Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

at being shocked at the huge amount of teenagers who are overweight?

128 replies

Blossomhill · 22/02/2008 16:47

Controversial I know. I also completely understand that their will be children who are overweight for reasons beyond their control. However it really does upset me to see so many children and teens who are obviously quite considerably overweight

OP posts:
dippydeedoo · 22/02/2008 17:35

a lot of my sons friends seem to live on crisps and cans of red bull!!!
a boy near me always has 2 cornettos one for each hand! hes 13.
frequently we have kids round and often they end up eating with us-now i dont force feed but i think they can try food so ds1 his friend says i dont like sprouts....i say try 1/2of one and you can leave the rest ....oh yum says he and polishes the lot off-when his mum came for him he says mum guess what i love sprouts....oh no you dont she says we hate them..... my middle son is prone to putting on weight so i watch him a bit closer and it seems ok ......

VictorianSqualor · 22/02/2008 17:39

Not unreasonable at all, yesterday I bought DD a jacket in next, it was a blazer style with one button on the tummy, she is 7, could do up the button but would've been tight, so I tried on the next size up (9-10 [shock) and it fitted her perfectly, it worried me for a while but I came to the conclusion she is a bit larger than Next would imagine her to be, especially as the arms and body length fitted better on the bigger jacket.

I am constantly on guard with her food and it upsets me that I did this to her, you know how? Making her eat everything on her plate, giving her portions that were too large and then giving her extra stuff (homemade puddings or fruit etc, not processed junk) because I grew up in a family where we hardly had any food.

Now I've noticed this she has smaller portions is encouraged to exercise more and is never told to finish her plate (she is mroe often told 'you don't have to eat it all if you don;t want it'). DS has always been treated the way DD is now and isn't podgy, though of course at ther ages all children go through the short podgy periods and the long and lanky, but I am much more careful.

So IMO, it's sad that teenagers are like this yes, but is it really all because of the over processed food they eat? I'd imagine a lot of them are larger because of the same reasons DD is, good homecooked food but plenty of it, then we add that to lack of exercise, and processed grub and good food being so much cheaper and we have three new reasons that create a whole host of bigger sized teenagers.

Both adults and children alike need to learn the consequences and the causes without a whole host of guilt being heaped on them for doing what, in some cases, amounts to trying to be a good parent.

needmorecoffee · 22/02/2008 17:42

cars and poor diet IMO
Whats a 'muffin top'?

duchesse · 22/02/2008 17:44

Needmore- It's that bit of flab that hangs over the edge of really unflattering to practically every body shape low-rise jeans...

needmorecoffee · 22/02/2008 17:46

ah right. That really is quite yucky.

OrmIrian · 22/02/2008 17:48

I think that there is a real split these days between fat teens and very very skinny ones (and I mean the girls that have such tiny waists and hips that you wonder where their internal organs fit!). Neither I would suggest is ideal.

What horrified me recently was when my DD wanted to come on a run with me on her bike - some of the older children in our street decided to run with us. It was quite worrying how all 3 of them were struggling to keep up and were really suffering. I'm 43 FFS and they were all in their early teens. I do worry as much about lack of exercise as diet. None of them were noticeably overweight.

needmorecoffee · 22/02/2008 17:49

I remember taking ds1's two American friends for a walk. Both played sports and had trophies (basketball, baseball etc). After half a mile both were puffing and complaining. They had never walked to the shops or on an errand and were always driven.
We had to turn round and go home before they expired!

BreeVanDerCampLGJ · 22/02/2008 17:55

Muffin Top

duchesse · 22/02/2008 17:56

Erm, thanks, Bree. That's the beast.

BreeVanDerCampLGJ · 22/02/2008 17:56

Even better example of a Muffin Top.

Tortington · 22/02/2008 17:57

fatty gothed up fekkers

wash yer face

MinkVelvet · 22/02/2008 17:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BreeVanDerCampLGJ · 22/02/2008 18:01
TotalChaos · 22/02/2008 18:02

I honestly don't really notice this up in Liverpool = but then I think Liverpool has one of the lowest car ownership rates in the country, so there may be a connection...

brimfull · 22/02/2008 18:07

I don't know any overweight teens ,dd and her friends are all slim and fit ,there are a few overweight ones at the school but they're few and far between.

brimfull · 22/02/2008 18:09

yes I agree about the walking ,it does make a huge difference,dd walks every where.Do you think they start to put weight on when they can drive?

sanae · 22/02/2008 18:14

I was shocked moving from Hampshire village to Cornwall - almost none of the mums or kids were overweight in Hants, LOADS in Cornwall. I had quite a moral overreaction to begin with and just couldn't understand how any parent could allow it to happen. However, I do feel more relaxed about it now, realise that a lot of those parents are better parents than me in other ways, so more careful not to judge. In fact, part of me feels it is better for DD1 - she has the temperamant that could tend towards anorexia, and my family tend to react to stress by undereating rather than comfort eating. I don't want to sound as though I am condoning childhood obesity, but people are never all going to be perfect shape. I am glad mine are surrounded by lots of different body shapes.

Tortington · 22/02/2008 18:15

they are all in cornwall

dirty gothed up fat fekkers -

dittany · 22/02/2008 18:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Tortington · 22/02/2008 18:42

aye - all the sinks, baths and showers were in the playing fields - now the dirty fekkers are doooooooomed to eyeliner HELL

2shoes · 22/02/2008 18:45

oy custy are you saying all goths are fat?????

Tortington · 22/02/2008 18:47

no i am stating that fat gothed up fekkers should wash their face

2shoes · 22/02/2008 18:48

pmsl

lachesis · 22/02/2008 18:50

Scotland is now in 2nd place behind the US for number of obese adults in proportion to population. In the world.

And yesterday in the BBC came news that 1 in 5 children in the UK is now obese and that hidden salt in processed food may play a role.

Yes, it's controversial to bring this up and point this out, but it's deadly to ignore the trend - this trend is due to diet and lifestyle, not evolution, evolution doesn't work that fast.

A good many students in DD1's nursery class are overweight and even obese - about half.

Probably not the most PC thing to post, but that is shocking - obesity is unfortunately not harmless for so many, for example we're seeing soaring numbers of young people now diagnosed with Type II 'adult onset' diabetes.

needmorecoffee · 22/02/2008 18:53

given kids have a built in tendency to run around it is shocking how they end up so fat.