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| Do today's children need help? |
As we welcome the New Year and a new start in 2014, many people will be making a list of their New Years Resolutions. Typically, many women will be aiming to get healthy or to shift a few pounds, but I ask; should children be doing the same?
Shockingly, one third of children were overweight in the UK in 2013. However, being overweight is not just labelling someone as fat; it’s establishing an unhealthy lifestyle and possible dangerous health issues. So why is everyone so scared to tell children their health is at risk?
Obviously, one has to take into account the mental effects of telling a child they are fat or overweight. Especially in today’s society with the increasing demand for women to look like a size 0 and teenagers struggling with eating disorders. Due to this it is apparent that the subject has to be dealt with correctly.
Take for example, the 2011/2012 National Weigh in Programme, which calculates school children’s BMI results and sends out letters to parents informing where on the scale they would be classed from underweight to clinically obese. These letters sparked outrage from parents of children who were clearly not overweight, which was evident in the case of one active 6 year old girl who would still wear aged 4-5 clothing.
But does this also pose the question of whether parents with children who are actually overweight refuse to take the news and help make a change? Are parents neglecting health advice and still feeding their children badly? But, who is really to blame?
If we take the argument from a different perspective, one may argue that schools are to blame. You may remember Jamie Oliver’s campaign to get school dinners healthy and banning the school canteen junk food. Jamie was successful in the removal of Turkey Twizzlers from the lunch menu and creating a more healthy lunch time for children. However, there are still many schools with junk food and vending machines for children to have easy access to multiple times throughout the day, which can become a routine indulgence.
So consequently, could it fall to children who are at fault? Parents may be supplying children with a healthy packed lunch which finds itself in the bin in favour of a greasy school dinner, or nipping to the local news agents after school for their daily supply of sugary snacks.
What do you think? Who's responsibility is it to keep kids healthy and what is the best way to tackle the issue?
Is it morally ok to label an overweight child as overweight? Surely the 22st 15 year old in the news would clearly not disagree with the comment he was obese?
Or do you have any past experiences with this topic to share an insight?
L.C
Personally, I feel like child obesity has been taken away from being a health issue to a social one. Of course, common sense is key - if a child is merely a few pounds overweight, but still leads a happy, active and healthy lifestyle, then there is no problem. But in the same way it is impossible to deny that your child has diabetes if it has been medically proven, it should be impossible to deny that your child is clinically obese. I think education will be very important in shifting this back to a health issue - the media has hyped weight up to the point where now a few numbers on a scale can affect your entire social standing. In reality, the only thing it should affect is your health, and doctors should be allowed to treat this in the same way they would treat any disease, without having to worry about upsetting parents. It will be interesting to see how the next generation addresses this issue, as they will be the children raised on a mix of Jamie's School Dinners and a never ending barrage of celebrity diet fads, whilst having seemingly unlimited access to junk food and coach potato activities.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment of which I completely agree with. You're right, it should be impossible to deny your child is overweight, but some parents still refuse to believe what they are told due to feeling they are being criticised on their parenting. You're right and that's a good point, it will be interesting to see how the next generation deal with the problem, after children being subjected to magazines showing countless diets and child targeted junk food advertisements!
ReplyDeleteAs a doctor I am fed up of being told, by the government of course, that obesity is a medical problem. Of course, the resultant effects are medical but I feel this label hinders the actual hard work it takes to lose weight. There is no magic pill. Health education is the key and simply eat less, move more. The were no fat people in Auschwitz. Controversial?
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to read and share your views. It does appear the government have a lot to be accounted for, in relation to people's opinions of the matter. Although that is a good point about Auschwitz, and I agree that there wasn't the same problems then as there are now, but is that not also due to the fact there was a shortage of food to go around so people ate too little? So question is, why is there not more health education on how to stay fit and healthy? As a Doctor, you must have to distribute health information to overweight people on a regular basis, so why does it seem no-one listens to this information?
DeleteYes you are correct that there was less food to go around but you also must take into account there was no sugar during that time. As a Doctor, I completely blame sugar. In the war it was a ration and a luxury item that we do not need in our diet. What today's society is currently battling is an addicition to sugar. I tell my patients that they (or their children) are overweight, but in reality they do not want to hear it. People these days want an instant fix but i'm afraid it just doesn't work that way. Diet and exercise is the key to a healthy lifestyle.
DeleteChildhood obesity can be an extremely sensitive issue and therefore it's difficult to address. In the case of labelling a child 'overweight' or 'obese' on a BMI scale, I believe one figure should not be so powerful with regards to weight. Yes, it's likely that those who are classes as 'obese' are more likely to suffer from health problems, but I believe to label those who are only slightly overweight, yet lead a healthy, active lifestyle as 'overweight' or 'obese' is misleading. Not only can it have implications on a child's mental well being, but their social well being too.
ReplyDeleteIt's difficult to give full responsibility to parents on this issue, since often children are at school, or somewhere else, where the parents cannot control what their children eat. Ultimately, there needs to be a balance, in which parents adopt healthy eating plans such as the 'change 4 life' scheme promoted by the NHS, but it is also important schools fully adopt this concept too, otherwise it renders families efforts ineffective. Furthermore, children must be educated on the effects of being overweight, and certainly not by being told it's 'ugly' or you should look like this celebrity, but learning about the life long implications such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer etc. and how to lead a healthy lifestyle.
Thank you for your comment Anna. In my personal opinion, I think numbers are an awful way to measure weight. Of course in mathematical terms it shows you on a basic scale however, it doesn't take other factors into account. As a child who was always one of the tallest in my class, I would obviously weigh a bit more than the other more petite children, although everyone would partake in the same physical activities on the school curriculum.
DeleteI agree with your point completely that parents are not completely to blame and that when children leave the house they can go buy unhealthy snacks from the shop with nobody there to stop them. Of course, parents/schools could educate children a bit further into what they are actually putting into their bodies which may have an effect what they buy at the shops.
You mentioned the Change 4 Life scheme which is advertised often, perhaps schools could combine this into their system? However, maybe we need to take a step back from looking at the food side of the issue but more at the lack of exercise these children seem to be avoiding? With the increase of 'couch potatoes' and parents using the television as a handy distraction tool, should we be doing more to encourage exercise and promote more physical education lessons at schools?
one main problem with this would be the system of BMI in the first place. It has been proven to be an inaccurate form of identifying weight issues. for example, in an extreme way, a body builder would be classed as severly obese however clearly isnt. BMI doesnt take into account your muscle content or even your own personal genetics.
ReplyDeleteI agree that action should be taken for those children who are stuck in bad habits, but weight yo-yos all the time and definitely so at a young age. The problem with children is if you try to dictate to them too much, they will do the opposite. A balance needs to be sought. Good habits start at home and should be strengthened at school
Hi, thanks for finding our blog post and for sharing your views. You make a very valid point, because of the scientific fact that muscle weighs more than fat, it seems unfair to label a person who clearly takes care of their body as overweight when in fact is is pure muscle.
DeleteYou're correct and I feel perhaps that parents need to be better educated on food and food labels to help show what they are feeding themselves/their children. For example, by showing that an easy meal can consist of healthy quick options rather than by cooking something 'easy' from the freezer.
L.C