to think these children ARE overweight?

[OkMaybeNot]

The schools in my area have just sent out the results of the National Child Measurement Programme.

There are a number of acquaintances/friends on my social media who have posted their child's result online, along with a picture of their child and an angry rant about how their child is as skinny as a rake, not an ounce of fat on them, 'stocky' not 'fat', perfectly healthy etc etc.

But they are. Some of them are very overweight and plainly so. Others may be a little bit chubby and due for a growth spurt or something, but clearly not slim, either.

There are streams of comments underneath these posts agreeing and expressing their disgust and anger. And I'm wondering if everyone's lying, or they genuinely believe that these children are slim?

I know BMI is notoriously squiffy when it comes to kids, and I have seen genuine cases of it being so totally wrong it's laughable, especially when it comes to strong, athletic children. But that isn't the case for these children, at all.

AIBU to think that you owe it to your child to at least consider the results before going on the defensive?

Well stopping people overweight would be a great start to helping the country.
Lots of conditions are caused by being overweight or have higher chances of having hem by being overweight which costs the nhs money.

www.theguardian.com/society/2016/dec/14/parents-children-overweight-survey-obesity

Parents can't see that their children are overweight for some reason Probably for the same reason most parents think their child is the best looking in the room. I imagine some of the people on this thread speaking horribly about children ("moobs" really? ) have in fact got over weight kids. They only see the fat on other people's children.

Look at how we reduced smoking. It was tackled in multiple fronts. Advertising was banned, prices increased, stop smoking groups heavily funded by the NHS, lots of health advice and support, adverts about how bad it is for your health.
There is never ONE solution to an issue. It needs to be tackled on multiple fronts.
So for obesity - sugar tax on sweets, biscuits, cakes, etc. Ban junk food advertising on TV and print media. Tax on unhealthy fast food. Adverts about health risks of obesity. Lots of NHS help and support to lose weight and keep it off. Latter is crucial as most fat people have lost weight at least once before, but not kept it off.

Same parents who say their kids are well behaved when they're actual shitbags or that they buy multi-bags of crisps because it's 'cheaper' than fruit.

Maybe it's the 'love goggles' you sometimes get with your kid. I thought DS was the most beautiful baby ever to have lived when he was younger, I look back at photos now and realise he looked like an angry broad bean with heat rash.

There are a handful of children at school who I would call fat, but it is very noticeable, I don't know how their parents allow it to get to that point.

The problem is fat shaming does not help people lose weight
It really depends how its done. I think we will see more 'fat shaming' in future, because present tactics aren't working.

CHildren are being given really mixed messages at school. My ds is convinced apples are bad for him because they contain sugar...but the school also give them pudding at practically every lunch and sell ice cream and sweets for the PTA.

Perhaps fat shaming is the wrong phrase but something needs to be done. I hear my obese friends that they visit the doctor for something and then complain because the doctor has pointed out that their weight is a significant contributor to their ailment. They act all indignant but how can they be so deluded. What do they expect - the doctor to say your weight is fine and nothing to do with your high blood pressure, your aching hips and knee joints and your recent diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes! Folk come in all shapes and sizes but obese is not normal, it's greed and laziness.

Fat shaming leads to a vicious cycle of binge eating i think so its not effective. Also its just generally nasty.

Agree with this.

Fat shaming is not the answer at all. I’d say the opposite; You’re fat. No big deal! You can lose weight. Here’s how.

Rather than; you’re fat, you’re disgusting because you’re the wrong bmi and you should be ashamed.

Which would help and which is just how viscious little cunts get their kicks?

I dont think fat shaming is helpful but I think we should be able to talk about it without unhelpful acusations of fat shaming.
Nobody is saying your child is fat so they are an awful person, ugly and deserve no friends but we should be saying your child is overweight, their health is at risk so you need to start feeding them less and making them move more right now.
If I was underfeeding my child, nobody would be quiet and say they were fine to avoid upsetting me. There would be outrage and would be forced to step up as a parent.

The reason they’re indignant @pagan is because society tells us fat is wrong and disgusting instead of simply a health problem. Who wants to admit they’re wrong and disgusting? This is why fat shaming does more harm than good.

I find it weird that people post pictures and discuss online but each to their own.

I think people often have little insight especially when looking at those they love and see everyday. It's also natural to be defensive about your parenting and your kids weight is often a direct effect of how you parent that child.

I find it difficult to be objective though as my eldest was one of those kids they clearly got it wrong for .... that's not my judgement but also that of his GP, teachers and anyone whose ever met him. He was marked as obese but is the kind of kid that disappears when he hides behind a lamp post.
His GP thought I was making it up (she laughed) and decided they must have made a mistake writing down the figures somewhere.
I didn't really discuss it at the time though except with GP and a few members of the family who had a laugh and moved on.

I had a letter from the school for my son. He was overweight. I got a phone call after to tell me how much exercise he should be getting. I was confused as he kickboxed 4 times a week and we could barely get him to sit down and we actively monitored his diet. Having told the nurse this, she told me it was not possible and that I was not taking it seriously. I put the phone down.

He lost all the weight when he cut out dairy after seeing a video on the treatment of dairy cows. For some parents they may be doing everything right although I agree mostly not.

Totally agree @upside. Stating a fact isn’t really fat shaming. If you’re overweight, you’re overweight. Just a fact!

pagan That is reasonable when being fat is a contributory factor. But some Drs do have a go at fat patients even if their condition has nothing to do with being fat. A family member had this, and the medical condition is genetic and not affected by weight or diet at all. But the Dr simple said losing weight was the answer. Yes relative needed to lose weight, but would have made no difference to this condition. Relative needed specialist assessment.

This interesting though, from a mother holding the opposite view. She posts photos of her so called "overweight" child and I agree with her, this child is not over-weight at all.www.theparentgameblog.co.uk/2016/09/why-my-son-wont-be-participating-in-ncms.html

I had a friend with horrendously overweight children. They would frequently post pictures of them all with massive chocolate sundaes or ‘hot choccy night’. The sort of family who would buy a kilo of ‘retro sweets’

Urgh

Anyway, the youngest child began getting comments at school, not horrid comments but things like ‘do we have the same sized bones because your legs are so much bigger’ and mum posted with a huge rant about how cruel children are and how her children were perfect.

I explained how hard it was being ‘the chubby one’ at school and recommending that she got the kids into some soet of sport, football or boxing or rugby.

She defriended me because I was being ‘cruel’ apparently.

People amaze me with how deluded they are

www.theparentgameblog.co.uk/2016/09/why-my-son-wont-be-participating-in-ncms.html

I think normalising being fat is more dangerous than fat-shaming. My healthy weight dd thinks she needs to put weight on because her fat friends call her too skinny. I try to feed my family a healthy diet but it's difficult when her friends are constantly drinking fizzy drinks, eating family sized bags of crisps and go to MacDonalds and eat take-aways every week. She's not bothered about having a nice figure and being healthy because being overweight is more the norm and she wants to fit in! It's crazy! I just hope she figures it out before too long!

"It is funny that schools run these studies to check which child is obese"

Point of detail, it's run in schools, but not by schools. It's run by DoH (Public Health England in the lead at present, has been other NHS/DoH bodies in the past) to inform public health planners.

It's been going on since the 1940s, under various names, and has for example in the past identified underweight and the risk of malnourishment in the post-war period, leading to government interventions of orange juice and milk.

You can be overweight, eat healthy and be very active. I don't think the idea that you can only be overweight if you are a couch potato who eats chips and cakes all the time helps. People are fat because they eat too much. It is easier to eat too much sweet and junk food. But it is possible to eat too much healthy food.

The only people who are body shaming, as described in this thread, are parents who post pix of their DC and invite comments on their appearance.

But there are diets aplenty and loads of such messages but it isn't working. Look I'm just playing devil's advocate, I'd never actually fat shame someone, I'd be more constructive than that but I'm certainly not going to wrap the person in cotton wool. Remember when George Best got a liver transplant and folk were up in arms coz he was an alcoholic? Is it any different to someone getting new hips and knees where they've not lost any weight?

That’s ridiculous @fresta! Wtaf?

Normalising being overweight is clearly not good either. But that does not make fat shaming any better.

martha I think I remember that! Was that the one where she kept feeding him whether he'd asked for it or not?
My SIL does similar to my nephew. Stuffs him constantly. He's obese. I can't understand how she fails to make the connection.

It really depends how its done. I think we will see more 'fat shaming' in future, because present tactics aren't working.

No, there's no good way to fat shame ffs. Current tactics aren't working because we've created nations of food adddicted people who crave food with no nutrional value that's full of sugar. We've scared people off fat and weaned everyone on to garbage.