Is having overweight kids child abuse?

[Mummyme1987]

A friend posted on Fb that parents with fat kids are child abusers. Except for kids with medical problems. It started with comments on how it's awful that there's a generous fit section in clothes shops. I'm shocked that people think this. I think the majority of parents don't just feed their kids crap, and some kids are bigger than others, and unless it is a very extreme case it's not child abuse. Thoughts?

aye nobody is saying that walking a mile a day will make people slim and fit. It is only part of the picture, but will probably more useful in getting children interested in being more active than forcing them to run a mile.

thebestfurchinchilla It's not. It's really, really not.

It's better than nothing when we're talking about obese adults who do nothing all day, walking is a start. But walking is not exercise to normal sized able-bodied fit and healthy adults.

Plus we're talking here about CHILDREN. Children who should be outside running about playing chasies and football and cycling miles on their bike.

There is no reason young children should feel alienated by the concept of running. This is something they should all do naturally as part of play, if they haven't, herein lies the problem, and it's food that they will finally get the chance to do it and get fit if school does the daily mile, since their parents have been so neglectful.

Walk into any supermarket and the aisles are stacked high with eye catching special offers on different types of sweets, crisps, chocolate, sugary cereals and general crap. The stuff is placed at the store entrance and at the end of each aisle tempting you wherever you turn. This is a ploy used by supermarkets and manufacturers who will pay a premium to have their products placed in prime temptation spots. Everything is £1, half price or buy one get one free. Whatever about taxing junk food these special offers and promotions have got to stop.

Where are all the offers on fruit and vegetables? Why aren't supermarkets actively promoting proper food and not just junk.

Often the junk option is cheaper and sometimes the added convenience makes it an even more tempting choice. A 6 pack of crisps for £1 is cheaper than a punnet of strawberries or a bag of apples. Frozen nuggets are cheaper and than buying chicken breasts.

The government really need to come down hard on retailers and limit their ability to discount and promote junk food unless they are willing to equally discount and promote fresh and healthy products.

aye did you read the link from the NHS?

it's good

Aye Amarok I lost my 4 stone regain over the last 2 and a half years due to healthy diet and walking everywhere.

And isnt expecting to lose weight very quickly at a rate of knots also instant gratification?!!

shebird ive seen multipacks of TWELVE packs of crisps for a pound.

Absolutely sherbid when was the last time you saw buy one get one free on a bag of apples but you can get 6 donuts for 50p! Madness. Weight is 80 pc what we eat and 20pc movement.

The running a mile thing may look great on paper but what are schools going to do about the bullying of the overweight kids that may result.

I was badly bullied during PE lessons at school. The school did fuck all about it and this was back in the 80s

Going by threads ive seen on here absolutely nothing has changed in this area. If you want overweight kids to excersise ignoring the fact that bullying may well be a result of that will NOT achieve this.

Yes Chinch, I did. But I still maintain that walking a mile is NOT enough for an adult with a shit diet. Or a child.

You need to get your heart rate up much more than walking does. Exercise should be much more vigorous than walking.

It's seriously depressing that "walking" is the most people will even contemplate doing as exercise. Even worse if that's what you hope for for your children. What a life. Shocking.

The running a mile thing may look great on paper but what are schools going to do about the bullying of the overweight kids that may result.

Eh, the children won't be overweight anymore, because they'll be running a mile a day and so getting a good amount of exercise

I lost my 4 stone regain over the last 2 and a half years due to healthy diet and walking everywhere.

Yes, bur if I remember your situation from other threads, you were very overweight. So walking was a start to get you more active, and more importantly you had a healthy diet which these children do not have because their parents are being neglectful.

So they need good, proper exercise.

Look, it's no big deal, they do it the first day and they walk most of it. By the next week they'll have got much faster, even if they're still walking a lot of it, and their classmates can cheer them on over the finish line. Then they get fitter and fitter until they can run it. And then SUCCESS! You're child is able to do what all children should be able to do, run about and play with other children.

Your*

'you can get 6 donuts for 50p! Madness.'

Says it all really.

Or those packs of smarties cookies the size of your head in the bakery

The children wont be overweight anymore no but they wont start running on 25th May 2016 and wake up on the 26th May 2016 a stone or two lighter. If they get bullied or picked on the first 2 or 3 times they do it it would be enough to put them off.

In the late 80s i remember going for a jog one Saturday off my own bat and got 3 streets away before bumping into someone who bullied me at school Monday to Friday who then proceeded to follow me and take the piss with really nasty comments . I didnt attempt it again Had to put up with it Mon to Fri I wasnt going to put up with it on a weekend as well.

If this was today what do you think would have happened. She would have taken a picture on her phone and stuck it up online for all her mates to join in with the ridicule. I never thought id say this but im glad i was an overweight kid (although nowhere near as overweight as i thought judging by old photos) in the 80s instead of today

Yeah thats what my classmates did Cheered me on

What people forget is that muscle uses more calories than fat, even at rest. And exercise isn't compatible with over eating and junk in the way sedentary lifestyles are. How many dc would choose to leave a swimming pool/ park etc for going home to eat mid morning casserole? Very few. And yet plonk them infront of a screen and ask mid morning if they'd like sweets/ crisps/ cake and plenty will. Ditto after proper exercise, if you've been active all day, crisps and a pack of haribo aren't the first choice, you want a decent meal. Laze about all day and many will eat for taste, not hunger.

So exercise isn't just about the calories you burn during the activity itself, it's the effect on metabolism and behavior.

I also find it very telling that the daily mile is something that's being put forward as exercise. It's a start and certainly better than nothing, but for any able bodied nt dc age 4 or over, a mile should be a drop in the ocean in the course of daily physical activity, not a challenge and the main form of exercise.

If kids are going to bully fat kids, then they won't only bully them when they're running. They'll be getting bullied for being fat all the time, in the playground, in the classroom, out playing at home etc etc.

Yes, bullying needs to be addressed. But that shouldn't be mutually exclusive to doing the daily mile.

I cannot get my head around someone saying that they don't want their child being bullied for being fat - they want the bullying to stop and the child to remain fat. Why not get the bullying addressed AND address the fact that your child is fat by making them slimmer and healthier? Why on earth would a parent want their child to remain unfit, unhealthy and fat???

WOW where did i say the child should remain overweight . Yes as an overweight kid you do get bullied all the time but does that make the bullying on the sports field ok?

And believe me on the sports field the bullying gets much worse. You get them doing lovely impressions of your gait.

I had this for a long time .......then one sports day they wanted me in the baton race to make up the numbers.......the same fuckers who had bullied me all through high school now wanted me to do them a favour.

Me......No sorry because you have picked on me for years and if im not fast enough for you on sports day you will be picking on me again and having a go at me as well.

Them.....oh no we wont we wont we promise

Me.....i dont believe you so no im not doing it.

They actually expected me to believe them going on past experience. Absolutely astounding.

The daily mile is a good start to getting kids more active on a regular basis. Whether they walk, jog or sprint who cares - anything is better than nothing. Everyone has to start somewhere.

To those worries about bullying, fat kids are already being bullied. This is the perfect chance to make a change so why resist.

And why shoudnt the bullying stop?

I cant believe what i am reading on a parenting site. Absolutely something needs to be done about kids health but that should also include their MENTAL health. What the fuck do you think bullying does to a childs mental health. It makes you contemplate suicide thats what it does If i had swallowed those pills with my dads whisky i would have died in 1987 at the age of fourteen.

Running is great for mental health too, actually.

Look, I'm not being facetious. But the daily mile is a great thing.

Bullying is a problem, but an entirely separate problem to the daily mile. I do not understand your argument that children get bullied and so the school should not spend 15 minutes in a day doing the daily mile to make children fitter and healthier.

Some children are bullied for being crap at maths. So should schools not teach maths either?

I've always been overweight, from day one. I was 10lb 4oz at birth! Do you think my mum's weight at the time of birth had influence on my birth weight? I remember at one point she was big, I'm talking size 24/26.