Do obese parents have obese children?

[happyhols]

I have just read a letter in response to a story about someone not being allowed to adopt as they were obese. The writer of the letter was initially outraged but than commented that obese parents have unhealthy diets etc and therefore have obese children.
I was outraged by this as I am very obese but working on it and dh is obese too. Yet our dc eat healithy and are the right weight for their age etc.

What do people think?

I don't think it is true as a blanket statement. I am mahoosive but ds1 is a long streak of piss, I sometimes worry that he is too thin.

I was too thin at his age though too. There is a whole plethora of factors influencing the state I am in now.

Too simplistic IMO.

Probably more likely.

But I am obese and my dc are all a very healthy weight for their age/height.

Normally obese people would only be refused permission to adopt if they were so obese it would restrict their parenting ability or was very likely to cause health problems or if the social workers and GP's decided that the propspective parent was unable to understand what a healthy diet for a child entailed or was unlikely to stick to it.

I'm hardly sylphlike and I got through and ds is very slim.

I am super obese (and ashamed) and dd is spot on. Eats different meals, amounts and snacks and has an automatic "off" switch. She can eat a family size bag of maltesers til she's had enough. Then stop leaving loads behind. I'll snarf the lot

I think there is definitely a link - you only need to look at families you see in the street/at schools/on holiday to see a pattern.

Some may say it's a genetic thing, some may say it's to do with lifestyle, or social status, or economic status, or knowledge and understanding and ability to apply the principles of healthy eating, whatever. There's obviously a link in many cases.

Like any general trend, there are exceptions - so to say "obese parents have obese children" isn't helpful. Saying "there's an increased tendency for obesity in children whose parents are obese, but this is a multifactorial thing" is probably a lot more accurate.

For the record, I'm fat, DP, no string bean and DS is by no means fat.

I have a friend who is obese and utterly in denial about the size of her dcs (all overweight) and their diet. I think she really doesn't know what constitutes a healthy diet, nor what is a good portion size.

It's very sad - but having said that I think that by far the majority of overweight parents have average weight children, and plenty of slim parents have overweight children. I remember a tv program a while ago where there was a slim mum, slim older kids and an overweight 5 year old. No idea what the statistics would be.

Im obese, my children are very average.

my very normal weight cousin has a very obese son and was surprised when the school instigated a programme for him because if his weight. They just don;t seem to see it.

my very underweight friend is 7 stone and 5ft 5 - her dd is aged 10 and 9 stone. Its very odd

Do thin people have obese children? because thin people deprive children of sweets etc so when they are old enough and earn their own money they become greedy?

AnxiousLand - Ever thought that thin children also do a lot more exercise? They are more likely to be more active, because it is simply easier and more comfortable to be active when carrying less weight.

My son is blind and autistic and because he is always moving he is thin ever thought that?
yes i agree and i know that already

cant see what your point was but hey!!

because thin people deprive children of sweets - thats rather a sweeping generalisation! Thin people are no more likely to be aware of good nutrician than fat people (IME) and therefore just as likley to feed their childrne crap - when you factor in much lower levels of activity, its surely not hard to see how thin people might have fat children.

It would be interesting to know the facts on parents weight and childrens weight.

SOME FFS

why the need for "FFS"? I responded to what you said not what you might have meant but failed to say

I am morbidly obese and miserable because of it.

I know more than most people about healthy eating and nutrition.

Because of the misery my weight has caused me I am determined to give my three young children the best diet they can have.

All three are perfectly healthy and active.

I feel sorry for people who really don't know about nutrition and diet, and for the children that they pass this on to.

Yup. My thin friend buys all the weight watchers stuff, baked crisps, plain biscuits and fruit juice. Her dd just eats HUGE amounts and somehow it's under her mums radar.
She would be better eating 1 bag of normal crips than the 4 bags of french fries thingies she ate last time I was there.
Its scary as I see her dd eating like me, and yet she is only 10. Very sad

ooh dear shoot me

You rarely see an obese child with thin parents

I'm fat at the mo (I go up and down - fell off the wagon on holiday and no walking for 6 weeks holiday) but DH is a beanpole with a mega metabolism.

All 4 kids are normal weight for height - DS1 even looks a bit skinny to me -it's just the way he is.

I feed them healthily and limit 'junk' as I don't want them to experience the misery I did when I pudged out at 13. :(

Those of you who are now, erm, carrying too much weight, were you of normal weight when growing up?

I was until 13 - then I suddenly got chubby and it's been hard since then.

I was slim til 18 when my mum emigrated. This followed my dad emigrating when I was 14 snd preceded my grandparents emigrating when I was 20.
Self loathing & infertility = fat QOD

were you of normal weight when growing up? - yes.

Stressfull sedentary job + pizza + hormone imbalance + steroids = weight problem