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?

Soups and salads useful of course but cake methods? Not really that useful though like I said, save me a piece of Christmas cake.

But if you can follow a recipe to cook a cake, you can do the same for any basic food!

It wasn't xmas cake cooking that was helpful, but basic skills of reading and following instructions, organisation and planning that was helpful.

And they also taught us about a healthy diet.

And they did this in 2 years. At while point, like MI I drifted away from 'womens stuff'. And like her I was re-introduced to cookery as a poor student

I'm a good cook now, and have the confidence to try anything. And that confidence was grounded in the basics that were taught to me in school.

Far better to have what I had than 'design a snack product' and make the packaging, which is what they get in year 8 now

Don't some kids go through a chubby phase before they shoot up in height?

I don't think it's really helpful to be bandying words like 'neglect' and 'abuse' around. They seem to require a lot of qualification in this context. But I agree with all the stuff about educating people about general home-ec again.

clucks dentures
It's all down to the breakdown of the fabric of society, mutter mutter mutter..

And cakes do of course contribute directly to the fabric of our society. In fact I personally would go as far as to say Cake is the Foundation of Civilisation.

Like trifle, really.

Making Civilisation Trifle, I meant. Sodden with excess and booze. I am liking this analogy, I have to say.

Scones. Fundimental Human Right IMHO

We also dabbled in suet cookery, and steaming puddings. I can't say I've done anything with it since, but it is rather comforting to know that I can if I want to!

Let she who is without sin cast the first scone.

Proper trifle though. Lots of booze and no jelly. Jam. 'nice' jam and proper custard, made from eggs.
(another school cookery skill! Double boilers!)

Yes, obesity in children is neglect.

If parents were more responsible (ie less neglectful) they would ensure their children ate regular balanced meals and ensure they don't overeat.

they'd have to do gluten free cakes now..

Double Boilers? You met my Home-Ec teacher then?

There is a black cherry trifle based on chocolate cake in Nigella's Feast I am just longing to try...

LOL. They were a species all of their own in the 70s Cookery teachers!

Double Boilers was also my RE teacher. She was a joy.

I didn't do cooking at school at all.

My mother taught me the very basics and then made sure I was given a cook book (Step by Step by Marguerite Patten) for a birthday present so that I could teach myself. My mother was always in the background and of course I saw her preparing meals and helped out. And then I learnt from other cook books, from meals in restaurants and at other people's houses. And now I can cook just about anything and am slim and healthy. I don't think cooking lessons in school are as useful as a "culturally rich" cooking environment at home... but probably better than nothing.

My cookery teacher was married to the RE teacher, is this a trend, do you think?

She was great. I still remember the look of joy on her face when the only Asian girl in the school showed her how to make chapatis!

This was in the 70s , remember, when a Vesta curry was somehow exciting!

My mum didn't teach me as much as I wanted her to. She always shooed me out of the kitchen because she couldn't stand to be watched. But she was a bit mad, to be fair.

I know I've tried to be very different with mine, but it's been quite an uphill struggle to learn the basics.

i had a good idea about healthy food as my mum was always dieting, but i'm pretty much self taught, I've only just learnt to bake as I've been dairy and gluten free for 14 yrs.

my mum was swiss so we had 'foreign food' I used to wish we ate fish fingers like everyone else

I think being able to make a cake is great. But I think some of the things we made like flaky pastry and a lemon meringue pie (this was in the mid 80s) from scratch were a bit much and it would have been better to do more on the lines of lasagne, risotto etc. TBH I could already cook by the time I did HE. And I am a fairly good cook.

When I started cooking for friends is when I really got into it, i think it's a cultural thing in that respect, it's how we engage with eachother.

other cultures have such different attitudes to food

When I was at school (back in the 70s - private girls school) we were streamed into 2 groups for each year. The 'clever' ones did Classics and the others did Home Economics. Doesn't realy send out much of a messages does it? Mind you I was learning to cook from a very early age at home. I think that home learning is as important than school.

I've just read the news story and some of the cases being highlighted are very extreme. A child of 10 who needed a stick to walk. A two and a half year old who weighted four stone. I don't think they are using "neglect" to describe not feeding children well. They mean children who are fed so badly and in such quantities that their health is severely compromised.

My mother is an excellent cook, cordon bleu and all that. Yet I refused to learn how to cook (she worked, with typical teenage self-pity I decided I was already a domestic drudge and didn't want to start cooking as well). And she was the sort of mother who would shoo us out of the kitchen when we were teenagers because we were in her way.

I did pick up a bit of cooking at university, but then moved in with dh, who couldn't cook, but learnt my dishes and got so keen on cooking that I stopped bothering. Am having to re-learn now I've got ds, but it's hard because a. I'm veggie and he isn't and b. I just don't have a body of knowledge to draw on and don't know what goes with what and how long it takes (or how to make sure it's all ready at the same time). I've tried following recipes but it just seems to take forever.

I do try to feed ds healthy food, though.