“What do you mean my child’s fat?” When you have always regarded your child as
simply cuddly, little different from most of his or her peers at school,
it’s a bolt from the blue to be confronted with the fact that they’re
overweight. But that’s what may soon be happening to many of us – and not
just those who frequent fast food outlets – as a new scheme to routinely
weigh and measure schoolchildren rolls into its third year.
Over the next few weeks, local health bodies will start contacting schools to
make arrangements to weigh and measure every child in reception class (age 4
to 5) and Year 6 (age 10-11), categorising each as normal, overweight or
obese. Currently, data about individual children’s weight is available to
parents only on request, but the Government is considering making it routine
for parents to be informed if their child is overweight or obese.
Researchers at University College London (UCL) are already working with the
Department of Health to see what happens when the results of the school
weighings are fed back to parents. A pilot scheme with six London schools
has just finished. “When we told some parents that their child was
overweight they were shocked,” says Helen Croker, the research dietitian at
UCL, who led the research. “Deep down some suspected that their children
were, but because so many children are now overweight, it’s harder to tell.
It’s no longer the case that the overweight ones stand out from the others.”
Many of us have overweight children and don’t realise it, and experts are
increasingly emphatic that it is wrong to believe that obesity is just a
problem among certain social classes. The reason is that the nation’s idea
of what is a “normal” weight has now become totally skewed. Recent UCL
research found that among 500 children in nursery and reception classes in
the outer London area, only 6 per cent of parents with overweight or obese
children described their child as overweight.
The same applies in older age groups. A GfK/ NOP survey of 1,000 parents, with
children aged 4 to 7, found that only 14 per cent of parents with an obese
child considered their child overweight. It’s a problem because there is
evidence that tubby kids will become overweight adults, having to deal with
diabetes and heart disease.
It’s not that parents are stupid or deluded, it’s just that everyone looks
around them to see what is normal. If everyone else looks the same and does
the same, then it can’t be that bad, can it? According to the obesity expert
Dr Susan Jebb, this applies to eating and exercise, too. In a previously
unpublicised report for the Department of Health, published in March, she
says that many parents are not embracing healthy lifestyles because everyone
else isn’t. “Studies indicate that people are very sensitive to social norms
for food consumption and use these to judge what they should be eating,” she
says.
She fears these parental misconceptions of what is normal will result in
obesity. With food abundant and cheap, and society placing a high value on
cars, sedentary occupations and labour-saving devices, the default condition
for mankind is obesity. If you want to avoid it, you need to do something to
prevent it.
There is another difficulty. “Overweight” and “obese” are notoriously
difficult to define because children are growing and their weight
fluctuates. It’s only this year that reference curves have become available
in the UK by which health professionals can chart whether a child’s weight
is “normal”. And all the means of identifying obesity – measuring waist, fat
fold, body mass index – have their weaknesses.
“If you don’t believe that obesity affects your child, the inclination is to
turn your ears off to the messages about obesity and children,” says Dr
Jebb, the head of nutrition and health research at MRC Human Nutrition
Research, in Cambridge. “Even if we’re a normal weight, the nature of the
world we live in means that most of us are at risk of gaining weight and we
need to take active steps to avoid that.”
Parents, she says, should limit TV viewing, encourage kids to go to the park,
limit their intake of crisps, sweets, chocolate and soft drinks, and promote
fruit and vegetable consumption.
The secret, says Croker, is making parents aware, without stigmatising them
and their overweight child. The first year of the Government’s
school-weighing programme was far from a success. Only half of the eligible
children were weighed, largely because parents opted out of the scheme. It
seems to have been the parents of larger children who refused to take part,
and the reason, according to Croker, may be that they saw it as possibly
casting them in a bad light.
She believes that the way forward may be to make fat a future issue. If all
parents understand that everyone, whatever their age and weight, is likely
to become overweight unless healthy eating and exercise become a priority,
it won’t seem so dreadful to be regularly consulting BMI guides to see how
your child is shaping up (see box). “A blame culture doesn’t help,” she
says. “There isn’t a family in the country that’s perfect.”
Weighing up the evidence
It is more difficult to gauge whether a child is overweight or obese
than an adult because they are growing anyway, and do so at different rates.
The fit of a child’s clothes is a rough measure. If clothes for
their age are right for their height but too tight round the waist, they
could be overweight.
You can track your child’s weight using an online body mass index (BMI)
calculator which is one of the more reliable ways to judge your child's
weight. Try the one from the Weight Concern website at http://www.weightconcern.org.uk/
by entering your child's age, sex, weight and height, and clicking on "calculate",
you can get an indication of whether your child is normal, overweight, or
very overweight.
The words obese and overweight have specific definitions according to
specific BMIs for adults, but not for children. Generally, they describe the
accumulation of sufficient body fat to potentially affect health.
Another way of judging whether your child is overweight is using
centile BMI charts for children, similar to those used to check whether a
child’s growth is in the normal range. These are not yet widely available
but your GP or health visitor should be able to show you them. They show
what a healthy BMI would be for a child of a particular age and sex.
RECOMMENDED DAILY BREAKDOWN OF FOOD GROUPS FOR OVER FIVES
33% fruit and veg
33% carbs: breads, cereals, potatoes, rice
12% protein: meat, fish, alternatives (eg. beans)
7% fats and sugars
15% dairy products
DAILY NEEDS
Exercise
At least one hour of moderate intensity exercise (eg swimming, cycling) every
day.
Energy
Boys aged 4-6 1,715 calories
Girls aged 4-6 1,545 calories
Boys aged 7-10 1,970 calories
Girls aged 7-10 1,740 calories
I think part of the problem is that many junk foods are more or less addictive. Those uneducated about how and why to eat healthily should be advised on how to wean themselves off the fatty rubbish. One day on the lettuce, for a kid used to sausage and chips, is enough to make them crave double suasage and chips the next day. to the desperate mum of Kent, my partner was overweight as a teenager; he lost weight in order to attract women. 20 years later, he has kept it off.
Demi, Manchester, England
Am I missing something? Where does it say that the weighing and measuring will be taking place in front of other children? Where does it say that the names of the overweight children will be called out in assembly? Where does it even say that the children will be told?
I was weighed and measured at school, in the nurse's office, in private, from time to time when I was growing up. I was not told the results, which went on my file. Surely if we look at this sensibly, rather than getting on our high horses about it as people tend to do whenever the government tries to do something positive about a problem that exists in this country (nanny state, blah, blah, blah), this is not actually going to stigmatise anyone. It is a private matter which will be dealt with privately.
Sally, london,
A lot of children simply are overweight but slim out as they grow up- my siblings and I were all chubby children, but once we hit fourteen we all slimmed out and now we've all got normal BMI's. I don't know why we were overweight- none of us really changed our diet, we just slimmed naturally.
Frances, Nottingham,
Not long ago went back to private elementary/middle school my children attended to obtain some records. The youngest of the three graduated in 1998. Very surprised by how chubby the children were in contrast to when mine were there.
With tuitions headed into the stratosphere I suspect many of the mothers are now working to help make ends meet. When my children attended, most of the mothers were fulltime homemakers. Overworked tired moms rely more on feeding the family fast food, pizza and t.v. dinners all of which are quite fattening in contrast to home cooked carefully pplanned meals prepared from scratch. Also, they're less likely to properly supervise snacking.
Obesity is just as bad in America as in the UK. Writing from Des Moines, Iowa where my guess is 80% plus of adults and children are overweight.
Good manners today prevented me from mentioning to a slender young lady store clerk with a magnificient figure how unusual it was here in Iowa to see that.
Mark Klein, M.D., Oakland, California
It's easy, just look at them.
Simon Moss, Paris, France
Gabrielle Bee from Oxford has practically been the sole voice of reason in this debate!
Is everyone insane? Taxpayers' money funding a scheme where kids are shamed in front of their peers for not being "normal"? Doesn't this happen already, must the school sanction it?!
And now every poncey parent proud of their kids' slim figures and organic diets is coming in here and making it about class - puh-leeze.
Kids come in all shapes and sizes because PEOPLE DO. Some are unhealthy, some are not, but categorising kids into fabricated over-simplified categories does not address the problem.
But is this a problem that should even be addressed in school? How moralistic, patronising and misguided.
I was a chubby child. Not because I was overfed - in fact I played football and rode a bike a to school - but because I was an early bloomer and my build is naturally thick-set. I was teased because of this.
Fast-forward a few years, and I battled anorexia at age 14. See a link?
NH, London, UK
To use the same reasoning that I saw the other day on the television about carbon neutral houses: you know your child is fat -- without going into a lot of technical details -- when it's fat.
And that's that.
Bob MIllar, Stockholm, Sweden
I may be one of very few, who don't believe it can be good for kids to be weighed and measured in front of other kids. Their self esteem is probably already through the floor , but to be put through that ordeal at school and then have the embarassment of taking a letter home to their parents if they are classed as overweight or obese - I for one shan't be putting my kids through it.
My kids are a healthy weight - they eat a balanced, varied diet, which does include treats but I ensure they eat healthy meals and get the right exercise - perhaps parenting skills of these overweight kids should be reviewed and dealt with. Its not the kids' faults and shouldnt be treated as such with these "weigh ins".
Charlie, Boston, Lincolnshire
My spouse and I are intelligent, university-educated parents with a high level of understanding of healthy eating and have brought up our three children to understand the value of a sensible diet and exercise. All of them can cook a wide variety of healthy meals. We have never allowed large quantities of snacks or soft drinks and have shared with the kids in swimming and other sports since they were born. Yet my eldest two started to put on weight at puberty and have just got bigger ever since. Both my husband and I are naturally thick-set and have struggled all our lives with our weight, so it's not surprising that the kids are not beanpoles. And you can't keep 16-year-olds under lock and key - when they are with their friends they buy what "treats" they want to buy. Perhaps the critics can tell me how I can coerce a 16-year-old, 6'3" boy into eating and exercising properly when he's busy with AS Levels, VSU work & CCF(i.e. a model child in other ways) and doesn't want to know?
Desperate mum, Kent,
My kids are all thin and fit. I mean thin so you can see hips and ribs, and fit so they do county athletics, and are on all the school teams. They don't eat a health freak diet, they're just growin up in an active environment. So why am I being tapped up to pay for some pathetic program to weigh and shame fat chavs? If other people let their kids get fat, it's because they don't give a damn. Frankly, neither do I.
Redcliffe, London,
"If you can pinch and inch" always seems to me to be quite a good indicator if there is any flab on a body.
It really isn't rocket science - if it wobbles, it's fat!
However, skinniness that has no muscle tone, because of lack of exercise, is not healthy either.
I'm glad the governmetn are finally doing something. They should bring back routine medical and health checks for children throughout their childhood.
jane scott, London, UK
It is no wonder the little diddums are FAT, FAT, FAT when their equally FAT parents allow them to stuff themselves on junk food, crisps, sweets, cola, chicken nuggets etc.
Add the fact that the kids are transported everywhere by neuotic parents, and then are allowed to sit in front of TV and computer all evening--meanwhile scoffing rubbish food--and the pounds pile on.
Every day, I see mobs of kids at lunchtime feeding their fat faces from the chippie, the baker, the pie shop. Would doubt that theywillgo home to a freshly made, sensible meal, eaten at the table.
The Government and the taxpayer are NOT responsible for feeding children.
Parents ARE responsible for feeding their children, and should make it their business to ensure that their offspring eat well. If money is tight, then fewer ipods, mobiles, TVs, expensive holidays etc, etc, might be in order.
However, given that most of the parents can hardly cook, I somehow doubt that there will be much change.
SForsyth, Edinburgh,
The government should start by banning trans fat.
Denmark has banned the sale of food products in which trans fat is more than 2% of the total fat content. Studies have shown that the more trans fat people eat, the more likely they’ll end up with heart disease. Trans fat has been shown to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes and that it may promote allergies in children. I believe that a lot of the problems now days with children, such as ADHD, allergies, overweight etc are because of the processed food they are fed with all the colourings and preservatives and trans fat added.
Kattrise, Adelaide, Australia
After 10-years of "Education, Education, Education" the UK has easier exams, lower literacy standards, and fatter children.
Perhaps there is more to life then gaining a piece of paper as a result of "passing" an easy exam.
NickT, Aldershot,
fact is they (todays kids) are turning into spoilt fat badly behaved over indulged monsters who cant spell their own name and have no idea how to locate their country on a map and have never read a book. I blame the parents
Neil, chessington, Surrey
It is untrue to say that a reference chart to judge whether a child is of normal weight is a recent invention. Percentile charts and "Road to Health" charts have been available that I know of for more than 30 years - I speak as a career GP, There are indeed categories for underweight children, which thankfully in UK I never saw but in Africa and Brasil, underweight children are a common sight, in some areas. Marasmus and Kwashiorkor are the problems there. Obesity results from insufficient exercise and excess of calories, largely from the fat content of processed food. Children eat what is in the fridge, so not buying expensive processed stuff would go a long way to solving the problem. And if schools made sports obligatory for every child every day, as happens in the better (not private) schools in South Africa, there would be no more problem.
Lesley Cole, Port of Spain, Trinidad
Why should the government have to be responsible for healthy living? Shouldn't parents bear a good chunk of that responsibility? Oh, wait, most adults have absolutely no idea about healthy living or how to not be lazy about providing healthy food or exercising themselves. So, no wonder so many children are overweight.
So, I guess we need education programs for everyone!
Beryl Roulot, Rochester, NY
Getting them to take enough exercise would be perfectly adequate: every school a playground and a sports ground; every child three or four hours of sports a week plus cycling to and from school every day. Then it wouldn't matter what they ate.
Rosie, Upminster,
An hour a day of exercise is great - had the government and education authorities not sold off their playing fields to make money. During the school week it has to be the responsibility of the school to make sure the kids do exerciss. This means more lessons devoted to PE and games.
Neil Murphy, cromer,
If you cannot recognise that your child is fat then you must be stupid.
Kenneth Wheatley, St Péé sur Nivelle, France
The whole point IS to stigmatize excess weight as it leads to heart diesease, diabetes, mobility issues, etc. This isn't supposed to be a feel good exercise. It's meant to wake parents up to their children being headed towards serious serious medical issues in their future. For the first poster, are you telling me that there is NO time ever that your children spend doing nothing/watching tv after you bring them home? I find that hard to believe.
Khalil Bhola, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
How can working parents ensure their children get an hour of exercise every day? I pick my children up at 5.30. By the time we get home, then prepare and eat our meal it's time for them to have a bath and go to bed.
Kathryn , Abergavenny,
Obesity is a natural consequence of over-urbanisation and the replacement of being close to - and eating - fresh local produce with tasteless - often imported - and processed rubbish.
If you want to reduce the chances of your child being overweight and dying early, get out of mad overcrowded over-urbanised Britain now.
Jon Leigh, Southern, France
So they are going to be "categorising each as normal, overweight or obese"... with eating disorders such as anorexia manifesting at a younger and young age, I'm surprised there is no category for the underweight.
Prepubescent ten- and eleven-year old children are often intensely body-conscious. What a misguided way to teach them about weight - categorising them as anything other than 'normal' could easily spur on an eating disorder.
Surely it would be far more productive, and less harmful, for the government to invest more money and effort into teaching the principles of healthy living - good nutrition and regular, enjoyable exercise - rather than just stigmatising excess weight.
Gabrielle Bee, Oxford, Oxon