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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
