to think that this 'epidemic' of overweight children is bullshit

[EssenceOfJack]

For example, article here about a child who is 'overweight'
According to this children's BMI calculator my DD1 is on the 93rd percentile and is overweight when if you look on my profile you can clearly see that she is nothing of the sort.

Are they just measuring these small children when BMI means feck all (the calculator reckons it can tell you results for children from 2 to 20) and declaring them overweight based on arbitrary measurements and then the NHS using these figures to tell us all our children are fat?

I ask in all seriousness as at DD1's primary school I can genuinely say I haven't noticed one overweight child, and we live in a mildly deprived area so are supposed to be rife with 'fat kids'. yes, some have baby fat still, but they aren't fat

So AIBU?

I find the older children going to the chippy at lunch thing odd. When we were at school you had school dinners or packed lunches or were allowed home by arrangement with the parents but it was obvious who was trying it on in those cases. The banning vending machines thing was also odd for me as til then I didnt realise schools had vending machines in them, Such a sheltered life

Lily thats true
my trousers are a size 16 yet I have friends who say I am thin. I'm just tall and wide

I have just taken my children swimming and there were very many overweight children - ranging from a bit chubby to down right fat.

I compketely agree with whoever said it is a question of exercise. There are no fat kids whatsoever at DCs running club. Yet after a race they are all wolfing down choccies and crisps and lucazade.

I'm afraid that when I look at some of the children turning up at the local juniors there is a high proportion of girls with little "beer bellies" rolling over the top of their waistbands.

They are also generally wearing really unsuitable ballet pump type open style shoes which show, quite clearly, they cannot run anywhere during the day as their shoes would fall off.

However, when walking past the junior school after hours (it is 500 yards from my house, I am not a voyeur!) I can see the netball team practising and, by comparison those girls are slimmer and have no beer bellies.

There was also a girl who turned up to DD's gym class and she was wearing leggings but was so portly they kept stretching down and giving her "builder's bum". This is not a good look for a 7 yo.

I am not convinced the BMI index is useful, but children with beer bellies who fall over exhausted after running round a small gym twice, are, I am afraid, over weight and unfit.

Miggsie - the shoe thing is a bug bear of mine. As are girls in the park in bloody flip flops. Who can climb trees or run in flip flops.

It was alwways the casse that children never sat still and couldn't be filled up.

Don't be too cross, ladies, with those of us who drive our kids to school. They're not all pampered little 'dahlings', but some of us are trying to get to work - drop child at school, drive like the clappers to the station, run and jump on the train with seconds to spare. Much as I'd like to walk to school (on good mornings anyway), I just don't have the hour it would take to get there and then to the station. On the plus side, what I earn pays for ds (not fat) to go to a school with playing fields, a swimming pool and for extra swimming classes and other sports activities. But completely agree with general point that keeping kids active and eating sensibly is just common sense.

morleth.

uggs are FAB..dont knock em!!! Anyway, better that than Suri Cruse with her 500 quid handbag,

Romanama - she's 10 and a half.

Problem is she loves, loves, loves food. All food. Eats everything, preferably with lashings of butter/cream/mayonnaise.....

And god - she's her mother's daughter when it comes to sport. I couldn't be made to do anything as a child. I had a permanent 'bad back' when it came to PE at school.

I think I'm going to have to start taking her swimming, which she doesn't mind too much, and maybe bollywood dance classes - she's got the attitude for bollywood, if not the energy right now!

It's hard though! And the whole family has to toe the line when it comes to the snack issue - can't say 'yes' to one child and 'no' to another.

My children are all equally active and 3 of mine are so skinny I have to take in waistbands on clothes. 1 however is slightly larger and fits into the size above her age in clothing. She is not fat, is just of a different build but she gets compared to her siblings (by school, other adults) and has been told she must be lazy or eats too much! She is the most active and eats more healthy food than any of her siblings.

I refused to allow my children to be weighed at school as it serves no purpose that could benefit my family.

another thing that hacks me off, supermarkets giving vouchers for school playing equipment.
1....stop givng parents and child parking places at the checkout,i managed with 4 kids to walk,you know that thing, one foot in front of the other.
2.I have a friend who is headmistress of a local primary school, she says they have cupboards full of the stuff, it is never used.
3..i never take the vouchers,I dont offer thme to the person in the queue behind me,or if I do take them i throw them out.

"and she was wearing leggings but was so portly they kept stretching down and giving her "builder's bum". This is not a good look for a 7 yo."

Or on a 10 year old. My poor dd - her bottom is even more unmanageable than her tummy. She constantly has three inches of bum crease showing above the tops of her trousers. Even the trousers which fit her.....

Mind you - I do encourage her to be proud of her bottom. I tell her most women would kill to possess a big bottom you can rest a tea cup on!

But the wobbly gut - that's just not nice on a child.

I don't even know if it income or upbringing. I teach in a rough secondary in a very deprived area, with over 1300 pupils. I can think of around 8 off the top of my head who are properly fat/obese, including 6th form. Yes, there are a couple who are a little porky (for want of a better word), but really not that many. The majority are very slim/skinny; pale, pasty and very unhealthy looking under the make-up (by that last bit I mean the girls!). I can't imagine they are getting fed properly at home, the levels of neglect we encounter are huge...but despite the junk food etc there is a very loew level of obesity...which surprised me.

At my boys' secondary school the kids (even the 6th form) aren't allowed out at lunchtime.It's school dinner or packed lunch.But in addition to this most opt to do a lunchtime club several times a week (because there's nothing else to do)so this sucks kids into doing lunchtime sport (as well as bands etc).
having said that my DB and SILs kids who are fully signed up members of the healthy living mafia, have kids who were positively chubby when they were little but slimmed down by 6 or so.I think there must be some genetic bias.

I work near a comprehensive and when I pop into the supermarket at lunchtime see the kids buying their lunches.Virtually all have a piece of fruit (so that message is getting through) but often this is accompanied by a pasket of biscuits and a litre of coke.I heard one girl proudly telling her friend how she could cope on an apple and a low fat jelly .I think on balance undereating is worse than overeating,unfortuantely this doesn't seem to be addressed with young people until its too late

I think you are being unreasonable.

I have a constant battle with dd1 paternal family and him. DD1 (nearly 10) is massively overweight, I can't get clothes to fit her, she has a double chin, I have took her to a childs healthy eating and exercising class, but over winter she has piled the weight back on again. It's shit having to never let her have any treats and hearing her moan she's tired or her legs hurt when we do any exercise, but I have to because she spends the weekend and one teatime with her dad and they give her crap. I would say they genuinely don't realise what they are doing, no matter how much information i try to give them, as soon as I say anything about anythinbg they immediately want to go against me, so I'm not sure. I am also, apparantly a terrible mother for making her go to bed at the same time every night

I will go back and read the whole thread so sorry if anyone else has said this.

OP your DD is beautiful and does not look overweight at all.

I noticed that you said she was wearing age 6-7 stuff at age 4. As she doesn't look fat, I presume she is tall for her age.

I wonder if the children's BMI calculator thinks she is overweight because of this. When children are overweight they are often tall as well - the extra food makes them grow up as well as out.

I expect the BMI calculator takes that into account, but the definite percentage of children who are predestined to be tall may well fall foul of it.

I went swimming today and saw a lot of children, about 8-10% of which I thought were overweight.

I think that BMI calculator is not taking height into account. On the OP's BMI calculator DD is on the 65th centile, but on the NHS calculator which does take height into account, DD is on the 56th centile.

I would try again OP, on a British calculator.

There were loads of fat kids where we last lived in the UK. It's not BS.

Unfortunately, I think it's true. We have definitely lost sight of what is a "normal" weight for children. My dds seem very slender, however are apparently the perfect weight for their height. I have real trouble finding clothes that are a good fit around the waist - they are all enormously baggy (Next being the worst) - which makes me think that if manufacturers are routinely making clothes for children with almost twice the waist size of a healthy child, weight is a real problem for young kids today.

I think some people expend more energy. DS loves computer games etc but he is frenetic and is always hopping about the place. Always on the move. At school he is always running about. Kids like him don't need structured exercise although he does enjoy it.

I worked out that on average he consumes about 1/3 less calories than he should (he has multiple food allergies resulting in food issues) and yet he is technically a healthy weight. He is not healthy. He is a sickly child and is run down. He has to take regular vitamins as advised by consultant.

I too don't see many overweight children where I live in a inner city deprived area.

Yes it cuts both ways - my Mum ( a nurse and HV) was told by a doctor surveying my titchy and skeletal form as a 6 yr old 'Madam do you realise that your child is clinically underweight?' Now after two DCs I am 2 st heavier than before...OMG.
Yes we have loads of lovely food choices and TV limits some exercise but also the temperatures that we maintain in our homes and offices are sooo high. Have you noticed how hot water bottles stay warm for days under duvets?? We have turned our heating down this winter and I am sure we are all feeling better, sleeping better and get to wear those winter cloths instead of T-shirts all yr round. Mind you DH and DCs are all lean and long tis only mumsy who is a barrel...

Yes definitely some kids are getting way fatter especially in the area we live (quite deprived). It seems a set pattern for life as there are teenage girls who were bigger than me when I was in the last weeks of pregnancy! I frequently get evils from women who seem to wonder how I've managed to lose the baby weight and more in 6 months - exercise is the answer, if you are active and watch your diet so will your kids, it's not really that difficult a connection to make.

I agree with Yeahbut as well, Next are very overgenerous on sizes. I now also have problems buying winter boots as the calves of them all are mysteriously very large...

Absolutely - we live in a rural area and have to drive the children everywhere. The hills in Mid Wales preclude cycling and there are no pavements. But living in a tiny cottage with 20 acres the DCs do choose to escape outside and get exercise in the process with the animals - nowhere here is level. Outdoors though is linked to the daylight hours and school does limit them now - we were home educating for 4 1/2 years and they were in heaven!