Obese kids 'not obese'

[loz]

Link

Parents are to be informed if their kids are obese (like they couldn't tell by, say, having a look?), with letters sent home after weight tests at the start and finish of primary school. However, the term 'obese' will be ditched in favour of 'very overweight', as the Dept of Health is concerned that children could be 'stigmatised'. a couple of small [points:

1) 'Obese' is a medical term with a particular definition that has been used for a long time. 'Very overweight' clouds the meaning and so reduces the quality of information available to families.

2) Stigmatised by who? are the parents going to shout about the letters in the playground or something? and let's be honest, if a kid is that fat, his/her classmates will probably have worked it out for themselves.

Frankly (and I've always wanted to say this), it's political correctness gone mad*....


*actually i feel a bit odd after that, may have to go hug a tree.

 

[Firestorm]

I can just see it now, the parents of a 17 stone 5 year old being told he is Morbidly thick set.......

Perhaps they are thinking that Obese , being a medical term, is better left to a Doctor and that the school should stick to a more general term.

What would you rather recieve , a letter from the school saying Johnny fell over at playtime and got a small bump on the head or one which said that he had suffered a minor cranial trauma ?

 

[McNasty]

I am not obese, just 2'6" too short.

 

[seany t]

I'm not fat. I'm just visibly plump...

 

[please delete my account]

I prefer superbly upholstered

 

[Clinton Baptiste]

Heard a funny story here that a mum took her kid to see one of the consultants about her sons weight. She said he was fat becasue he had an overactive thyroid. To which the consultant replied No he has an overactive knife and fork, now stop feeding him and **** off!

 

[steveo]

If a kid is fat call him fat. No good protecting them or they wont have any incentive to lose weight.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Heard a funny story here that a mum took her kid to see one of the consultants about her sons weight. She said he was fat becasue he had an overactive thyroid. To which the consultant replied No he has an overactive knife and fork, now stop feeding him and **** off!

Was she blonde? If it was overactive then he'd be stick thin!

 

[londonblue]

Link

Parents are to be informed if their kids are obese (like they couldn't tell by, say, having a look?), with letters sent home after weight tests at the start and finish of primary school. However, the term 'obese' will be ditched in favour of 'very overweight', as the Dept of Health is concerned that children could be 'stigmatised'. a couple of small [points:

1) 'Obese' is a medical term with a particular definition that has been used for a long time. 'Very overweight' clouds the meaning and so reduces the quality of information available to families.

2) Stigmatised by who? are the parents going to shout about the letters in the playground or something? and let's be honest, if a kid is that fat, his/her classmates will probably have worked it out for themselves.

Frankly (and I've always wanted to say this), it's political correctness gone mad*....


*actually i feel a bit odd after that, may have to go hug a tree.

Being obese doesn't necessarily make you overweight. One measure of obesity it to look at percentage body fat. For men, over 25%, and 30% for women makes you obese. I have met a few people that are tiny, eat foods with a high fat content, and do no exercise. They have very tiny bodies, but the percentage body fat is over the "obese" limits.

(Out of interest the other main measure for obesity is the BMI. This is measured in Kg/m2. You divide your weight in kg by the square of your height in metres. The problem with this measure is that it will tend to show that body builders etc are obese even though there isn't a gram of fat on them.)

In these circumstances you can't tell someone is obese just by looking at them, so telling the parents that their child is obese might actually be a good thing, although there is a fair chance they won't believe it.

 

[loz]

In these circumstances you can't tell someone is obese just by looking at them, so telling the parents that their child is obese might actually be a good thing, although there is a fair chance they won't believe it.

interesting stuff, though it still suggests that they should actually say 'obese'!

 

[Cricko]

I am not obese, just 2'6" too short.

Surely you mean In Girth Ken with your Model like figure.

I have an Obese Knob....:whistling:

 

[WestRoadShrimper]

I have an obscense Knob....

Think that's what you meant to write.....

 

[Southend_Lady]

No point beating around the bush. If a kid is fat, the parents have to be told that the kid is obese. No point covering it up what the hell will that achieve. I think parents need to be told so that it shocks them into taking some measures.

If your child is perfectly healthy and overweight through over eating then I don't see how the parents can shift responsibility on to anyone other than themselves. After all, they stock the cupboards. Letting any children get so overwieght that they are obese borders on child cruelty in my book. Its up to the adults in their life - their parents - to teach them about healthy eating and eating in moderation.

 

[please delete my account]

I think a certain amount of tough love is needed.
There's no point in dancing around the issue. You don't want to use phrases like 'It's water retention' or 'I'm just big boned'.

I propose that once a month, in Vic Circus outside the cinema, you get some stocks set up and drag a few of these fat bloaters down there to pelt them with rotten fruit and veg. If you could put a sticker on their ample behinds that says 'Wide Load', all the better.

The combination of humiliation and being hit in the kisser with some rotten tomatoes should put them off eating so much.
Plus it'll give us normal members of society some entertainment.

This should all be filmed to be shown around the town on big screens throughout the month.

 

[canveyshrimper]

(Out of interest the other main measure for obesity is the BMI. This is measured in Kg/m2. You divide your weight in kg by the square of your height in metres. The problem with this measure is that it will tend to show that body builders etc are obese even though there isn't a gram of fat on them.)

Spot on, the BMI is a good indicator if you are seriously over weight as I was a couple of years ago (now I'm just fat), and was a great help in setting my target for weight loss.

But it was laughable in some instances when someone like Lawrence Dallaglio was declared as morbidly obese, when he didn't have a spare bit of fat on him.

 

[OldBlueLady]

No point beating around the bush. If a kid is fat, the parents have to be told that the kid is obese. No point covering it up what the hell will that achieve. I think parents need to be told so that it shocks them into taking some measures.

If your child is perfectly healthy and overweight through over eating then I don't see how the parents can shift responsibility on to anyone other than themselves. After all, they stock the cupboards. Letting any children get so overwieght that they are obese borders on child cruelty in my book. Its up to the adults in their life - their parents - to teach them about healthy eating and eating in moderation.

Not as simple as that though, kids these days sell stuff, nick stuff and, as always, forgo school dinners, in order to buy rubbish from the shops that are always handily placed for schools.

This goes back to the same principle in the drugs discussion the other day, that in our society now, people don't know how to do things in moderation, it's all to excess - whether that's drink, drugs or food or any other "addiction" you care to name.

I'm big, I know that, but when I see on some of these programmes some of the rubbish these people eat, I find it hard to understand. Why not be content with one bag of crisps, a small bar of chocolate, one round of sandwiches, a couple of roast spuds, just grilled bacon and eggs etc. everything is on a huge scale. I'm sitting here having had my weetabix and skimmed milk for breakfast, with crudities and humus, and looking forward to home made chicken curry for dinner. I eat healthily, so do my kids but I cannot stand over them every minute to make sure they aren't buying fizzy drinks (worst offenders) and crisps and that's why it's really not so easy being a parent.

 

[Rayleigh Weir]

I reckon that anyone who needs a letter from school to tell them that their offspring is a porker is probably too stupid to understand the term 'obese' anyway...

 

[londonblue]

Not as simple as that though, kids these days sell stuff, nick stuff and, as always, forgo school dinners, in order to buy rubbish from the shops that are always handily placed for schools.

This goes back to the same principle in the drugs discussion the other day, that in our society now, people don't know how to do things in moderation, it's all to excess - whether that's drink, drugs or food or any other "addiction" you care to name.

I'm big, I know that, but when I see on some of these programmes some of the rubbish these people eat, I find it hard to understand. Why not be content with one bag of crisps, a small bar of chocolate, one round of sandwiches, a couple of roast spuds, just grilled bacon and eggs etc. everything is on a huge scale. I'm sitting here having had my weetabix and skimmed milk for breakfast, with crudities and humus, and looking forward to home made chicken curry for dinner. I eat healthily, so do my kids but I cannot stand over them every minute to make sure they aren't buying fizzy drinks (worst offenders) and crisps and that's why it's really not so easy being a parent.

I don't have kids so I admit that my experience isn't first hand. However, when I go to my brother's for lunch on Saturdays (see the match day routine thread) I notice that his kids eat quite a lot of crisps etc. However, they aren't overweight. The reason is because they are very active. They both play tennis, and swim. One also does gymnastics. The other plays basketball at school (and just about every other sport going).

Sarah Hardcastle was also the year above me at school, and you pretty much never saw her without a chocolate bar in her face!

There isn't really anything wrong with kids having the odd snack so long as they're active. As a parent I understand that you can't be on your kids' cases all the time, but is it not possible to encourage them to be active?

 

[Napster]

I don't have kids so I admit that my experience isn't first hand. However, when I go to my brother's for lunch on Saturdays (see the match day routine thread) I notice that his kids eat quite a lot of crisps etc. However, they aren't overweight. The reason is because they are very active. They both play tennis, and swim. One also does gymnastics. The other plays basketball at school (and just about every other sport going).

Sarah Hardcastle was also the year above me at school, and you pretty much never saw her without a chocolate bar in her face!

There isn't really anything wrong with kids having the odd snack so long as they're active. As a parent I understand that you can't be on your kids' cases all the time, but is it not possible to encourage them to be active?

Exactly. Nothing wrong with eating unhealthy food if you burn it off. As a kid in the 80s, I bet we all ate all kinds of nonsense, but playing football, and cricket and so on, burned it all off. They're kids, let them be kids - they can be grown-ups when they're grown up.

 

[OldBlueLady]

I don't have kids so I admit that my experience isn't first hand. However, when I go to my brother's for lunch on Saturdays (see the match day routine thread) I notice that his kids eat quite a lot of crisps etc. However, they aren't overweight. The reason is because they are very active. They both play tennis, and swim. One also does gymnastics. The other plays basketball at school (and just about every other sport going).

Sarah Hardcastle was also the year above me at school, and you pretty much never saw her without a chocolate bar in her face!

There isn't really anything wrong with kids having the odd snack so long as they're active. As a parent I understand that you can't be on your kids' cases all the time, but is it not possible to encourage them to be active?

Absolutely, mine have always been encouraged and partaken, but there does come a point where they become influenced by others, and if you are unlucky enough to have that sort of metabolism where you only have to look at a cream cake to put on weight then your mates all going into the chippy at lunch isn't much help. Kids fall into two groups, those who think sport is cool and those who don't, and it all depends on where your friends are (unless you are absolutely brilliant at it) as to whether or not you keep it up.

It's these old flashing screens that are the biggest blame in kids' lives these days though. That and the fact that society frowns on groups of teens (in particular) out and about, said before how a busybody at the local park called the police while my son and his two mates were looking to see if their football had come down off the hall roof. When you're faced with that sort of prejudice it's very easy to admit defeat and stay in in front of a computer screen or game.