If your child is fat then simple: you are a bad parent!

[Mr Bridger]

Not being a doctor, but my diagnosis would be an overactive .....


















Knife & fork

 

[KZNSeagull]

Sounds like @Nibble is on the money here.

You're hardly into the realms of stomach stapling by the sounds of it. It sounds like you are just having to do exactly what all good parents do - spot a potential problem heading in your childs direction, and do your best to avert it. In this case, keep away from too many sweets, chocs, processed and fatty food. Also stuff like rice and bread don't help. But of course, you can't be too heavy handed either.

Hormones do play a big part in kids growth. As you say, girls tend to store fat (which is why it's called puppy fat) just before puberty, as their bodies need to reach a certain weight to start it off. Anorexic girls periods stop because they drop below that optimum weight.
Then they have a growth spurt and appear skinny again.

Fresh food prepared and keep off the processed foods, and most kids will grow normally. One big food con is breakfast cereals which are teeming with sugar, as are soft drinks.

Thanks, I will keep all that in mind. NIbble is right, hopefully, and I am not overly concerned at the moment, as you say it is just something to keep an eye on. I just find it extraordinary that my 2 children can be so different and yes they are both definitely mine as they have inherited my widow's peak and cow's lick killer hair combination!

 

[Billy the Fish]

Ridiculously simplistic to label people a bad parent just for kids being overweight. Life is too complex to stoop to these stupid generalisations, you can't just lump people into two categories (bad parent/good parent) and you especially can't based on a single factor.

Fair enough if a child is morbidly obese and at risk of health problems - that qualifies as neglect, but weight is not the be all and end all of life. Nobody is perfect and it's impossible to have knowledge of everything. If someone's kid is a bit fat but they are happy, loved and engaged by their parents then what's the issue?

Also I'd say that nutrition is a complex subject and not everyone is interested in cooking. The medical profession is generally terrible with nutritional advice and that filters down to the government, is it any wonder that people aren't very good at being healthy these days when processed junk is so cheap and easily accessible.

 

[sir albion]

The best solution is to get a strong dog lead and stick it round the chubsters neck...wedge it in the back window of the car and drive about 15 mph for about 30 mins a day.Continue this until chubster is in fine fettle.

 

[Billy the Fish]

One big food con is breakfast cereals which are teeming with sugar.

Agree, Special K and Jordans country crisp are f***ing Satan as far as I'm concerned. That and milkshakes aimed at the school lunchbox.

IMHO wheat for breakfast is the worst thing you can have if you need to lose weight, yet it's the thing society has decided to give everyone!

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Well if you do email the boy, tell him Hi from me. He is a good lad.

 

[Vegas Seagull]

All chubsters are fat because they eat more calories than they expend. However, I think that the food industry and the quality of school dinners should share some of the blame when it comes to overweight kids.

School dinners are proven to be of a higher quality nutritionally than 99% of mummy's packed lunches

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Thick parents think their children need sweets, chocolate and crisps.
UNSurprisingly if they aren't given them they don't know about them & don't miss them and don't crave them
Easy

 

[nicko31]

Ridiculously simplistic to label people a bad parent just for kids being overweight. Life is too complex to stoop to these stupid generalisations, you can't just lump people into two categories (bad parent/good parent) and you especially can't based on a single factor.

Fair enough if a child is morbidly obese and at risk of health problems - that qualifies as neglect, but weight is not the be all and end all of life. Nobody is perfect and it's impossible to have knowledge of everything. If someone's kid is a bit fat but they are happy, loved and engaged by their parents then what's the issue?

Also I'd say that nutrition is a complex subject and not everyone is interested in cooking. The medical profession is generally terrible with nutritional advice and that filters down to the government, is it any wonder that people aren't very good at being healthy these days when processed junk is so cheap and easily accessible.

If you love you kids take some responsibility to ensure they have a healthy diet, if kids are fat there's a good chance they will stay fat.

 

[portlock seagull]

If you love you kids take some responsibility to ensure they have a healthy diet, if kids are fat there's a good chance they will stay fat.

What about the kids on way to and from school who stuff their faces with junk that in fairness is marketed at them? Teenagers are positively encouraged to gorge (queue if they don't have money...but they do!)

 

[beorhthelm]

Agree, Special K and Jordans country crisp are f***ing Satan as far as I'm concerned. That and milkshakes aimed at the school lunchbox.

IMHO wheat for breakfast is the worst thing you can have if you need to lose weight, yet it's the thing society has decided to give everyone!

confusing... you know there's no wheat in cereals, its corn, oats and barley? so has society decided on toast? would have thought toast, or any other wheat based breakfast (muffins, crossiants, pancakes?), better than overprocessed cereals.

 

[Hillian1]

How come there were only a couple of fat kids in each year in the 70's and 80's?

 

[beorhthelm]

How come there were only a couple of fat kids in each year in the 70's and 80's?

because people were poorer, didnt eat so much and bearly snacked at all. because most the bad foods were there, just not consumed as much.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Just something to throw in the mix. Back in 2000 I had my thyroid removed and since that time I've experienced the symptoms of over active and under active thyroid based on the amount of HRT i take daily (yes, really). Both of these symptoms can dramatically impact your weight and whilst there is a general truism that you need to burn more calories than you eat, it's possible that this can cause you to become a stick or chubster whatever you eat.

If your kids eat loads of shite, have trouble sleeping (can survive on very little), sweat like a 70s TV presenter when they found out about operation yew tree and are under weight it's a signal of over active. In contrast and more common are those who don't eat badly, have little energy generally, are overweight and don't on average have a dump daily maybe are under active.

 

[Return of the Rev]

How come there were only a couple of fat kids in each year in the 70's and 80's?

Because the biscuits only came out once a week,kids walked everywhere and most people had blagger all money. My 50p pocket money went towards 18p return train to brighton 15p entrance to the albion and 5p for a programme.
Left 12p to go crazy with! after 5 weeks i could buy a silk scarf at 60p.

Try telling that to the young fatties today and they don't believe you

 

[Hillian1]

because people were poorer, didnt eat so much and bearly snacked at all. because most the bad foods were there, just not consumed as much.

Or, and far more likely, we weren't welded to the sodding sofa playing video games.

 

[dazzer6666]

How come there were only a couple of fat kids in each year in the 70's and 80's?

Well, for me in my village :
Very few were driven the 500 yards or so to school in a 4x4
'Games' was compulsory and a couple of times a week, and included cross country
After school we played football and cricket, or generally arsed about outside, no tv, xbox or pc
Bikes were our prized possessions and we spent ages on them
There weren't takeaway places selling shitty food very cheaply, you got a wholesome meal cooked at home (and had to eat your greens)
Fat kids were called 'fatty', not treated like poor luvvies with 'issues' (I should know)

 

[coagulantwolf]

How come there were only a couple of fat kids in each year in the 70's and 80's?

Someone should do a study on the correlation between 'fat bullying' and actual levels of obesity. I'd imagine there's a strong correlation.

Also re the comment about stemming from the Governments fault; that's part of the issues. Parents not willing to act in the best interests of their kids themselves, rather expecting the Government to act towards it.

Yes, there are exceptions as to why kids are obese, but that is a minority.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

confusing... you know there's no wheat in cereals, its corn, oats and barley? so has society decided on toast? would have thought toast, or any other wheat based breakfast (muffins, crossiants, pancakes?), better than overprocessed cereals.

Weetabix.

 

[GT49er]

Well, for me in my village :
Very few were driven the 500 yards or so to school in a 4x4
'Games' was compulsory and a couple of times a week, and included cross country
After school we played football and cricket, or generally arsed about outside, no tv, xbox or pc
Bikes were our prized possessions and we spent ages on them
There weren't takeaway places selling shitty food very cheaply, you got a wholesome meal cooked at home (and had to eat your greens)
Fat kids were called 'fatty', not treated like poor luvvies with 'issues' (I should know)

Very much this - and the one kid we called Fatty was as fast as any of us in the playground chasing games we used to play!