To think we’ve lost sight of what a healthy child’s weight should be?

[Winniethepoohandtiggertoo]

Walking through town today as kids were leaving school and I was quite shocked by the size of them (primary kids). But then I noticed that so many of them were overweight that in a way it isn’t surprising that maybe their parents haven’t noticed or realised there is a problem? When I was little kids were skinny things, now it seems the norm for them to be built like shot-putters! I know a few parents with overweight children but they insist they’re ‘strong’ or ‘solid’, or ‘they run around so much they just burn it off’. When so many kids look like theirs it probably isn’t surprising they think that?

Normal kids don't have massive appetites. My children only eat a very small portion of dinner but would eat crisps, flavoured yogurt, toast and jam, sweets etc all day long. If i let them. Which i don't.

If you go to the supermarket you see people loading packs of 18 crisps etc in their trolleys. Kids that eat adult sized pizzas with no salad.

I think that many parents are too busy and exhausted so they just go with quick/ cheap/ simple lifestyle choices for themselves and their kids. Also genetics play its role and environment.

I agree. Big we need to remove the straws that they are grasping onto so that there is absolutely no doubt about whether their child is overweight.

These parents love their kids. They are doing them a disservice but the reasons are complicated and they are not deliberate.

Removing and doubt, wriggle room or confusion would really help them see the situation for what it really is and take action.

*any doubt.

I remember what my oldest was around 2. He's skinny and was in the 5 percentile when born. He is now 9 and still skinny. Another mum who was obsess herself and had a much larger 2 year old criticised him for being too skinny...I still see them around and the poor child os enormous. I was sick of people telling me my kids are skinny....they eat loads. I think people worry of they're kids are on the slimmer side and maybe overfeed?

obese

I disagree. My underweight 16 year old eats an enormous amount of food, as do his friends. Most of
It is healthy nutritious food. I am constantly amazed by how hungry they are and how much they eat.

Like others I think we have lost sight of what is a normal weight. I’m fairly slim-ish but I could definitely be ok to lose a bit of weight normally (when not pregnant like I am now!) and feel more comfortable. Yet if I mention my weight, people get offended and say I’m already really slim and don’t need to - but I’m not REALLY slim. The same applies to children I think.

As you can see, same weight and height, fine if 7 not if 4.

Let’s compare apples with pears. 6 year olds with grown 16 year old men.

We have just had a craze for a drink full of calories with practically no health benefits whatsoever. Parents fighting to get it for their kids.....Prime.

McDonalds, despite the cost of living crisis is always busy

Vaping is putting more and more kids into hospital than they realised.

Parents would rather pack their cupboards with calorific biscuits and crips than healthy alternatives. Not because its cheaper but because its easy to just pick up the packets of biscuits

Parents that have spent the entire parenting time with their children instilling into them how to be lazy. Drive everywhere, park closer, take the lift. How many parents truthfully would walk a mile or so somewhere with their kids rather than walk? Just look at school parking and all the parents cars dropping their kids off.

As a nation we are truly shit parents when it comes to our kids health. Of course there are lots of good examples but they are a huge minority. Wait for the excuses for disability, genetics, thyroids, health conditions etc etc etc. Of course there are some that cant do it but unfortunately there are thousands of shit parents who refuse to get off their arse.

I used to have a neighbour who would drive the 250m to the bus stop to drop their kid off. Sit in the car 5 yards from the bus stop making it dangerous for all the kids crossing the road. When the kid got on the bus she would jump back in the car and drive home. What chance has that kid got to embrace a healthy lifestyle?

You can't remove doubt from those in denial there are always going to be a conspiracy theory somewhere to discover on the internet

DS1 is very tall and slim have to buy 5-6 trousers to fit in the leg at just turned 4 but they fall off him due to the waist measurements. I have to adjust every waistline.
BMI calculator puts him towards the overweight end but he is honestly a bean pole and the skinniest in his class. His snacks are fruit or a oatcake and he doesn't get junk food. He's off the scale height wise for his age.

Many children are getting taller and I don't think BMI calculators or the percentile charts have been adjusted in a while which doesn't help! My 16 year old DN is 6.4ft and he's also a bean pole!

You’re obviously not being unreasonable.

DD is 3 and goes to preschool two mornings a week which include breakfast, snack and lunch. The food there is very different to what she gets at home, which is fine, but there’s some stuff going on this term around health and diet which I’m not happy about. If they clear their plate they get a fucking sticker, contrary to any common sense. And she came home with a paper plate a few weeks ago with a line across the middle and pictures stuck either side of “good food” and “bad food”. Each child had to make those decisions with “guidance” from the teacher and there are huge boards on the wall replicating the pictures and value judgements.

It’s confusing for a healthy vegetarian child to he told “cheese is baaaad” and belongs on the naughty side of the plate. And that pizza is bad, whether bought or homemade, even though it’s what they feed the kids at preschool most Fridays!

If she was there ft and I had much less control of her diet I wouldn’t be surprised if she was gradually chunking up, the snacks are often processed and carby and they have pudding every day.

As someone in my 60’s I have to disagree with this. You only have to look at old news reels from the 60’s and 70’s showing ordinary people to see how much thinner people were.

I agree with this. It has become completely normal to feed kids junk food the whole time. A decent snack for most parents means a cereal bar, a muffin, a bag of crisps, a chocolate bar. They will say "it's only a snack" while totally forgetting that often their kids are being fed this stuff for their morning and afternoon snack, after lunch and after dinner.
I never buy sweets for my DC and they still eat them every single day!

I agree with @freckles20 my kids have always had huge appetites. Their is nothing wrong with eating lots as long as it balanced out with plenty of exercise and there is plenty of healthy food in there.

My children carry hardly any fat but need the food to fuel their activities

@Teateaandmoretea apologies. DS is still growing and has been over 6 foot since he was 13. He has been medically underweight since he was a toddler whilst showing as overweight using standard NHS BMI measures.

To me discussions about overweight or underweight children apply to DS But I appreciate that to parents of younger children a 16 year old seems like a hulking great adult.

I don’t understand how any child can be a ‘beanpole’ yet overweight according to BMI which factors in height? I’m not being rude I just don’t understand how that is possible. I do wonder as some of the kids I know whose parents describe them as ‘beanpoles’ are actually average or slightly above, again because we’ve lost sight of what a healthy weight looks like.

No, I disagree. Exercise really doesn’t offset lots and lots of food anywhere near as much as people think it does. A lot of the overweight kids I know are always on the go or out on their bikes, it really doesn’t mop up after a bad diet or too much food.

Totally agree. We didn’t snack at all, never had fizzy drinks except at Christmas, walked everywhere, played outside. No takeaways except fish and chips perhaps once a year. There was perhaps one “fat” child in the class who by today’s standards wouldn’t stand out at all.

This was a normal childhood in the 1970s, not “deprived”.

I agree, there is a tv holiday ad atm with a very overweight little boy in it. And of course it’s not his fault, poor kid, but it’s a bit ironic that in the advert two of his scenes involve food. “Hey parents, it’s ok to feed your overweight kid lots of sugary snacks and let them loose on the all you can eat buffet. Chill out, the kid’s on his holiday.”

Normalising unhealthy attitudes to food and obesity is wrong. Watch food adverts with kids in them, often being served huge adult sized portions, I can only think of one where a school aged child is served food on a smaller plate than the adults in the advert. The government has rightly stopped junk food advertising in kids tv programmes , but seem to forget that kids watch tv at all times of the day and their seems to be a no holds barred attitude from the food producers with regards to how kids are portrayed.

Of course genetics play a part in it and of course we will always have the odd exception to the family norm but let's face it - we know what the OP is talking about - fat kids with fat parents. Lifestyle. It is diet and portion size combined with lack of exercise. Poverty plays a big part too as it is these families who are the least able to cook well and probably eat a diet which is too high in carbs and sugar. There's hardly much of nutritional value in Poundland is there? As someone else has said to there is a greater acceptance of being overweight in the younger generations- a messy bun, plumped up lips and false eyelashes seem to make everything OK. It's a big problem and there are no easy answers.

This is really useful as one of mine is really shooting up height wise and I worry about being able to see his ribs a lot .. he’s the classic 50th centile weight to 98th height

I know what ad you mean and we have talked about it. It's like he is put in for comedy effect.