much time spent in cars and in front of screens, neither of which most people had when I was growing up. I find the fact that most of ds's friends who are all 4/5 yrs have ipads or Nintendos etc quite disturbing. There's just no need at that age and I don't buy the 'but they're educational' argument. Children learn through play at that age and will learn how to use these devices at school, no need for pre-schoolers to be sat at a screen at all imo.

And I don't get the whole 'it's the governments fault'.
They don't force anyone to feed their children crap, advertising does'nt help of course but again it really is just a case of saying no.
I do however think childcare, especially after school clubs should revolve around physical activities/sports.
The answer to obesity is as simple as eat less, move more as we all know. How to get that message through to those in denial I have no idea.

Cookery skills are lacking in my opinion. My sister buys a lot of ready made crap purely because she has no idea how to make it herself.

However, to cook you need facilities and money, so not always easy.

My other sister was told that her dd was overweight, got really upset, then changed her diet and she was noticeably slimmer. Turns out that my lovely little sis had no idea that snacking on 2 slices of white bread for a 4 year old then a full 'white food' eg chicken, pasta, bread meal was no good for her dd.

It is about education

I think everything in moderation works well, my 4 children are all slim probably because they never stop, they are always on the go and because i make sure aswell as healthy things, they have treats too.

I think banning treats althogether is counter productive as the child stuffs their face to the limit when out of the house or when older creating obesity to start. Cooking from scratch is also good, you know what goes in it and whether it is healthy. Frozen vege and fruit is just as good if on a budget. And there is no need to posh meat, just cut all visible fat of cheaper meat.

I think as a nation people have become lazy and feed their children way too much calorific junk when quite simply these things should be occasional treats. Junk isn't the problem, it's too much of it.

I do think fresh fruit and vege shoulf be cheaper, peppers for example are very expensive as are most other vege.

There is nothing wrong with screen time, in fact there is research to show it is beneficial, it's about balance. DS has a leap pad and plays on it for at most 30 minutes a day some days it doesn't get touched. Doesn't stop him from spending most of his time running around! Are you as against children reading as they means they are sat still too!

There's more shit food around. Same reasons as adult obesity exists. We were all skinny when I was a kid cos we had no money for sweets, crisps, ice cream etc.

Say no to your kids when they ask for stuff.
Get them outside every day.

I notice snacking is so much more prevalent than when I was young.

At the activities I attend with my kids there is snacking going on DURING the hour - except for swimming obviously!

Another thing about outdoor play equipment - very rarely gets used if it's raining. It rains more days than it's dry in Britain, we do actually need to design play equipment so it works and is still fun in the rain.

Its down to balance, and education, and the fact that, being overweight has become the norm so much so that we do not see it anymore.

I have personally lost 2 stone, I do still eat crap from time to time, but it is balanced. I also exercise.

Added to this I genuinely can't believe that a poster would advocate a competition for a teen girl for how long she can go without eating, and to ask what celeb they would like to look like. There is nothing wrong with being hungry or going 5/6 hours without food but to make it into a competition? That is asking for trouble.

I think that overweight has become normal. You should be able to see the ribs of any young mammal, humans included, once they're beyond babyhood. Nowadays, a child like that and people would be muttering that they were too thin!

Also computer games instead of running around outside. Snacks between meals (in our house as a child it was fruit (unlimited) if you were hungry, a piece of cake at teatime at the weekend, and otherwise 3 meals a day. If you didn't eat it, no pudding, and nothing else till the next meal).

The men who made us fat makes for enlightening viewing
(I haven't been able to check the link as am at work, but hopefully that's the playlist for the the whole thing)

Very interesting I think.

The whole 3 programmes are a real eye opener. He's got a new one starting tonight on bbc 2, 'the men who made us thin' about the diet industry.

Ooh really? I'll look out for that - thanks.

Sirzy, I have no problem with 'balanced' screen time, just think it's unnecessary in under 5's. There are far more fun ways of learning.
Besides it's the same problem as with food. Parents who allow their children unlimited junk are the same parents who will allow too much screen time for an easy life.

Obsession with snacking and "treats".
Treats these days are not treats at all - they are daily foods. We are constantly given messages to "treat yourself" which is normally a 400-600 calorie packaged piece of zero nutrition.
As you would have to run for over 1 hour to burn off those "treat" calories most people slowly put on weight.

When I was a kid sweets were a really rare occurrence - I can remember the days dad came home with a box of liquorice for instance and the excitement of chocolate biscuits. Now sweets, cakes, chocolates etc are around every day and are eaten as a matter of course.

Children are encouraged to eat constantly. When DD was a toddler I think I was the only mother whose pram was not filled with those cheddar snack things and endless bananas and dried fruit and biscuits. It is possible for children to not eat every hour and not die - although round here you would not think so. I nearly fell over when DD asked if she could have a snack for ballet class. A 40 minute class where most of the girls were apparently stopping to eat biscuits halfway through. Why? Most were coming out and eating again as well - it is as if having food in your hand is a form of nervous habit.

DD is at sports camp this week and reports some children have lunch boxes entirely filled with sweets and chocolate. A packet of haribos and a milky way are not sufficient to play 6 hours of sport...

I agree with Miggsie and the posters who have mentioned highly processed, sugary rubbish, especially sugary drinks and food containing glucose-fructose syrup.

Portion control

More exercise. Many children (for whatever reason) don't walk to school, don't do any/much exercise and eat very unhealthily.

Yes Miggsie this snacking non-stop through the activities is the new normal! I don't even remember it with my eldest child who is just 8 years older.