To be shocked at the level of obesity of British children?

[MEM00]

Having recently come back from holiday I found myself really shocked by the size of so many other British kids at the resort we were at. It was mostly a mix of British, French and German families and I found it impossible to not notice the difference in the British kids compared to others. DD is 8 and I would say average sized, by no means skinny. She made friends with another girl the same age by the pool, and i'm not joking when i say the other girl must have been twice the size when they were next to each other.

Am i overthinking this? Because it really makes me worry for the future.

This isn't intended by be 'fat shaming' in any way btw.

Have to agree OP - at the playground today there was a shocking number of very clearly obese kids - but then the parents were the same so....

We are all frazzled and nothing wrong with pizza once a week or other frozen food. But you can do quick and relatively healthy meals that are realistic meals for exhausted working parents:

Pasta and sauce takes 10 minutes, some veggies on the side or salad/carrot sticks.
Fish fingers with veggies and rice.
Mash potato with sausages and peas.
Pasta bake.
Picnic tea in the hot weather - hummus, cheese, pitta bread/toast, carrot sticks, cucumber.
Scrambled egg on toast.
Jacket potato beans and cheese.
Soup and a sandwich or beans on toast if they’ve already had a decent school lunch.
Yoghurts/fruit for pudding.

None of these things are Jamie Oliver level 😅 but easy, quick school night dinners that are perfectly fine for active kids.

Yep. Same in Switzerland. Large bags of crisps only, and they are for parties/aperos/bbqs etc. Not to go with your meal deal every day.

I remember this ad really hitting home when I saw it. I used to eat a bag of crisps every day with my sandwich at my desk at work in the UK. news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5367822.stm

Now I take a proper break and eat mindfully and socially at the work restaurant at lunchtime with colleagues. I've lost so much weight since I've lived here.

It really took a huge change from my previous pattern of not wasting time to eat when I could get through my work, (or use the time shopping on Oxford St) . Now I enjoy the break and I couldn't go back to my old habits.

But as I remember, few UK workplaces had proper eating areas or restaurants and it was expected that most people would eat at the desk.

This isnt even allowed in my current office, apart from fruit or a bit of birthday cake. Even then we have a kitchen/coffee area on every floor for that.

In Italy I've visited various businesses and on many industrial estates for example, there are large central restaurants for all the employees to have a seated, proper lunch and a break. Culturally our idea of eating is very different to a lot of countries. Eating mindfully isn't really encouraged.

I don't care if they think we are hypocritical. We need to stop putting so much store by what children think of us. We are the adults. I don't say that to be controlling and horrible . I say that as someone who has seen teaching decline into the tail wagging the dog over the last few years

I wonder if it would be better to have lunch as the main meal with decent canteens in schools and large workplaces at least. Then a more simple meal could be eaten at dinner time when we're more frazzled.

I was an overweight child in the UK and seemed the exception.

Now I live abroad in Germany. You rarely see overweight children here. My son is on the 50th percentile, my other below that. I used to wonder if my eldest was a bit more "well built" than other children. Then I came "home" to Scotland last summer for 4 weeks and we did loads of different activities. DH and I were very shocked at the amount of overweight children and I could see I had nothing to worry about with my ds (I never say anything to them but in my mind I'm very careful to give them a well balanced diet as I'm aware how it was for me). It's very sad to see so many children so overweight.

Ds (age 4 in a few weeks) is also in age 4-5 clothes over here. In the UK, he's still in age 3-4 (and it's sometimes still a little big).
So yeah, I noticed it too. Something has to be done. I lived it as a child and it's really a horrible way to grow up.

This would be fantastic. Healthy subsidised meals for all workplaces

I hope that cookery and nutrition get put back on the curriculum.
Both my adult DC cook and my mother taught me and my siblings. My sister is a catering manager for five schools and she never uses packet mixes. It's part of her standards. Interestingly she works for an LA not a outside contractor. She is not looking to make a profit.
I have a lot of international colleagues and they all have a home cooked evening meal. It's only the Americans and British who get take out. Having been overweight due to medication I don't snack and now have my main meal at lunchtime. Soup at night if needed.

i agree, not just the children but adults too. It’s weird it’s considered normal when it’s so bad for us.

yes I don't agree with weight R and year 6 children in school hower parents post pictures on FB saying their child is not obese. Everyone will agree but the child always obviously is. Small children should have their ribs showing ,we have lost sight of what healthy is.

I see overweight adults and children everywhere.
I know people blame processed food but snacking is a huge issue, it was just forbidden when I was a child as was eating in the street as deemed common by my Mother. I also think fizzy drinks and fancy coffees have huge hidden calories. When a coffee can have 160 calories not inc any syrup.

People want their children to like them too much these days. I do not want to go back to when children were raised as strictly as I was. My Mother was born in the 1920’s though I was born close to 1970 so she was very old fashioned in her attitude to parenting.

That's good to hear. At my DD's school it is awful. I was speaking to the SENCO about what healthier food there is she could have...she told me they have a bacon baguette! 😫

She would just season it lightly, and fry it. It was always served with chips. The liver at school, which I also really liked, was steamed, I think, and served with bacon😋. You can't beat a good old apple crumble. They used to serve rhubarb crumble, which I disliked as a child, but I do like stewed rhubarb now.

Your sister is doing a wonderful job.

We spend a disproportionate amount of income on housing and rent, compared to food, compared to European countries.

Additionally many families are time poor. Plus, marketing.

Exactly how does our judgement, judgemental looks and perhaps even comments help the weight management of someone else's child? I'll stick my neck out here and say it doesn't. It may affect their mental health though. Any negative judgements about a child's size is more likely to create low-self esteem and eating disorders. These judgements are not helpful in the slightest, they are cruel. I can hear "yeah but.." No. Stop it.

I think its a variety of reasons firstly genetics. When I was a child/ teen I was stick thin and had a terrible diet but just didn't gain weight it's only now as an adult that I have to be mindful. I also think lack of exercise kids don't walk anywhere these day we didn't get lifts anywhere you just walked plus kids spend alot of time on electronics instead of outside getting exercise. The other reason is parents work full time now so it's convince food if your not getting home from work and childcare until gone 6 and they have homework baths and bedtime at half 7 a lot of people will chuck nuggets and chips in the airfryer. My girls are both like twigs and I do think they will follow my path and have a very fast metabolism until they hit their 20s then they will need to be mindful

I don’t know why you’re surprised! It’s appalling, let’s hope the next government prioritise it. It’s neglectful of parents to allow their kids to become obese.

You’re right OP. When my DC were at school there were usually one or two children at most in their class who were overweight, they stood out. Those children would not be considered fat by today’s standards.

Yep this would defo make a big difference. Sweden has this. My mum always had healthy lunches at work. I went to a Swedish school and nobody had packed lunch. Everybody had school dinners with no pudding afterwards. We had fruit with us

Always hated liver. But a crumble was a real treat. Especially rhubarb. Delicious.

The first day as a Scandinavian au pair, the kids I was looking after went to the snack cupboard and took a packet of crisps and chocolate. I said, you can’t eat this after school only for Saturday treat (that’s how I was brought up) . I thought they were messing around with me. Turned out they were allowed crisps and chocolate daily

70s kid here and very similar although fish and chips was a holiday by the seaside treat so perhaps once/twice a year - the same amount I have fish and chips now too!

Portion sizes have increased massively, when I do Playdates a lot of the bigger girls eat adult portion dinners and snack constantly.

More ready meals rather than home cooked dinners.

Much much much more snacking, kids are never actually hungry anymore.

What were occasional treats (eg cakes and brownies) eaten daily.

Kids aren't out playing in the street or hardly ever

Takeaways eaten weekly(?) or even more?

Kids don't walk or ride a bike to school

I will say this as well. In private school PE in some shape or form is 4 days a week rather than two and there is whole afternoon of games. Plus extra curricular activities on site which are often exercise based. Playing competitively is normal. I wish I had had this experience as a child.

Yes that was appalling - those parents were shameful. Depressing.