To think we have lost sight of what teh correct weight for a child is

[sassysally]

All these parents have gone, outraged to the mostly national press because they don't think their child has an ounce of fat on them, and the newspapers have published them,but to me are all clearly too heavy

1

2
3

dont know which one 2 in linking to

it is hard to tell from one photo how heavy/fat a child may be. They do not look typically fat to me.

Are any of them DM links please?

www.express.co.uk/news/uk/159139/Healthy-five-year-old-girl-labelled-ovreweight - she certainly doesnt look overweight

1 - the WirralGlobe
2 - random pictures
3 - single picture from the telegraph

I think the vast majority of parents are doing their best.

Ilove you are a star, thank you

YABU

I don't think numbers 1 or 3 look too heavy at all. Maybe you have an unreasonable expectation that a child should be 'skinny'?

Number 2 is not there.

What the hell is wrong with the weight of those children?? They look perfectly fine.

No she is overweight, I remember my having this conversation with my aunt. She is a nurse and dreads having to have conversations about healthy weights because a lot of her patients don't understand what a healthy weight is and come out with the same stock phrases.

better to have some meat on my bones
do you want me to starve to death
etc

Your point is proven op!!

First few posts here saying they don't 'look' overweight to them....

the trouble is that a build which would be ok on an adult may not be ok on a child.Children should much thinner

Given the obesity epidemic, I am bored to tears by the parents of children who are overweight moaning when it is pointed out to them...

The picture that Ilove has posted from the express doesn't look overweight but the ones in picture 1 and 2 that the OP has posted look a little overweight. In all fairness though I see kids who are fatter than all of those pictures every single day. I do think we have lost sight of what a healthy weight child looks like. The fact that generic shops are now making clothes for plus size children is what makes me think that overweight has become too normal in childhood.

At first glance I didn't think the girl in Ilovepowerhoop post was overweight.But just look at the length of the sleeves in the top she is wearing! Clearly oversized

Yes, we have lost sight of the weight we should be. At this age, children can look 'in proportion', and they tend to overgrow 'in proportion', so being over-high is as bad as being over weight, in terms of long term outcomes with obesity. So, at five, you may think your child is right for their height, but only 1 in 10 children are naturally that big, so unless both parents are also tall, it's unlikely yours is that 1 in 10.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1713231/

This is something I have worried about, having a 91st centile height child, but last time he was weighed, his weight was 50th centile, and his height being 91st centile fits his predicted adult height, so I think we're okay. But should we get a letter, despite swimming, gymnastics, a healthy diet, and other sports, I wouldn't go to the paper and practice my 'sad face', I would be taking it seriously, and taking action, even though my child 'looks all right', because we just can't tell these days. We've screwed up our views on body image, terribly.

The express pic I don't get. Girl looks fine. Slim arms and face.

The other 2 I'd say were slightly on the squishy side but nothing too major. Yet.

I think sonetimes parents should spend less time being out raged and more time reflecting if there could he potential for a weight issue.

If there realy is no side for concern then great but they are moaning about labels well kids won't know of they don't tell them

I have a friend who's DS was measured as overweight at school, her reasoning was that rugby players would also come up as overweight if you looked at their BMI's.

I didn't have the energy to point out that her DS wasn't a professional athlete and any rugby player appearing professionally with a belly as big as her son's would be very unfit.

Pic 1 is, to me, a chubby child. But yes, she looks normal because this is what we have made normal.

It's not 'puppy fat', 'big bones' or healthy. It's worrying

I think the girl in link 1 is over weight. I think the boy in link 3 must be just slightly into the fat percentiles. Kids were naturally slimmer in the 70's.

They're just children. Some children are bigger than others. This isn't a new phenomenon. It isn't indicative of an obesity epidemic. We haven't lost sight of anything. Provided children are active and eat a reasonably well balanced diet, there is no need for constant weighing, measuring, charts and comparisons. They'll grow, they'll reach puberty, their bodies will change and that's fine.
As someone has already said, I think most people do the best that they can for their children and their health.

I wonder if parents would take the advice on board more readily if it was presented differently.

The first girl looks a bit heavy in that photo but you can't really judge properly unless the child is in front of you. The girl in the link that ilovepowerhoop put up looks perfectly healthy.

Two kids can have exactly the same bmi and one can be fat, the other slim. It's ridiculous to call kids fat based on body weight alone. They should examine them properly, body fat, muscle mass, proportions, fitness tests etc and many children in the 'healthy' category will come up as extremely unfit and with high body fat and low muscle mass because they just sit on their arse all day. They'll also be able to determine who's dangerously fat in the overweight/obese category and who's heavy as a result of being a very strong, athletic mesomorph.

We need to focus on promoting high activity levels and keeping junk to a minimum. There will always be a variation of normal and healthy in terms of size and weight but if the kids are constantly running around, climbing, jumping and fed properly, they'll be strong, healthy and the correct weight for their body type.