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?

Food is relatively cheap, though, rebelmum, and if no-one in your family or your group of friends has an allotment, you are unlikely to think of that. Or you may be busy holding down three cleaning jobs.

I think it is more that there are parents who have a very poor understanding of nutrition.
To me the word 'neglect' suggests a deliberately negative act.
Many parents use foods that are high in fat/sugar/salt etc (eg fast food or sweets) as a reward or comfort for their children.
When the child becomes obese (without any other factors being involved) then the parents are not providing a balanced diet, and this shows a lack of education about healthy eating, rather than neglect.

on the plus side, it's always the veg area of supermarkets that is far too crowded - the other areas are never quite so busy - it rather inmplies that supermarkets have got things wrong

I've only skim read but IMHO

some children will have undiagnosed health problems causing it

some parents are being willfully neglectful (probably by not wanting to say no and refusing to acknowledge that they have to)

some parents are being neglectful through ignorance

so in balance I'd say it is neglectful.

did you know that leisure time or free time - is allowed.

after working all day, or even when i was at home with the babies, i would rather bite off my left haemorroid than shovel horse manure on seeds and pray for rain.

Even when they do bogof on veg, it's always on their 35 chemicals to keep it wilting already cut salads mixes, never on plain old cauliflower type stuff

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I'm sure that's true Pruners. You daren't risk money on something that won't work. And to eat well on a low income, you need to be able to cook quite well I think. And many people can't. Hence all that freezer stuff.

yes pruners that is true, we have a lowish income but fortunately enough money that I can choose what food we buy and happily skimp on clothes etc. must be horrid to live with that kind of level of poverty.

If people want to eat themselves to death then you should leave them to it in my opinion, enough tax payers money is wasted paying for people to stay at home and eat without policing their diet. If you stopped their benefits instead people might be more likely to get up, eat less and lose weight. Or stop disability benefit for people who can't work because they are so obese. You need to give them some incentive, if you take the kids away then they would be emotionally distraught which can't help them either, they might even be more prone to comfort eat as a result..

I think it is neglect in most cases.

I have battled with my 5 year old since he was 2 (he was iron deficient aenemic after our stay in India where he did not eat) and he was possibly the fussies eater in the world. Getting your kids to eat the right food, balanced and healthy food is a fight for many, but as a parent you SHOULD take on this battle because it is your parental responsibility to feed your kids the best foods you can. You are building tiny bodies and brains into big healthy functional bodies and healthy brains, and you cant do this on junk! You are setting standards for correct eating for a lifetime by starting early and it is one of the best gifts you as a parent can give your child.

I've been on low incomes in the past and never had a problem affording vegetables. It's just an excuse that its cheaper.

what about fat people and fat kids not on benefits rebelmum?

personally, i can't see that i have noticed it as a problem. i meant here are huge kids about but i think they are very rare. so i think to lable this a problem maybe misleading.

i think society as a whole with the help of capitalist influences and driven by a wave of popularity - is going the right way in promoting healthy eating.

I wanted to add my experience to this debate. From the age of about 6 I became aware of (probably well-intentioned) relatives being concerned about my weight. They would call my mother to one side to comment how big I was getting, but I was always heard them, I always knew they were talking about my weight. These comments have continued throughout my life - I'm about 40 now. Some of my memories are as follows (and after I'll speak of the reality): At age 7 I was in a kind of beauty paegant for little girls in a gorgeous dress. At age 8 I moved school mid term. On being introduced to my new class my first and lasting memory is me thinking thank goodness there is another fat kid in the class, glad I'm not the only one. At age 9 me and a class mate were selected to enter a running competition (we were fastest girls in the class) - I'll come back to this in a moment. Through these years I was painfully aware how fat I was. This progressed into secondary school were I was relieved to find 2 other fat kids in my class. Still I had this self imposed stigma that continued. I remember being weighed for my medical at college and again for my first job at 21. All the while believing I was the fattest most ugliest undeserving being to walk the earth.

Now some reality. The photos of the pagaent show a normal sized pretty little girl. Photos of me winning the running race show not only a normal sized girl, but an athletic looking girl. School photos show a normal sized girl, as I got older I put on more weight, but the memories of me feeling so fat do not match the photos. At college I weighed 10.5 stone, and at 21 weighed 11.5 stone. Again these weights don't match the memories.

I believed I was fat. Well meaning people would talk about and to me about losing weight when all it did was drive me ultimately to food. If I was so fat what would one more chocolate bar do anyway? Especially when I had access to my own money. So gradually and eventually food became my crutch and my friend. Ironically I can see it could have gone the other way, and I know some girls end up anorexic following similar experiences.

I guess what I'm saying is, yes be very mindful of children's weight but never ever transfer your anxieties onto them about it. I'm talking generally, not specifically to anyone here. Children are very vulnerable and pick up messages very easily. I shiver when I hear people talking about their children's weight within their hearing - it really is unnecessary and potentially very harmful. I wasn't overwieght when people started talking about me needing to loose weight, I was well within the normal range - photos prove that. But as time went on and my self esteem decreased because of my beleive I was fat and ugly (bodily, not facially) I ultimately turned to food. A self-fullfilling phophecy entirely. I'm now nearly 20 stone. Please take care of your children's feelings when addressing this issue. Thank you for taking the time to read of my experience.

There's a class divide on obesity. I really noticed that when I visited the States. it may well be true here as well.

I've never claimed any benefits in my life by the way!

Yes leave well alone in my view. taking a child away from an otherwise loving family or becoming involved and creating issues is by far more damaging.

Yes sorry, that was more in connection to bad food being related to poverty argument.

Taking them away would be extreme and cause damage. But it must be hard for health professionals to see very overweight children and not have any strategies to offer them.

well although some years ago - with 3 kids i was on benefits, and actually with the debt i had to pay out or the benefits - it was often processed cheap shit fromt he supermarket which was a shitload cheaper than say one cauliflower.

for the price of ONE portion of veg, which would feed us for ONE meal. processed shit ws usually one get one free, 2 meals feeding 5 people. for the price of a cauliflower and broccoli.

sanctimonious shit gets on my nerves.

my mum taught me how to make stew. nothing else.

my nan was a catering manageress and can cook up a storm. but i was just served - not taught.

so bully for you. you can grow shit in an allotment, wash off the horse shit and cook roulade of swede.

well some people can't - "dock their benefits the lazy bastards"....yeah thats right....thats why....

That's a terribly sad story, gotanewname.

Custy, go and look at the teenager with porn thread and read the dozens of posts singing your praises! RIGHT NOW.

Have you tried pschotherapy or hypnotherapy gotanewname to help reverse those feelings and re-learn self-worth?

"Give them allotments"

"Let them eat cake"

It's amazing how any subject can be turned into an opportunity to bash people on benefits.

Allotments used to be the preserve of the working class who lived in 2up2downs opening onto the pavement, but these days they have gone very middle class.