A was doing my shopping this morning and I was shocked to see a disgustingly obese little girl in Asda, who I would guess weighed more than me. I'm 23 and she was about 10.

It got me thinking... How the hell can parents let their kids get so huge? I realise that in a handful of cases children can be obese due to a medical condition, but for the most part I think it's just down to bad parenting.

Overweight children are at risk from bad health and bulling from their peers. I realise that kids like sweeties and crisps, but in my opinion feeding your child the kind of terrible diet that leads to obesity is a form of child abuse.

Any thoughts...?

looking for the other voting options

3) im a very sad person, putting other people down

I think maybe your signature contradicts your post a little.

Originally posted by JBee

Overweight children are at risk from bad health and bulling from their peers. I realise that kids like sweeties and crisps, but in my opinion feeding your child the kind of terrible diet that leads to obesity is a form of child abuse.

Any thoughts...?

Agree fully JBee.

Kids also like playing on railway lines, sticking their fingers in wall sockets and playing with matches. Parents who are aware of the dangers and still KNOWINGLY let their kids do these things are indeed guilty of neglect at least.

Fatty fast food is the idle way out for a lot of parents I'm afraid.:loopy:

Originally posted by tslogf74
I think maybe your signature contradicts your post a little.

Fair point! But I'm not fat!

Its sad. I do have chats with parents and they see no harm in letting their children eat fatty foods and sweets - ALOT.

They always come up with the excuse he/she ONLY has x amount of spending money for sweets.

he/she won't eat healthy foods/doesnt like them.

SO WHAT!!!!!!

I hated sprouts as a kid but I ate them because they were on my plate. My kids (wierdos) actually love all green vegetables. The youngest reckons that spring cabbage is "spiderman cabbage" which gives him super strength.

I have a kitchen full of veg and cannot keep up with the amount of raw carrots they eat, as a snack.

Im not a perfect parent but they have the option of healthy snacks and slowly but surely that is now what they prefer.

My youngest challenged the dinner lady at school last week because he was told as he had chosen a slice of pizza for lunch he could not have a jacket potato and broccolli he had to have chips and beans!

Dear son then refused to move as he didnt want chips (he got his own way in the end) but to this end, I am teaching my kids how to eat a balanced diet and the school are throwing it back in my face. :rant:

I think that's great that you're bringing your kids to up eat healthily. They'll thank you in later life I'm sure.

I agree with Jamie Oliver when it comes to school dinners though... they need a bit of an overhaul don't they.

I ventured into the dining hall a few weeks ago. My children now take a packed lunch! Need I say more?

But my children choose what to put in their packed lunch (with guidance) so they eat what goes in and enjoy it. Favourite at the moment are flatbreads filled with all sorts of strange concoctions, and more raw carrots -ROFLMAO.:hihi:

every summer we should get al the fat kids together and make them do a month of heavy exercise....Like we could dangle a big mac on a string in front of their nose and watch them try and catch it?

Do you know if this child has a medical problem or not causing her/him to be rather larger than you seem to think ok?

I know that the only problem a large proportion of the overweight children who attend my childrens school have is, not being able to eat 3 meals a day.
I see it every morning:

Child walks to school munching on crisps.

Child stops at newsagent on way to school for can of coke and chocolate bar/or substitute packet of crisps

School day consists of 2 breaks times (where child consumes snack provided by parent)
plus one lunchbreak where the food of choice usually includes chips and beans.

Home time, either parent greets child at gates with drink and sugary snack/crisps OR stop off at newsagent with obligatory 50p to buy something.

Then its down to the parents to feed them in the evening. Usually same crap they had all day with a few more snacks thrown in for good measure.

< my kids dont eat after 6.30pm, they don't need to >

There should be no further advertisements for fast food . It should be banned.
Any fat kids should be made to eat outside , away from normal kids . Fat kids should be warned daily how bad fat food is for their health.
Warnings about death and illness must be put on any foodstuff containing fatty foods.
Parents of "Fatties" must be made to attend special classes to inform them how to feed their children properly.
Any child , over the age of 16 , who is found to be still fat will be sent to a special " Slimming Camp " and will not get released until of normal weight
Every child will be subject night and day , to information , warning them of the dangers of overeating.
Does all this ring any bells with Smokers ?

I think its a shame some parents are too lazy or do not have the time to feed their kids decent food. It's a wee sin when you see kids that are overweight - it's physically unhealthy for them and emotionally.
What is just as bad though is peoples attitudes to "fatties" The looks and the taunts and the judgements some people make about a child or adult that they don't even know based upon their size or shape is shocking and saddening.

I'm sure not so long ago there was a case where a child had actually died through over-eating.

The parents were going to be prosecuted for child abuse.

If a child is under nourished it is neglect therefore if a child is over fed - that should also be classed as neglect. You are not taking the health and well-being of your child into consideration.

Some over weight people do have various medical conditions that is the reason for their obesity. But you only have to watch the programme 'You are what you eat' to realise a lot of it is diet.

i get this one asked me all the tiime about my daughter,she 10 years old . and when she was born she was unable to put weight on so i was been named & talked about for not feeding her.

now she growing up,she is over weight for her age,,and it all to do with a medical problem not what she eats ect.. she love to eat veg and she does not eat chcolate and rubbish as much as i know most kids do..but i get the looks in the shops when i go shopping and it hurts my kid as well as my self and to hear other parents with super slim kids saying to one another when they think i carnt hear saying stuff like "hoo look at that poor girl there aint it horrid to let your kid get to that size"..
now it get's me mad i know a few kids that i see with the same problems has i go to a meeting with other parents with kids with this medical problem with weight and it breaks my heart when you see the likes of young as 6year old talking and crying that they want to end they life has people think they eat too much and they damm lazy and gettin picked on

so befor any of you see an over weight child think on befor anyone says things about that child has it may have nothing to do with the fact of food but a medical problem,,as over weight kids can loose weight but these kids have it harder to loose it,

you cannot ban adverts for fast foods. The parents who don't make their children eat responsibly should be banned not the ads

A was doing my shopping this morning and I was shocked to see a disgustingly obese little girl in Asda
Do you know, you can get anything in ASDA - how much was she marked up at? :rolleyes:
every summer we should get al the fat kids together and make them do a month of heavy exercise....Like we could dangle a big mac on a string in front of their nose and watch them try and catch it? I hope this was a sick inappropriate joke? otherwise you are suggesting child abuse...
Any fat kids should be made to eat outside , away from normal kids . Fat kids should be warned daily how bad fat food is for their health. more child abuse suggestions from fareast:
unfortunately, harping on about an issue to a person who already is stigmatised & has no self esteem due to media stereotyping only compounds underlying anxiety.
And
Does all this ring any bells with Smokers ? passive smoking affects everyone (look at Roy Castle); you can't get cancer from passively being near a person who is overweight.
I thought you studenty types were intelligent? All I read from you is discrimination.
Re-read your drivel & replace the word Fat or Fatties with words like Black or homosexual & see how insulting & hurtfull your comments are.
Being overweight is the last taboo in this country that people are 'allowed' to discriminate against, and they do it with some strange self imposed seat of judgement.
They are scum.:rant:

I think a lot of the problems to do with weighty children is that no one walks far anymore. Most families have cars and work and are short of time so it is quicker to drop the child off at school and safer. At least the parent know were the child is.

Children in my day walked to school sometimes quite a long way, I don't think the danger to children ws any different but it is more pulicised now and makes parens more fearful. There seems to be no street play now as we used to do , altogether a different way of life. We also roamed for miles which children are not alowed to do now because parents fear for them, played cricket and rounders in the park taking the family dog with us (mongrel collie which no one would steal )

I cannot remember a fat child in my class.
hazel

Irresponsible parenting, laziness and a lack of knowledge about how not to say "no" to your kid... I have even heard of a parent giving pot noodle to a 6 month old o:

I too witnessed a VERY overweight boy in Tesco yesterday. He was around 10 years old and he was as wide as he was tall. He was grossly overweight. He could hardly walk. He may have a medical problem, be poorly ( or richly ) fed by his carers but he was a time bomb waiting to go off. I estimate that he was at least 6 stone overweight. The food that kids eat today is crap. It's OUR responsibility to see they are fed the right foods to aid their development. :thumbsup:

Same here Hazel, I don't remember any "fat kids" or children with breathing difficulties or food allergies either. Maybe they were around, we just didn't see them? In fact, looking at photos taken during the fifties which was my childhood, we all look half starved in comparison to a lot of today's children!

I don't think it was just the walking and the playing out that kept us in trim, although we were all very active as children. Rode our bikes for miles and ran riot in the local park! There was a "rule" too, no eating in the street!

Also, in every house I knew of, children weren't just allowed to walk in and take food. We had to ask for everything we wanted, a biscuit, a piece of fruit, a drink. Everything except water was dispensed by your mother! We had our set mealtimes and snacktimes and we got "proper" food lol. So the amounts of salt and sugar were minimal, and there were no additives just to make it look nicer.

Sweets and bought cake were a weekend treat, and sitting reading my weekly "bunty" and eating an iced tart from Gegory's bakers was my Saturday heaven lol.

My father had an allotment and he grew most of the vegetables we ate. I think there was a barter system with other allotment holders for fruit etc . It was a different world back in the olden days!! :D

The sense of humour rating of some people on the Forum must be absolute zero or even in the minus category.
How anyone could read my last posting and take it at face value beats me. The same with the one about the Big Macs on a string.
The whole point about my posting was that just as smokers , like myself , are nagged and hounded by the Hand-wringing Brigade , so ,now people who are perceived to be overweight are getting the same treatment----wrongly in my view !
There's no harm in warning people about dangers but the Do-Gooders go on and on and on about it , backed up of course by the slavish media , who love warning us all about everything--a bit of fear sells papers ! What none of them ever seem to realise ---and a child of five could have told them ----is that generally people hate being nagged and what business is it of theirs anyway ?
The proof about constant nagging was shown recntly in the statistics of under-age sex , sexual diseases and all the related problems. For God knows how long , teenagers have been bombarded with goody-goody advice about sex and the effect has been precisely nil.
The next group for hounding should be the Irony--Deficiency and those suffering from Good Advice groups.

well, Fareast, i realised the point you were making ... but a lot of people dont always read to the end of things or they read what they think they're reading ... a friend of mine calls it "selective reading skills" ....

Maybe something like the health warning could be used "WARNING - what follows may be classed as TONGUE IN CHEEK, IRONY or plain and simple HUMOUR - if you don't get it or like it feel free to comment but DON'T take it SERIOUSLY!"

:banana:

Hi Ruby
I'd forgotten about food being dished out by my Mom, You are right thre was no eatiing in between meals because the food just wasn't there. Money was short so we never had bought cakes.
We never had any pocket money either so never thought about buying snacks. We were provided with food from home for days out with a bottle of water.

hazel

We too had an allotment ( well, two actually ) and ate home-grown organic veg and free range eggs from our chickens. We also only had cakes (home made ) or buns at the weekend and of course the tinned fruit and the obligatary Carnation cream. We had blackberry bushes at home and on the allotment and made our own blackberry pies. Our meat was bought from a local butcher who as far as I remember slaughtered his own livestock.

I think the point that you are missing Fareast, is that it isn't adults we are talking about, it's children. They are not legally responsible for themselves, their parents are. If there parents were giving them cigarettes would you approve?

And saying "perceived" doesn't alter the facts, smoking and being overweight (particularly medically obese which is really what we are talking about) is extremely unhealthy and contributes to any number of diseases and conditions and in the end will kill you.

I could see where you were coming from if we were talking about forcing adults to loose weight, but we aren't, we are talking about educating parents so that their children get the best start in life. If they want to eat themselves to death after the age of 16, i say the quicker the better, and preferably without any nhs time being wasted on them.

Originally posted by Fareast
The sense of humour rating of some people on the Forum must be absolute zero or even in the minus category.
How anyone could read my last posting and take it at face value beats me. The same with the one about the Big Macs on a string.
The whole point about my posting was that just as smokers , like myself , are nagged and hounded by the Hand-wringing Brigade , so ,now people who are perceived to be overweight are getting the same treatment----wrongly in my view !
There's no harm in warning people about dangers but the Do-Gooders go on and on and on about it , backed up of course by the slavish media , who love warning us all about everything--a bit of fear sells papers ! What none of them ever seem to realise ---and a child of five could have told them ----is that generally people hate being nagged and what business is it of theirs anyway ?
The proof about constant nagging was shown recntly in the statistics of under-age sex , sexual diseases and all the related problems. For God knows how long , teenagers have been bombarded with goody-goody advice about sex and the effect has been precisely nil.
The next group for hounding should be the Irony--Deficiency and those suffering from Good Advice groups.

Originally posted by Fareast
The sense of humour rating of some people on the Forum must be absolute zero or even in the minus category.
How anyone could read my last posting and take it at face value beats me. The same with the one about the Big Macs on a string.
My sense of humour is fine thanks very much. My sense of injustice however is highly tuned to bullying.
As I stated, taking the pi$$ out of overweight people is deemed as OK isn't it?
Try being an overweight child & being continually taunted all your life. It is not funny. It never will be funny.

whether it states 'tongue in cheek' or 'head up arse' it's not a topic to be ridiculed.

Thankyou, have good day :thumbsup:

Originally posted by rubydazzler
well, Fareast, i realised the point you were making ... but a lot of people dont always read to the end of things or they read what they think they're reading ... a friend of mine calls it "selective reading skills" ....

Maybe something like the health warning could be used "WARNING - what follows may be classed as TONGUE IN CHEEK, IRONY or plain and simple HUMOUR - if you don't get it or like it feel free to comment but DON'T take it SERIOUSLY!"

:banana:
I believe these are your words too, to another user on another thread...
timo, were you inebriated when you posted this and other tirades on this thread? I can't think of any other reason for someone to be so patronisingly insulting to someone based on your own inability to check facts ... I think an apology from you to Carl might be in order here. But judging by your posts on this thread you are so far up yourself - if i was in your league I'd be saying typical Tory Sun reader but I don't fling around gratuitous insults based on my own ignorance of the subject matter - it's highly unlikely to happen.


hmmm:|

Originally posted by Don_Kiddick

Being overweight is the last taboo in this country that people are 'allowed' to discriminate against, and they do it with some strange self imposed seat of judgement.


Very well said Don, I couldn't agree with this more.

Well , yes , children do need protecting from themselves , on occasions and some parents may be irresponsible but unless you keep a child a virtual prisoner , you can never wholly control what they do and don't eat. To stop children eating "unhealthy "food you would have to revamp the advertising industry and not allow kids any spending money. How you WONT stop overeating is nagging people all the time ----and the rest of us who it doesn't apply to have to listen to it too. You could tell people and try leaving it at that. The whole question of diets and" healthy" food has been on the go for decades now ----the result ? more overweight people here and in America than there's ever been.It's the price we pay , for freedom and affluence.
As for adults , if they want to overeat , let them ! I smoke and I know the risks ; no need to go on about it. Yes , I heard you the first time .
THE WAY SMOKERS ARE PERSECUTED IS THAT THEY'RE NOT JUST ISOLATED BUT ARE FORCED TO SMOKE IN THE MOST UNCOMFORTABLE PLACES-----OUTSIDE IN THE RAIN----THAT'LL TEACH THEM . That was the point of my joke about forcing fat kids to eat separately.
I give up with Don---Whatsit---he doesn't seem to understand irony ......etc....even when you spell it out.

Don't give up on me mate! :)
It wasn't irony though.
The 2 comparisons don't compare -
As I said passive smoking does affect everyone, me being overweight doesn't.
But making a joke about someone from your seat of judgement - however it was intended - hurts.
Badly.

Originally posted by Don_Kiddick
My sense of humour is fine thanks very much. My sense of injustice however is highly tuned to bullying.
As I stated, taking the pi$$ out of overweight people is deemed as OK isn't it?
Try being an overweight child & being continually taunted all your life. It is not funny. It never will be funny.

whether it states 'tongue in cheek' or 'head up arse' it's not a topic to be ridiculed.

Thankyou, have good day :thumbsup:


well said don_kiddick
i know this is true with kids getting bullied as i seen with my own eyes,as well as my own child haveing problems with this due to a medical problem people think i over feed her.but i got to admit something too,since i put on weight ( only because of my daughter condition and i was fed up of people saying things about me as i was slim and i must be over feeding her) no one seems to say much these days as the look at both of us and must think that we both eat wrongly.i did put weight on to ease the pain of my daughter and that my chioce has was fed up of her getting all the fat jokes and to me if people say about me i can stand up for my self but she could not,but since she seen me put weight on she too got stronger in her self and fights back, but for me i can loose the weight she carnt,she not obesit yet but over weight for her age and still growing till she gets to the obesit weight stage.but i see kids that are very very over weight for they age and they are very loveing kids that just want to live a normal life and be happy but they carnt has some people think they fat and lazy and dont think for one moment that it not there falt or the parents falt.

Originally posted by Don_Kiddick
I believe these are your words too, to another user on another thread...
hmmm:|

I didn't say I agreed with the post from Fareast, I said I realised the point s/he was making. Maybe my point about selective reading skills may apply to you?

I added the bit about inserting a "joke" warning because of the comparison with cigarette smoking that was made. I also didn't think Fareast intended to be insulting or bullying, my impression was that s/he was trying to support people with weight issues, not the contrary.

As a fat person, I myself have issues with people who always comment on weight ... mostly thinking that saying you're losing it is a compliment, but you have to blame the prevailing culture for that.

If you can find a post from me where I have insultingly commented on another member's appearance, intelligence or status (well, maybe on the people I actually know lol) ... I apologise right now ... but I don't think you will ... not even one pretending I was being tongue in cheek or ironic ... as some seem to.

I think you're perhaps aiming at the wrong target today Don.

Don Kiddick makes reference to Rubydazzler's suggestion that I was 'inebriated' on the Tory ad thread. The good lady also suggested that I was 'up myself'. Strictly speaking, Ruby did not refer to my appearance [which is a rather more handsome and refined version of the actor Ray Winstone], my intelligence [which is superb, both in terms of linguistic and visio-spatial dexterity], or my status [which is Upper Middle class], so she is clear of all charges.

Incidentally, Ruby, I have posted a reply to you on that thread. I reiterate that I hope you will forgive me, and I extend the hand of cyber-friendship to you. I admire your martial ability, and courage, in crossing swords with a Philosopher-King such as I. The number of posters who came to my aid must tell you that I am not a bad stick really. Seriously, let's shake hands.

Seems that this thread is getting a little personal. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by fox20thc
Seems that this thread is getting a little personal. :rolleyes:

It's an emotive subject! Debates happen...

K x

it would have been nice to come back to this thread and find anything a) on topic, and/or b) worth reading.

With the exception of children with medical disorders, what should or can be done to alter the habits of the overweight children and there apparently incapable or uncaring parents?

Originally posted by Cyclone
it would have been nice to come back to this thread and find anything a) on topic, and/or b) worth reading.

With the exception of children with medical disorders, what should or can be done to alter the habits of the overweight children and there apparently incapable or uncaring parents?

Education, education, education!

Firstly, the responsibility must lie with the parents, then the school. Some people unfortunatley are sucked into the media and the trends we all 'should' follow. Let's have an uprising and say 'NO' we won't follow the latest 'fashion/food' trends. This country apparently will be like the USA in 10 years time with the problems of obesity if we don't act NOW! Fast food and slow living don't mix. :gag: