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?

Im Not naive I just haven't got time for the excuses especially the "not educated about healthy food" one that's been said on here. I mean come on I had my eldest at 15 and he's never been fat how are grown woman twice that age trying to plead ignorance or trying to say they don't know how to cook an actual meal.

Like I said fair enough if they have a medical condition and I am talking about young kids they shouldn't be stealing food anyway

If something is happening at a population level - which childhood obesity is - then it's futile to blame it on 'poor parenting' and assume that all you need to do to address the issue is point the finger at individual parents of overweight kids.

It's also very very noticeable that levels of childhood obesity reduce consistently as you go up the income scale. In London where you have private schools sitting cheek by jowl with large comprehensives you can literally see the visible difference in children right in front of you. Children from private schools tend to be taller and thinner than children who live in the same locality but who come from poorer families. I think that's absolutely shocking.

One of my kids became a chubber when he started secondary. As soon as he had some autonomy and some pocket money he started buying a large bar of chocolate every day on his way back from school. You can buy A LOT of calories for £1 - particularly when you buy your sweets from a dodgy corner shop. By year 8 he was fat. I ended up sitting down with him and talking about calories in, calories out, and how his chocolate eating had given him more calories than he was using. He agreed to buy a small chocolate bar instead. Over the next two years he also shot up and by year 10 he was a healthy weight again.

A couple of my husband's nieces and nephews were very very overweight as children, including in early primary. They have stayed very overweight as teens and adults. I've witnessed how this happens in a family. My SIL's just consistently over fed their kids - huge portions, eating between meals. Good food, but just way too much of it and too often. But that's a cultural thing - husband's family are all big over eaters, and for years seemed blind to the health risks of childhood obesity. I don't know why because they're very intelligent people!

I hadn't seen that advert so just googled. Wow. A fat couple are delighted that they forgot their hiking boots so can't go for a walk and get to sit on the beach all day instead. And Boots claims this is "saving summer"?!

I think being overweight has become normalised in general. Most people in the UK are overweight so we see it all the time out and about. There is backlash whenever companies don't use bigger people in their advertising because they should be using "real women" (as if thin people aren't real). Body positivity has been all over social media and, from what I can tell, this just means being happy you are fat and accepting no criticism. Clothes sizes are getting bigger and bigger - I have some clothes that are a size 8. Size 8s used to be made for a 26 inch waist. I have a 29 inch waist so should be a 10/12 but most size 12s are far too big.

As the average weight creeps ever upwards, so to does people's perception of what is a healthy weight. It's not surprising there are so many examples on this thread of people being shocked when they are told their children are overweight. Many people have totally lost sight of what a healthy weight actually looks like.

I'm reading this thread with the thought in my mind that a hefty proportion of those posting here are overweight themselves, and struggling to lose weight.

Statistically 62% of UK adults are overweight or obese.

@itisnotknitting

"I think being overweight has become normalised in general. Most people in the UK are overweight so we see it all the time out and about."

It's become 'normalised' because it's now 'normal'.

"There is backlash whenever companies don't use bigger people in their advertising because they should be using "real women" (as if thin people aren't real)."

Um, the trend of using people in adverts who are more reflective of typical body type is very, very recent, and is an interesting development.

"Body positivity has been all over social media and, from what I can tell, this just means being happy you are fat and accepting no criticism."

Do you think people should be criticised for being overweight? People know they're fat. They know that overweight and obesity come with health risks, which is why the vast majority of overweight people repeatedly try (and usually fail) to lose weight. Body positivity has arisen from people who are unable to lose weight coming to a point of self-acceptance, because the alternative is living in misery.

The thing that's really changing the game on all of this are the new weight loss medications. For the first time in decades people who need to lose weight are able to do so, and I think we'll see cultural changes that are driven by the fall in obesity at a population level. I think we'll go back to seeing being overweight as a choice, with all the judgement that goes with that perception.

Yes probably. That's why the "we all ran around all day and nobody was fat" quotes are a bit odd. Clearly that went wrong at some point (at a population level obviously - please resist clamouring to tell me you still fit into your school gymslip) as the majority of these people who had an 70s/80s/90s upbringing are fat.

Also please check out the obesity levels in other countries, not far behind us and rising fast. Do you really think the reason is a mass breakdown in parenting skills? How you you account for all the fat middle aged people in that case?

There is lots that can be done at an individual level (although it hugely depends on mental and physical resources that not everyone has) but it seems wilfully ignorant to me to pretend we've just all as a nation got lazier and greedier.

Children in poverty in other Continents are seriously underweight.

Uk children are overweight from over indulgence. In season fruit and veg are cheaper than takeaways. Even if a family refused to eat healthily but ate half a pizza rather than a full one the child would not be obese. Thus saving money abd better for the child.

UK child obesity is NOT from poverty because the benefits system keeps people above the poverty line.

Yet statistics show that in the UK, if a child is in poverty, they are more likely to be overweight and those families are often surviving on benefits, either out of work or top ups with low wages.

The lack of access to outdoor space doesn't explain the rise in childhood obesity. I used to work in a rural primary school where most of the DC lived within easy walking distance. Less than 200m from the school gate there was public open space, with a footpath leading out of it into the countryside. Within between15 minutes walk and 15 minutes drive (and the vast majority of school families had cars) there was river swimming, two enormous playing fields, a wildlife reserve, open-access woodland, National Trust land... All you might need beyond what you'd have anyway (sunscreen, trainers, trousers, t-shirt) would be a swimsuit and a towel.

And still... out of 30 DC in a class, at least a quarter to a third would be noticeably overweight - all the way from 'excess puppy fat' to 'clinically obese'. One of those DC had a DM who was a gym instructor. Most of the overweight DC did not have SEN of any kind.

Life has always been tough for a lot of families - it was tough for mine for my entire adolescence, money was tight, DM was busy - but when I was a kid, fat DC were a rarity. You didn't get to be picky unless you would literally starve for a week rather than eat what was in front of you, because the same food would come around tomorrow, with no option for anything else except perhaps an apple. IME truly picky eaters are absolute rakes - not to say that some picky eaters aren't overweight, but the ones I've known were skinny little things.

The issue is diet: what's in it, how often people eat, and how much they eat.
UPFs - easily available, relatively cheap, highly palatable, fat- or sugar-heavy, but not sustaining. Eat a large cookie or a piece of cake for breakfast (I knew at least one DC who did this), and you'll be hungry again an hour later. Eat a bowl of yoghurt and a banana and not be hungry again until lunchtime. A lot of lunchboxes were packed with UPFs, often aggressively marketed as 'children's foods'.
Snacking - sweets brought in to celebrate birthdays (which is a nice thing to do, but it normalises the culture of snacking), a snack at break, a snack on the way home from school.
How much - ever-increasing portion sizes (and, see above, unhealthy foods being relatively cheap, and people snacking constantly)
....and we end up here.

I could be thinner. I know how hard it is to stop snacking and lose weight. I know how easy it often is to distract an upset DC with a biscuit. This is a massively complex issue to tackle, and it is everyone's concern, if we care about public health, the well-being of individuals and the issues facing the NHS.

I watched a tv show not that long ago about just this and the consultant said you very rarely see an obese child with slim parents so it kind of explains itself

My mother was hospitalised with malnutrition in the 1930s. She had 9 siblings and an unemployed father. They were poor!

I think we are following the US, where there is rampant obesity. And it’s totally normalised. Many people just eat fast food, never sit at a table, in fact never use cutlery. Drinks are huge.

Here there should be a massive punitive tax on Just Eat and Deliveroo. My aunt does not live in a great area, in a town centre. There is a ceaseless parade of delivery drivers taking food to people. The neighbour orders Costas twice a day (and no, they are not wfh). It’s becoming dystopian. Don’t tax doughnuts or whatever, make it too expensive to have junk brought to you!

Not real poverty like Africa or parts of Asia

If you can afford to eat too much food and become fat you are not in poverty. You might have lower household income but that is not the same.

If a family with obese chikdren is in receipt of benefits, the cash element should be replaced with vouchers for seasinal fruit and veg.

Afterall they have continually made bad choices

I live in Cumbria and, day to day, don't see many overweight children, let alone obese ones so I don't think it's a geographical thing. I have noticed that if I go to our nearest big town, I am likely to see more. All our local kids seem to play outside at any opportunity and I do wonder if kids in built up areas are less likely to have the opportunity or be allowed to do that.

The link between obesity and poverty is not just about money though. When you have a tough life without much to look forward to or enjoy, food is a relatively cheap, legal, easily accessible way to give yourself a dopamine hit

You can be overweight and malnourished.

There's already fruit and vegetables available through the healthy start scheme as well as milk but it is only if you have at least 1 child age 4 or under.

I’m obese but my kids aren’t. It’s child abuse tbh

If you can afford large portions you are not in poverty!!
A great way to save money and lose weight is to eat one meal a day.

Did you even read my post which you quoted?

It's far more complex than just money or lack of.

Yeah I agree I'm also no slim Jim myself anymore. Can't get with the excuses when it comes to young kids under 8. People rush to say they're just not educated about healthy food or they're poor or whatever but I had my eldest at 15 I see mother's twice my age and probably twice my income feeding their toddlers entire family share bags of haribos.

No way does anyone seriously not realise that that is the reason their child is obese at 3

I have noticed this too; it is worrying to think of future health issues. There is one mother who keeps her dd off for sports day, because she knows she would be at a disadvantage, and she likes to win. The whole family are extremely overweight. Ironically though, she'll talk about her dd as though she's super fit, going canoeing and all of these active things, talking about their diet like it is healthy eg, a alot of stodgy dinners, such as dumplings, beef dripping, etc. They aren't disadvantaged.
I noticed this one poor boy who was red in the face before it even started, just walking from the school building has meant a chair, and a drink. They all have asthma too. It is child abuse imo.

Poverty has nothing to do with it in my dc's school; if anything they're the smaller ones because not getting fed much, and surviving on free school lunches.😞

I sometimes wonder in the extreme circumstances if some of these people have Munchausens or similar?

Overweight children is one of the most depressing things to see I think. It’s setting them up for so, so many struggles in life.

I agree with banning all the Deliveroo and Just Eat Stuff. Every couple of adverts on TV are telling me that if I don't feel like cooking or don't have time to cook I can just use an app and have a MASSIVE amount of fried food brought to my house. I work shifts and am basically lazy and the temptation to never cook another meal for myself is immense. I am saved by living very rurally where nobody (except supermarkets) deliver, otherwise I am convinced that I would eat UPF-specials every day. It would be so much easier!

But I can't, so I don't. And I'm thin.

There is undeniably a link between poverty and obesity though. Why do you think that is if you don't think it's to do with money or mental resources?

Exactly, it is those grossly overweight parents with grossly overweight children. Yes, I judge them, and I suppose there'll be a medical issue thrown out that the whole family have, both parents and their child. 🙄