Warnings over obese children

Jane Kirby

October 23, 2007

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PARENTS could be officially warned their children are fat as part of a drive to tackle the obesity crisis.

The Department of Health is considering plans to issue letters to parents after their children have been weighed and measured in school at the ages of five and 10.

Youngsters are currently weighed as part of a national data collection programme, but parents are only given the results if they ask for them.

And the scheme has been criticised for allowing parents to opt out of having their children put on the scales.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health confirmed that sending letters to parents was `one of a range of options currently being considered'.

The spokeswoman said: "Tackling child obesity is a government priority and the weighing and measuring programme is an important element of this.

"We need to help parents to understand the importance of healthy weight for their families and support them to make lifestyle changes."

The government is widely expected to miss its target to halt the rise in childhood obesity among under-11s by 2010.

A report last week warned a majority of Britons would be obese by 2050 if weight gain in the population continued at the current rate.

It predicted that in just over 40 years, 60 per cent of men, 50 per cent of women and a quarter of all children in the UK are likely to be clinically obese.

A mere 10 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women were expected to have a `healthy' weight.

The consequent impact of chronic health problems would cost Britain more than £45billion a year.

Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said: "If you expect parents to be the main providers for their children, then you should be empowering them about what the healthy weight range is.

"Giving parents Body Mass Index charts . . . means they can have continual monitoring of how well or badly their child is doing.

"If your children are starting to veer away from what is healthy then maybe it's time to see somebody."

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Calamity (23/10/2007 at 14:01)

When I was a child in the 1950s, you rarely saw a fat child. Yesterday a former fellow pupil sent me some group school photos circa 1958, and there is not one fat child in the large class.
I don't wonder that many of todays kids are fat when you look at the rubbish they and their parents eat. The amount of people you see outside shoving pasties and pies onto their mouths is alarming. I really think as well as educating parents in how to cook, fast food that is unhealthy should be highly taxed.

ace, manchester (23/10/2007 at 14:03)

Not before time ive watched some lovely kids where i live put weight on over a few years until their kneese knock with fat its a real shame to see these once agile kids slowly turn into sluggish slow children and all this because the parents cannot be bothered cooking decent meals for them and look at what they feed the kids crisps chocolate,cokes,And lots of fatty foods from places like iceland all because they dont need to cook the food just warm it up and shove it down the kids throats..DISGUSTING.

Mike S, Manchester (23/10/2007 at 14:18)

It doesn't help that the government and councils keep on selling school playing fields and parkland to developers to make a quick buck, rather than encouraging them to redevelop brownfield sites.

Charlotte (23/10/2007 at 14:40)

Quite rightly so. Nothing disgusts me more than seeing obese children. Obese adults are bad enough but thats their choice. Children should be fed healthy meals. My children are allowed to eat crisps and biscuits but they are both in excellent health as they eat proper, healthy home cooked meals 6 nights out of 7 as they are allowed fish fingers (which I cook in the oven, so they are healthier)on a Saturday evening which is the one night we have a takeaway. Our diet is great, we have the recommended five portions of fruit and veg every day, we are all healthy and none of us are overweight. We spend hours in the park with a football, go on bike rides and take regular walks around the water park near our home. Both myself and my husband work, admittedly I do work part time but on the days that I work I prepare meals in advance. Its not hard, it doesnt cost a fortune and I take great pleasure in seeing my children thrive. I think the Department of Health should have tougher laws on parents of obese children after all it IS a form of child abuse.

cukie1999 (23/10/2007 at 14:45)

Can't see the problem really. For a non-porker it's all part of the entertainment laughing at the fat kids in the school sportshall. Gave me hours of pleasure when I was school, the rest of it was a bit boring to be fair.

Henry Piggot-Smythe, Prestbury (23/10/2007 at 15:00)

I don't think a letter home to the parents about their child being fat will make the slightest difference to what will no doubt be even fatter parents except to put the sender in mortal danger when these monsters waddle off down to school intent on assaulting the sender. I'm astounded by the size of the mothers of these children when I see them flop out of their 4x4's outside the school gate that such hulks can even fit behind the wheel of a vehicle never mind have control over it.

Dave Pickup (23/10/2007 at 15:53)

More nanny stating! The occupants of the Animal Farmhouse in Westminster really are control freaks! What next,health wardens patrolling the streets,carrying portable weigh scales and administering on the spot fines;CCTV cameras looking for fatties and sending court summonses to them; people being sent to correction centres;fatties being banned from public buildings,buses,trains and planes because they would take up too much room;will they have to pay excess baggage on planes if they weigh more than 11 stone? I could go on but don't laugh,it may come about!
This is going to lead to a great deal of anorexia. What should happen is that every child up to the age of 16 should have an annual MOT and the doctors(the only people qualified to assess a child',not a half baked MP) should advise parents on what to do to control their child's health.
Let our MPs set an example to us all. Let's see an 11 stone Brown and Prescott,or is this only for the plebs?

ace, manchester (23/10/2007 at 16:32)

Dave Pickup
Its the cost of the health of the kids we have a big problem with diabetics amoungst younger kids and the problem will get worse if nothing is done,that and the massive problem of heart attacks in younger people.For the sake of feeding your kids a decent meal and cutting back on the junk.surely people want the best forv their kids,because if the dont they need their children taking off them.

Mr Manchester (23/10/2007 at 17:02)

Oh do stop showing off, Dave Pickup. Just because you and yours can fill your face with greasy Spanish fare with backing from Spaniard doctors puffing away on ther fags inbetween a bullfight at siesta time and scoffing deep fried calamares, is no concern of ours...

PW, Manchester (23/10/2007 at 18:44)

Perfect time to introduce free bus travel?

Pescado (23/10/2007 at 19:10)

I'm starvin,be a love Calamity send one of the kids round to'th chippy for a couple of pies for us could yer?

mylifeinthemafia (24/10/2007 at 08:47)

Just feed kids the filth I was made to eat at school. Problem solved.

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