Obese children

[Scarfitwere]

I notice so many obese (primary age) children around these days, it was very apparent at my childrens' sports day and these poor kids could barely do the races. One sat on the side as they were too large to participate at all. I understand overweight adults and it's hard to lose weight etc, but these are young children, their parents control their food intake. Why are so many parents letting their kids get like this? Its setting them up for bullying, not being able to join in sports etc, and health problems. I just don't get it AIBU?

I think some thinj it's normal because it's become so common.

But I also think many don't know what to do about it. Not in terms of diet necessarily, but they do not know how to refuse their kids food, or how to make them more active.

There’s not a single obese child in my daughters class. I always assumed this was an exaggerated topic. Is this just an anomaly?

There's 4 or 5 in my child's class alone, and seems to be similar across the classes. I see plenty when out and about too so don't think it's an anomaly. I'm in the North though maybe it's different elsewhere?

My daughter was probably at least a stone overweight from age 7-12. It was really noticeable to others but I wasn’t bothered as that was my body shape at her age too. I’m built sturdily and like her did about 3 hours of exercise a day right through my childhood. As adults we’re both about BMI 22. She competes at a high level in two different sports. As I said to her when she was 10-ish and saying she felt fat, there’s different body types. Most of the skinny girls at school piled on the weight in puberty, whereas she didn’t. She just got taller and it slimmed her down.

26.8% of children were either overweight or obese in the UK 2022/23.

Not hard to google and find the facts.

Massive apologies. I thought this was a discussion forum. Perhaps it’s easier for you to not be on here and just google any chat you have instead? It’s not hard.

Maybe geographical to an extent then. Or maybe I’m just less observant than I was aware!!!

I suspect a number of factors. Lack of education about what /how to eat healthily, ignorance about portion sizes, lack of money to buy healthier options, normalisation of obesity, fast food culture.

I work in retail and the amount of obese kids is unbelievable. The parents always make excuses... the clothes are small, the kid is tall for their ages so needs bigger clothes, they like them loose

I think there is so much conflicting advice these days - you get told that mentioning food intake or trying to deny children food will lead to them having issues with food, you have to let the appetite develop naturally.

But in the flip side you also get told that this only applies for a non upf diet.

But schools aren't upf free, and many working families don't have the time or money to dedicate to upf free lives.

It's such a shame though as I do agree that's it's awful to see kids who aren't enjoying life due to their weight.

I have twins, both with completely different body types, one who we are trying to feed up and one who we have to be very careful with (BMI for one tells me I need to see the doctor as she's so completely underweight, the other is on the cusp of being overweight)....it's a minefield!

With respect, it’s nothing to do with you.

There has always been a couple of fat kids in classes. I think obesity is linked to genes a lot more then people realise as kids me and my siblings where all skinny little things until about 25 and we ate crap now all our kids are the same there like little sticks that the wind would blow over given half a chance and my kids have far from the best diet im definitely a freezer mum. And one of my siblings I know their family have takeaways at least twice a week.

Apparently affluent areas have less obese people. It does vary by area.

Op you say why do their parents let this happen. In the cases you describe, the parents also have food issues and are obese themselves.

There are only a few overweight children at our local primary school. Without exception they have overweight parents.

My children are active because we are active as a family. They eat a healthy diet (most of the time) because that's how we generally eat. It's not something we give a lot of thought to, it's just our lifestyle.

Children who grow up in a household where their parents don't exercise and eat a lot of junk food are likely to pick up the same habits. With well over half the UK adult population classed as overweight or obese it's hardly surprising the kids follow suit. It does make me sad to see such young children being set up for a lifetime of health issues and I think it's incredibly irresponsible parenting.

I think there are 3 in ours and we have 27/28 8yrs

they were big in R and now much bigger in yr 3

i feel for them

2/3 mums are larger as well

If you looked in some school lunchboxes you would have your answer. Some chn have a box full of sweets, donuts and crisps.

I found a BMJ article that says "Almost a third of children who live in the most deprived areas of England have obesity by the time they leave primary school—twice as many as those who live in the least deprived areas, an analysis has shown."

Its complex but I'd say if a primary aged child is obese then (medical conditions aside obviously) that is absolutely the parents fault.

There is a link to poverty. There were no obese kids in my children’s private school at all. But when we go on holiday to different places in the UK, it becomes quite noticeable. We have to look at why poverty can lead to obesity and not just blame the individual parents.

Not a scrap of fat on either of mine, DD17 is super tall and skinny and DS15 solid muscle. Varies wildly by demographic as others have said, also familial habits around activity and food.

The numbers are correlated with poverty, so it could easily be the case that some schools have very few obese children. Certainly my children's school only had a small number.

We know it's complicated and there is no single reason. I would say UPF is likely a big culprit but there are lots of others.

I used to work in a primary school office and coordinate with the school nurse regarding the measuring of heights and weights of year six.
It was obvious to me which children would get the letter, I didn’t need to see the figures, I could just use my eyes. However it was astonishing how many parents would be in complete denial about their child’s weight and would complain to me that the nurse had got it wrong.

There are a lot of parents in denial. A uni friend had a letter telling her DD was overweight, so she put a pic of her on FB. She was. Problem was lots of people told her she wasn’t.

DDs friend at primary was tiny, really tiny. But at the age of 7 started piling weight on, by 10 she was obese, couldn’t even find uniform to wear.
Her dad mentioned it to mum. She told me she said it was nothing to do with her and DD would need to sort it herself when she grew up. She’s 17 and morbidly obese. Mum herself has been on an (unsuccessful) diet the whole time I’ve known her as she is very overweight herself. Her unconcern is surprising.

That makes sense. A £1 Iceland pizza is an obvious choice for dinner if you’re really struggling.