I want to talk about boys' obesity. No flaming please.

[KeiraTwiceKnightley]

I have put this in health rather than Aibu as I hope to have a reasoned discussion rather than a hysterical shouting match. So.

I teach teens and have done for 20 years. There were always lots of well-rounded girls (and lots of skinny ones too, obv) but in the last year or two I've noticed increasing numbers of overweight/obese boys (yes, the majority remain skinnyish). I currently teach about 150 kids per week, and overweight boys outnumber overweight girls. This is particularly the case in the younger year groups.

Sorry - posted too soon...

Also I see in the news today that childhood obesity is now a global issue rather than just I the west. The charts on the bbc site apparently show boys being more overweight than girls.

I am surprised by this as in my mind, boys are much more active than girls - always fidgeting etc. What's changed? Is it gaming? Boys eat more (generally) so are taking in larger quantities of junk by default? Parents feed boys up more?

What's your question?

Is it lack of exercise? Boys tend to play football or go swimming but if they aren't interested in those then I guess a lot of them spend time gaming or doing other sendentery activities.

Girls do swimming, gymnastics, dancing, football, netball, trampolining and imo there seem to be significantly more physical activities aimed at girls than boys. So if a boy is not interested in football or rugby or anything with physical contact then what else can they do? Too much peer pressure probably puts them off dancing or other activities thought to be for girls.

x posted so ignore my 'what's your question' bit.

I don’t know how you find it shocking, if a parent feeds a child crap and doesn’t encourage exercise then a child will get fat whether its male or female

I don't know about kids so much, but I do believe that it's more acceptable somehow for a man to be overweight than a woman.

Think of...I don't know. Any male newsreader. Average looks, bit on the heavy side maybe. An obese woman would never be allowed though, lest we are all blinded by her ugliness or something.

Men don't exist for the female gaze, so it goes unremarked a lot of the time. Coupled with increasing obesity globally, I guess the prevailing societal attitudes do filter down to kids.

I think there's probably an Xbox/Playstation factor. I know both of those things have been around for a while, but they're getting better and more immersive and kids can socialise with their friends through them. Plus, when the kids are bored playing the games they can watch Netflix and YouTube without even getting out of the chair. My DS is 13 and is naturally extremely active (and skinny) but needs to be told to move away from the Xbox as he would sit in front of it all afternoon if allowed.

On the surface it seems clear cut. Too many calories too little exercise. However we're now in the situation where DS2 (16) is overweight. DH is right in middle of correct BMI, DS1 (17) is slimmer, I'm nearer top, could do with losing a few pounds. DSs have same levels of activities except DS2 still gets2 periods of PE a week

I do agree that perhaps teen girls (& maybe their mothers? ) are more concerned with appearance and might thus limit what they eat a bit more. I also observe enormous quantities of fizzy pop/energy drinks being consumed by the kids I teach and the girls are less likely to drink the monster drink types and perhaps go for diet pop (a whole other health issue there...).

I wonder if there is something in the idea that there are more girl-friendly activities for the non-team-sporty kid.

I've just seen that it is World Obesity Day (wtf!) which is presumably why the study was on the bbc. Am baffled, tbh.