Doctors say childhood obesity is neglect - do you agree?

[mylittlefreya]

The article is here

I think it's interesting the comment about undernourished children being automatically a cause for concern, but its almost not politically correct to say the same about overfed children.

I also think peoples perceptions can be quite distorted - there is a big difference between chubby, and obese, but often I don't think people see this.

At some level this worries me and at another it relieves me.

What do other people think?

no they weren't - they just seemed that way in your tiny hands. The massive chocolate bars sold at a tiny premium over more normal sized ones are also problematic. We are programmed to eat pretty much as much as we can, so when we are offered bigger portions we eat them, yet feel actually no fuller than we would if we were offered smaller portions. There are numerous interesting studies on this. Healthy portion sizes seem very tiny when we are used to the enormous portions in, say, restaurants or supermarket packaging.

possibly binkleandflip - but equally you have grown up, your hands are bigger and everything does look smaller. I think they look smaller too, but not sure LOL

Well, I still feel cheated!!!!

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Can an obese child also be undernourished ? Sad products of second generation of fast and convenience food consumers together with a lack of basic nutrition and cookery lessons at school and home, decreased sports facilities and lessons, sedentary lifestyle, overprotective parenting using the car rather than walking and not playing outside (partly out of danger fears and partly because parents are too disinterested to supervise themselves).

Well, puppy fat is as old as the hills isn't and most children do go through a stage of it

Aloha do you have concerns about your DS regarding the exercise. DS is just a bit older than your DS and can't ride a bike, swim etc but he does spend hours kicking a ball around the garden in all weathers and is happy to go on quite long walks.

TBH I find it a bit that so many people can't cook. I could cook basic things like spag bol (from scratch), sausage, chips and beans , chilli and rice, buns etc before I even started doing cooking at school. But my DH can't cook which is really bad and I feel implicit in this because I have been living with him for 10 years but surely much of the damage was already done by the age of 24? So I have stuck to the satus quo that I cook, and he washes up. But not a good example for my DS.

There is something very wrong with families where children are morbidly obese due to overfeeding (but medical conditions are a genuine factor - the family of the poor child who was quoted in a House of Commons report on childhood obesity were very distressed because it was nothing to do with over-eating).

BUT the families don't generally think 'ooh, I know what I'll do, I'll stuff my kids full of bad food so they get fat'. I don't think they are being deliberately cruel and uncaring. Just mistaken. There's a very deep rooted association between food and love. Feeding someone is showing them that you love them and are about them. Unfortunately we just aren't as active as we were 40, 50 or more years ago - we all have cars, there are fewer manual jobs, etc. etc. etc.

And children don't play out as much or go as far as they once did, hence using less energy.

I also question the wisdom of putting a child on a restrictive diet tbh. That's not teaching them how to eat healthily.

neglectful and maybe a bit of ignorance on the side..

food and nutrition was part of our school curriculum for two years, but only for girls i think they changed that later on though..

OP dont have much time atm but if the article is the bbc news one then with the the young boy of 10 walking with stick; parents sneaking in chocolate to hospitalised child etc..it actually makes me so wtf...are they incapable of thinking...?

Bozza, I think I would worry more if I didn't hate exercise so much myself
But he hates walking, & tires very easily. Also is rubbish at kicking a ball and uninterested in it. His idea of heaven is watching Sleeping Beauty in French, or reading a book while lying down and eating a bun.

'Neglect' as used by professionals in this kind of context essentially means 'failure to give children appropriate care; neglecting to give them what they need to be healthy and happy'. So the woman letting her son munch ice cream and sweeties but not giving him an evening meal is precisely being neglectful - not of him as such, but of his needs.

It's ironic that people will watch endless cookery programmes, buy the books, enjoy the takeaway/meal out(at £££) yet then not do basic cooking themselves. There is this self perpetuating myth that it takes so much longer and costs more.

Many people have lost sight of what is or isn't a healthy weight. There was a study done at Exeter University which showed that many adults couldn't identify when a child is fat. Like anorexics seeing obesity that doesn't exist, some people don't obesity fat that does.

at aloha's honesty. I think DS woudl be quite happy laying down to read a book and eat a bun too. But he seems to have got the idea that to read a book on your own you have to go to bed and get in.

lizs I think it is maybe partly related to disposable income. No way could we have afforded to go out and have take aways like that as children. But then the opposite argument is often cited as well about poor people struggling to feed their families healthily.

I think it is neg;ect in the most extreme of cases as it affects them for the rest of their lives giving them a shorter life and they miss out on a lot of fun stuff as kids.

I was at the school sports day last week and i felt sorry for the really fat kids as they always come last and look like they are about to faint. Their parents are never there cos of the embarassment factor.

I get really angry about how this will affect them mentally as well for the rest of their lives.

It's hard on kids. There's no doubt about it. I remember seeing a programme where the presenter (I think Victoria Wood) visited the states and there was one area where there wasn't a single proper food shop. It was all fried chicken places and hamburger outlets. If you lived there and had a low income, it would have been really hard to feed your family well. I wondered if there were parts of the UK like that. I've heard of mobile grocers going into some areas.

I think professionals and policy makers in this area need to be very careful not to let class cloud their judgement, too. The middle classes are always keen to look down on the working classes, and upbraid them for not holding the same values. Class disdain is often implied by middle class people objecting to working class lifestyles. (I am NOT saying all working class people eat badly, just that class is an issue in the way we judge people and is also related to poverty/diet.)

I don't think it's a poverty thing at all - I have to question our interpretation of poverty when people can afford TV and eat, drink and smoke themselves to death. A few seeds to grow your own veg costs less than a burger.

An allotment probably costs less than sky..

the supermarkets do nearly all their bogofs on BAD food though - i have a tesco extra near me & the offers are never on fruit, veg etc - look at the ads, it's always fizzy drinks, biscuits. if you're on a tight budget & working, then you will fall into the trap of buyuing the wrong thing - it's quick & easy.
i did ALL the right things with dd when younger - she reacted to so many foods i could only give her home made fruit & veg. she still likes fruit & some veg, but is quite a fussy 3yo & it's easy to give in (i don't). she is so keen on sweet food that she has been known to take other peoples off their plate! atm she is 'skinny' & does loads of exercise but she also loves tv - i suspect that there will be battles over tv & snacks when she is older. would it make me neglectful if, as a teen, she piled on the pounds? however, if i gave in to her now, yes, it would be my fault if she got fat.

yes, with obvious exceptions

oh rebelmum - your such a cad!

anyway.... overfeeding a kid is neglect. like feeding a kid chocolate all the time - or nothing but "white" food.

its just fucked up shit. probably due to some fucked up phychoprobs or sommat.

my dd got a bit porky - she never was delecate.... she hit 13 and suddenly running around wasnt the thing girls did anymore. boys were talked about - ont he computer and she hardly moved yet her food intake remained the same.

she now goes dancing once a week.

it makes the difference.