Many kids have noticeably gained weight

[Lazt]

We’re a few days back in school now and I’ve really noticed that many many kids have put on weight since March, quite a number are now noticeably overweight. We’re in a reasonably affluent area where I would’ve said pre lockdown the slightly overweight kids were very much in the minority.

I include my own kids in this who were pretty slim before are definitely chunkier but not overweight.

It’s just so shit. This is not a judgement on parents, just the terrible situation we’ve put our children in.

Im not sure being back will help a lot as our school doeant do much pe and is sat at desks all day....

But I guess there's less temptation to overeat and still a walk to schopl.

Id really like all the clubs and sports back. And for my health to tame them put more.

My children are young and just being giddy with their mates is activity. It doesn’t have to be organised exercise, they just need to be back playing with their friends like we were all able to do when we were children.

@justanotherneighinparadise

My children are young and just being giddy with their mates is activity. It doesn’t have to be organised exercise, they just need to be back playing with their friends like we were all able to do when we were children.

Yes, absolutely this. Mine are all between 10 and 16 but get so much incidental movement when with their friends. Adults don't play, so need to think in terms of exercise. Children just get on with it.

Children weren’t allowed to burn off higher energy levels than adults during lockdown. Adults were not allowed to sit on benches or on the grass in a park, while children ran around. And children were not allowed on play equipment while parents stood around. Remember footage of the police moving people on if they were stationary in a public place?

So all children were limited to whatever their parents could manage.

Wouldn’t canoeing and paddle boarding be dangerous without a lifeguard? I presume water sports centres weren’t open in April - May?

I suspect the water sports were being promoted by those that lived by beaches and whose children were regularly paddleboarders/surfers. Not helpful to those of us who are landlocked.

@justanotherneighinparadise

My children are young and just being giddy with their mates is activity. It doesn’t have to be organised exercise, they just need to be back playing with their friends like we were all able to do when we were children.

Exactly. Yes an organised activity might be half an hour long, but playing with their friends at break/lunch/at the park after school burns calories that weren’t being burnt in lockdown. I know some people refuse to believe that lockdown has caused any issues, and if it has it is the fault of the parent for being lazy/shit, but of course not being able to play with friends/swim/go to sports clubs, while being limited to one trip outside the house per day for exercise has had an effect.

@CommonCarder Aldi the anti fat stuff gets me irritated . Me too, children need fat in moderation, far better a full fat natural yoghurt than a fat free one full of sugar!

I thought DS had put a bit on as he had become increasingly sedentary and was boredom eating, However walking to and from school for 3 days and the thousands of steps he does in school as they have a one way system, and the no snacking- he has lost it in a week. Lucky thing. Back to school will sort them out.

It has helped me that I’ve been able to get my 4yo back to nursery and holiday camp. On my working days, she was having a lot of screen time before that. I think playgrounds opening have been so important as well. Children just play so differently with each other than with adults. I also prioritised physical activity over learning.

I noticed that some of her friends had gained weight. One in particular has both parents working full time, no childcare and a more sedate personality than mine. I’m fairly sure she’ll lose it as her mum is normally really strict (much stricter than me) but you can really see the impact of inactivity and she will probably be starting school as an obese child which her parents would have not imagined a year ago.

delightful.

@justanotherneighinparadise

My children are young and just being giddy with their mates is activity. It doesn’t have to be organised exercise, they just need to be back playing with their friends like we were all able to do when we were children.

Yes, this is exactly how I feel.

This again. Yes we're all fat fuckers. A few pound isn't gonna kill them. It will probably drop off as they are more active again. Jesus you'd think a tiny bit of extra weight was a death sentence the way mumsnet goes on.

she will probably be starting school as an obese child which her parents would have not imagined a year ago

If she's obese now, she was fat to start with. If she was "normal" sized to start with, she's probably merely a bit overweight now.

I think we as a family have been exercising more tbh.
I'm used to being in the gym so when it shit I did home workouts and my dc joined in where they could.
We also went for daily walks and bike rides..my ds did initially gain weight but hes stick thin so that was a positive. Hes now lost it since footballs started up again.
I gained initially and have now lost it again thank goodness..eveb with exercise increased it's difficult when you're snacking at home.
Om sure everyone will get back to normal once everything resumes

My kid has gone the other way, whippet thin from spending most of the time on the trampoline. But what he gained in physical activity he lost in socialisation. He's an only child and I have having to wfh during lockdown so he just got dumped in the garden a lot. Still have horrendous guilt.

We’ve had the opposite, especially with DS. He started researching healthy food and exercised religiously in order to help his mental well-being as he found it so hard in lockdown in the beginning. His diet is increasingly vegan and he’s ditched junk altogether. He looks amazing but the reality is even he recognizes the fact he is extremely privileged in that we have plenty of room and can afford premium food. Plus he’s a teenager so is a lot more mature than he was at, say, 8. Most days anyway.

Valley Dad, I loved your post and wholeheartedly agree. Personally, I think our children have sacrificed enough now.

@BatleyTownswomensGuild but what else could you do. It’s a impossible situation. We can’t just stop work, stop paying the mortgage and make ourselves intentionally homeless for the sake of a few Twinkl worksheets.

There is no solution and anybody you challenge will not have one apart from mumbling a bit about popping up to help with spellings in your coffee break. And let’s face it, how many parents could help with secondary stuff anyway. Spanish anyone?

Actually I retract the last part of my post. The government could have had all primary back part time from June. That was a better solution and they failed dismally.

Whatevesok It’s not really that at all. It’s more of an acknowledgement that lockdown has been very hard for many families and that one of the consequences has been more screen time less activity for many children. For some children that won’t matter so much because they’re on the go all the time but some will have really been affected by the lack of nursery, social interaction, activities etc. It’s made me realise just how important active play is.

My DD looks slightly chunkier. She was very slim before lockdown and isn't big now, but certainly appears to have weight on her. There has been a lot of sitting at home as I'm a single parent and working from home.

DD has gained weight during lockdown; hitting puberty hasn't helped alongside less exercise. She would swim, dance and do football. Swimming hasn't started yet, no dancing for the rest of the year, football was at school and I doubt that will start.
Unfortunately she can't even go swimming as it's lane sessions for adults and over 11s (she's 10 and her membership has her age on it) or family sessions which appears to be small kids splashing about in the lanes.

My 16yo DD isnt talking to me because I suggested she'd lose a bit when she went back to college...she heard me saying that she was FAT! Which she isn't, but she's definitely put some beef on.

The absolute worst thing you could do if you're concerned about this is try to restrict your children's eating or force them into exercise they don't want to do. If they were slim before, then once they are able to do their usual activities, it will sort itself out.

I was an average sized young child, even quite skinny at one point after being ill. Then when I was 8 I broke my arm and was in plaster for 10 weeks, all through the summer holidays, hence not able to be as active or go swimming - normally I was like a fish. I was also given sweets to cheer me up, and put on some weight.

By the time the plaster came off I was quite pudgy - and my mum couldn't stop commenting on it, trying to stop me having sweets etc. It totally backfired, I gained more and more weight and developed binge eating disorder.

Lots of these children will lose the extra pounds quickly as their life goes back to some sort of normality. Most adults I know have packed on a few pounds over the last 6 months including myself. I’ve already lost 5 of the 12 that I’ve put on simply by getting out and about more.

My son has lost weight, he has SEN and food is a big social thing at school, they cook or bake several times a week and always eat what they make at school, he’s probably been eating at least 500 less calories a day for the last 6 months.

@PuzzledObserver I totally agree (from another ED sufferer)