Pupils aged just seven too obese to fit into their uniforms

MathDebater

Children as young as seven are having to get 'adult' size school uniforms.

And as a result, parents are left with higher bills because the clothes don't qualify for zero-rate VAT.

Department of Finance rules allowing for a VAT exemption on children's clothing and shoes also extend to school uniforms.

The zero rate applies to clothing up to a size that the Revenue Commissioner deems would be no bigger than what a 10-year-old of average build would wear. This is set at sizes up to and including a 32-inch chest or a 26-inch waist.

But school uniform manufacturers and suppliers say the guidelines are out of date with the height and weight of modern children.

The Irish School Wear Association (ISWA) spokesperson Karen Grant said they were "aware of a plethora of cases where children as young as seven require uniforms of a size too big to qualify for VAT".


The ISWA has made its case in a pre-Budget submission to Finance Minster Michael Noonan, citing figures from a 2012 Safefood report.

The report quotes data from national surveys conducted in 1948 and 2002, which show that children's heights increased by 23cm, about nine inches in boys, and by 15.6cm, about six inches, in girls, in the intervening years.


The increase in weight was proportionately higher, with 14-year-old boys weighing 24kgs more in 2002 than they did in 1948.

The survey comparisons also highlighted an accelerating problem with obesity affecting children.

Ms Grant said it was "clear that the measurement restrictions in place for the zero percent rate did not adequately cover today's schoolchildren".

VAT was introduced in 1972 and Ms Grant said the regime disadvantaged parents of bigger children, mainly because the tax law had not kept up to date with the increase in children's sizes.

"The zero rate should be expanded to ensure that all school uniform items, for school-going children of any age and size, were not subject to VAT. The main issue for many parents in these days of austerity is the cost of living and adding 23pc tax to the cost of a school uniform, due to 'lazy legislation', must be stopped," she said.

The tax rules on zero rating for children's clothing in the UK are more lenient and cover sizes to fit up to a 33-inch chest and a 27.5-inch waist for boys, and a 33.5-inch chest and 27-inch waist for girls.

Weight-loss specialist Dr Eva Orsmond said many parents of overweight children are "living in denial".

"They are worried about making an issue of their child's weight, because they think their son or daughter will suddenly become anorexic, or develop some sort of eating disorder. In reality, that's very unlikely.

"Many parents convince themselves extra weight in a child is puppy fat".

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/education/pupils-aged-just-seven-too-obese-to-fit-into-their-uniforms-31345906.html

Ireland  is on course to become the most obese country in Europe, according to the latest figures from World Health Organisation (WHO) experts.

Europe is heading for an unprecedented explosion in rates of obesity and excess weight — with the Ireland at the forefront of the trend, say researchers.

By 2030 Europe will face an obesity crisis of “enormous proportions”, said the report.

In terms of obesity alone, the estimates show a big jump for women in the Irish Republic, soaring from 23 per cent to 57 per cent.

The proportion of obese Irish men was expected to increase from 26 per cent to 48 per cent, while the figure for those either overweight or obese rises from 74 per cent to 89 per cent.

In 2030, the proportion of obese and overweight men in Ireland is projected to rise to 89 per cent with a corresponding 85 per cent of women falling into this category.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/ireland-set-to-be-most-obese-country-in-europe-who-says-1.2201731


We have a huge obesity crisis looming unless we take proactive measures to try and circumvent it.

Firstly, physical education class needs to be taken more seriously in primary schools. When I was in primary we were lucky if we did P.E. once a week and in secondary school all we did was a double class of football once a week. If we acted the flute, we were threatened or banned from partaking. PE was seen as a 'treat' and not part of the curriculum. This attitude needs to change.

We had an ambudance of sporting equipment, basketball nets, badminton racquets and nets, gymnastic equipment - you name it, we had it. But the majority were only interested in playing football and got their wish. Whilst those who had no interest in constantly playing football and who probably would have given another sport a try, sat another P.E lesson out. Unless one side needed a keeper and they were haraunged into playing! The same story rings true across an awful lot of schools in the country. Pity, because it deprives a lot of children of falling in love and going onto participate for a lifetime in more minority sports outside of soccer, rugby, GAA and boxing.

From going through homework with my younger family it seems that they do learn about nutrition and the value of eating well at a young age. The problem is, especially for boys, they do not learn how to actually make a nutritious meal. All well in good telling a kid what to eat, but if his parents can barely cook, he's not going to be able to teach himself. Where I live and where I grew up, home economics was mandatory for girls up to Junior Certificate. Not in the boys schools though and that needs to change. There are classes that could be dropped instead(and I'm deliberately not mentioning which ones so this thread doesn't go off on a tangent).

Obviously processed foods and the abundance of takeaway options has helped increase the obesity levels of the population, but in my opinion one of the major contributing factors is the lack of of outdoor physical activity amongst the younger generation. . More people than ever are in gyms and sports clubs. But, up until relatively recently, it wasn't unusual for young lads to be out playing ball/tennis until all hours of the night. I'm curremtly living in an area with similar demographics that I grew up in, but it's rare to see a large number of lads playing sport on the green. Less than a decade ago when I was a teen, the greens in the area would be full of young fellas playing ball until it was too dark to play anymore. A few would have played with a sports clubs too but the majority would not.

There has been a huge cultural change in Ireland over the past decade. The country has moved forward in leaps and bounds in some regards but backwards in others. The projections for our future levels of obesity make grim reading.

crockholm

Lets be honest,is there any reason that Religious education should not be transferred over to PE?

endacl

crockholm wrote: »

Lets be honest,is there any reason that Religious education should not be transferred over to PE?

Bloody good idea.

Give them something useful. Save the fairytales for bedtime.

Junkyard Tom

As revered French philosopher René Descartes said:

'If ya doesn't be luvin' me at me fattest then you can't be having me at my bestest'

MathDebater

crockholm wrote:

Lets be honest,is there any reason that Religious education should not be transferred over to PE?

Heh.

I absolutely agree but didnt want to lead me own thread off topic! An hour a week shaved off religous class with the age group in question and that hour dedicated towards PE would be a smart move. How many class hours are spent 'preparing' them for their first communion when they could spend an hour of that time playing a sport?

To completely throw my thread off topic - those hours in early primary class spent teaching Irish? I'd use them instead to give kids a fun, brief introduction to a variety of languages. Make learning languages fun and when they find one that they really enjoy - they will invest more time and be more enthusiastic about learning it themselves.

NachoBusiness

crockholm wrote: »

Lets be honest,is there any reason that Religious education should not be transferred over to PE?

Yes: Those children will no doubt burn in the hot fires of hell if they do not accept that the Lord Jesus Christ is their savoir. Good enough for you?

But if you think sliding around on the floor, playing with hula hoop rings is more important than having eternal life in the hereafter, have it your way so.

MathDebater

endacl wrote: »

Bloody good idea.

Give them something useful. Save the fairytales for bedtime.

Teaching kids about religion isn't a bad thing imho. Which one they subscribe to is a private matter between themselves and their family. It should be none of the states beeswax. Hive them a briefing on all the worlds major religions.

It's the fact that the teachings are so focused on one religion and the total class time spent on the teachings of that particular religion, that is the problem. That time could be better invested elsewhere.

The_Valeyard

crockholm wrote: »

Lets be honest,is there any reason that Religious education should not be transferred over to PE?

endacl wrote: »

Bloody good idea.

Give them something useful. Save the fairytales for bedtime.

MathDebater wrote: »

Heh.

I absolutely agree but didnt want to lead me own thread off topic! An hour a week shaved off religous class with the age group in question and that hour dedicated towards PE would be a smart move. How many class hours are spent 'preparing' them for their first communion when they could spend an hour of that time playing a sport?

Well that only took a couple of posts before the usual 'remove religion from everything' post. Not surprised. Next they will blame religion for obesity.


Maybe parents should take some responsibility for their childs diet or examine what they are actually feeding them. Some children are consuming far too much sugar in various foods which is leading to obesity. Great documentary on Netflix called 'fedup' about how the reduction of fat content in foods led to sugar replacing it to make it tasty, which your body does not know how to correctly process. Very interesting stuff.

NIMAN

As a parent of a child who started junior infants this year (with 2 more coming behind) I find it shocking that they get so little structured PE time.

1hr a week is not enough.

But then again we now live in a world where kids are told not to run in the playground. And we wonder why they are getting fat (although a lot of that is also down to how their parents feed them).

The_Valeyard

NIMAN wrote: »

But then again we now live in a world where kids are told not to run in the playground. And we wonder why they are getting fat (although a lot of that is also down to how their parents feed them).

Is that true about the playground thinge?

Isnt it natural that kids will run, fall, and get bumps n bruises?

MathDebater

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Well that only took a couple of posts before the usual 'remove religion from everything' post. Not surprised. Next they will blame religion for obesity.

No, I think that you're taking posters up wrong. Religion should absolutely be taught to nippers, just that the length of time is excessive. Some of that time could be spent onP.E

The state spends excessive amounts of time teaching kids learning about one particular religion. I think that time could be better spent.

The_Valeyard wrote:

Maybe parents should take some responsibility for their childs diet or examine what they are actually feeding them. Some children are consuming far too much sugar in various foods which is leading to obesity.

I agree with you again. Parents should be able to teach their children how and what to cook but the problem is a lot of them can't cook themselves.

From when I was able to eat edible foods until my nana moved in with me here was my diet. Brekkie - cornflakes. Little lunch - crackers and butter, packet of crisps. Big break - apple, ham sambos, swiss roll. Dinner - chicken kiev, boiled potatoes and carrots. Every fcuking day until my nana moved in when I was twelve.

It wasn't her fault, she was a young mother that had no clue how to provide nutrition or how to cook.

LordSutch

Fizzy drinks (large) Popcorn (large) Burgers (large) French fries (large) Mars bars (large) Crisps (large), biscuits, cookies, more fizzy drinks, ham burgers, more french fries, another large bag of crisps and a mars bar, plus another fizzy drink please.

doulikeit

People need to take responsibility for their own lives and their kids lives. Its a cop out throwing your hands in the air and saying " its not my fault my kid is a fat lump he only has 1hour of PE a week" but then let them sit in front of the tv eating crisps all weekend while you could be out doing your own thing with them, beach walks, local gaa or soccer clubs,boxing clubs, hill walking there's a million things you could do, but dont sit on your hands blame someone else for your kids health. Rant over

Mahou

The Irish School Wear Association (ISWA)

Can´t believe something like this exists.

Cookie_Monster

"The zero rate should be expanded to ensure that all school uniform items, for school-going children of any age and size, were not subject to VAT. The main issue for many parents in these days of austerity is the cost of living and adding 23pc tax to the cost of a school uniform, due to 'lazy legislation', must be stopped," she said.

Right so instead of dealing with the issue, just make xl and adult sizes cheaper...

How about prosecuting those parents for child neglect because that's exactly what the problem is, not 30 euro of VAT or whatever it is.

Charlie19

Just get them to wear 8 to 9 year old clothes.


Oh yeah...and more exercise and eat healthy.

Buona Fortuna

The Front Bum Experience wrote: »

fat cnuts

And the re reg beacon starts to flash in Gordon's large office.

Gordon is still sleeping off the Chateau Neuf but when he wakes ...

There is no turning off the beacon.

Diamond Doll

I used to work in a shop that was the main local stockist for school uniforms and Communion outfits.

With the school uniforms and with the boys Communion outfits, you could usually find something to suit them. But every year there were always a couple of seven-year-old girls that we didn't have a Communion dress that would fit. And we stocked up to age twelve (with generous fitting.)

We used to suggest to the parents that they get one specially made, but it's hard to do that when you have a young girl standing there crying because she couldn't have the princess dress that she saw in the window. And of course she'd be well aware that it was because she was too fat. And chances are the parents would probably bring her off to McDonalds afterwards to stuff her face in order to cheer her up. And the cycle continues.

I'd be all for abolishing RE for PE, as suggested above, but the real problem in my opinion is with diet rather than exercise. Children are taught from a young age that food fixes everything, that junk food is part of the diet. Chicken nuggets and pizza cooked at home is to be expected, but even better if you get them from a fast-food place. Give a seven-year-old a dinner of meat and veg - they'll probably turn their nose up at it. Never mind a basic salad! They've learned that fried crap is the norm.

It's a pity.

Jon Stark

LordSutch wrote: »

Fizzy drinks (large) Popcorn (large) Burgers (large) French fries (large) Mars bars (large) Crisps (large), biscuits, cookies, more fizzy drinks, ham burgers, more french fries, another large bag of crisps and a mars bar, plus another fizzy drink please.

Hope you're getting butter with that popcorn.

The first article quotes Eva Orsmond so that's one article that I can ignore. It also gives no specific stats to reflect this crisis.

The second article is harder to ignore, and I do find it surprising. I find Irish people to be quite weight obsessed (I include myself here), and there seems to be this deep shame associated to being overweight.

So I would never have thought this country would have been one of the worst in Europe for obesity. I'd have the UK and Spain as worse off.

strelok

you'd be shocked how few calories exercise actually burns. the obesity crisis is 80-90% down to diet. people eat like ****, they have no idea what is in their food and no interest in educating themselves and the population has gotten so fat generally speaking that our idea of what constitutes skinny/normal/fat is hilariously out of whack. Fat looks normal to us now, even when you objectively "know" it isn't your brain just adapts to what it sees all day every day.


I remember just 5-6 years ago reading an article about the obesity problem in society, looking at pictures of the obese people it was referencing and wondering to myself what the problem was.. they just looked normal.

Autonomous Cowherd

strelok wrote: »

you'd be shocked how few calories exercise actually burns. the obesity crisis is 80-90% down to diet. people eat like ****, they have no idea what is in their food and no interest in educating themselves and the population has gotten so fat generally speaking that our idea of what constitutes skinny/normal/fat is hilariously out of whack. Fat looks normal to us now, even when you objectively "know" it isn't your brain just adapts to what it sees all day every day.

.

Yes, exercise is more about cardio vascular fitness than weight loss. The main problem is diet.

But I do not think people realise how addictive the sugar and added fat in the most available foods are, and how easily children's taste buds are conditioned to be addicted to high salt, high fat, high sugar tastes. I find it difficult in the supermarkets to find actual 'real food'. The shelves are heaving with junk. Most food available is junk.

There are a few factors in childhood obesity. To prepare food from scratch takes time. If you are working until 5 and home knackered at 6, by the time you could have a proper meal on the table, you would be talking close to 7.30 pm which is late enough for children to be eating. So i guess parents give their kids pizzas and oven chips or whatever.

Less mothers breastfeed for a lengthy enough time, and breastfeeding is a great way to ensure a child is not overfed. I have seen umpteen times people putting rice in bottle milk or whatever to 'make them sleep longer'. I mean wtf?

I was a stay at home mother, and took the economic hit because I just could not manage all...looking after them and having a career. I also did not let them have any sweets until they were over 4 or 5 years old. People of course think you are a nazi of the lowest order...but their taste buds and brains are developing and it is the parents duty to train them well, not to shovel more chocolate into them to keep them quiet. Ditto with TV, videos on laptops, games from an early age....this is not parenting, it is low level 'coping.'

Anyways, I know people do not like to hear this sort of stuff... hate me if you will

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

This is nothing to do with education or PE pr religion or any of that ****e.

It's lifestyle. Kids should not have problems getting exercise outside of school times.

Another cause is media pressure on parents: how many kids - when you yourselves were kids - walked or cycled to school? Compared with how many nowadays get driven?

georgieM

Maybe if these kids started walking or cycling to school. Instead mammy and daddy have to get as close to the door as they can just in case little Jimmy gets hit with a drop of rain.

hoodwinked

This little piggy wrote: »

Give a seven-year-old a dinner of meat and veg - they'll probably turn their nose up at it. Never mind a basic salad! They've learned that fried crap is the norm.

It's a pity.

thats very unfair really, if anything i think like most things from the past our kids seem to learn more from our own attitudes to food.

my husband and i both have sweet tooth's, we'd always have fizzy drinks in stock at home, or jellies, crisps and chocolate, we never once stopped our now 5 year old from having any of that stuff if she asked (and it wasn't too near lunch/dinner time) we'd let her have them, we'd eat mc donalds/take out, i'm a size 10, he's not overweight at all, she was weighed by her doctor yesterday, she's in the upper percentile for height but her weight is perfect, we never banned anything, just told her things like "you can't have more than 2 biscuits/1 packet of crisps...etc)

now at 5 if you give her a choice of coke or water, she chooses water, yesterday i asked her what did she want for lunch and she replied a fruit salad (chopped up fruit with berries) ask her what is her favorite dinner? she will tell you it's chicken, mashed potato and broccoli & carrots. in fact cold broccoli is becoming a school lunch snack too as she loves the stuff, her school gives out haribo's and she says "no thanks" (she doesn't like ANY sweets/jellies and we don't force her to either)

obesity is not down to children eating mcdonalds, or crisps/sweets its down to a lack of moderation with these foods, i don't drink 2 ltr's of fizzys in one night but today parents will let their child grab the pint glass and fill it to the brim with fizzy's twice or three times during a meal, they'll let them eat an entire multi pack of crisps (because "those darn companies make everything smaller nowadays so sure tis the same as a pack i used to eat as a kid") and then you have the parents who ban sweets/chocolate/fizzy drinks at home and implement a "healthy eating" regime so their children are the first to raid the sweets/fizzy drinks table at a birthday party or someone else's house :rolleyes:

these are the causes for unhealthy attitudes to food,

galljga1

Autonomous Cowherd wrote: »

Yes, exercise is more about cardio vascular fitness than weight loss. The main problem is diet.

But I do not think people realise how addictive the sugar and added fat in the most available foods are, and how easily children's taste buds are conditioned to be addicted to high salt, high fat, high sugar tastes. I find it difficult in the supermarkets to find actual 'real food'. The shelves are heaving with junk. Most food available is junk.

There are a few factors in childhood obesity. To prepare food from scratch takes time. If you are working until 5 and home knackered at 6, by the time you could have a proper meal on the table, you would be talking close to 7.30 pm which is late enough for children to be eating. So i guess parents give their kids pizzas and oven chips or whatever.

Less mothers breastfeed for a lengthy enough time, and breastfeeding is a great way to ensure a child is not overfed. I have seen umpteen times people putting rice in bottle milk or whatever to 'make them sleep longer'. I mean wtf?

I was a stay at home mother, and took the economic hit because I just could not manage all...looking after them and having a career. I also did not let them have any sweets until they were over 4 or 5 years old. People of course think you are a nazi of the lowest order...but their taste buds and brains are developing and it is the parents duty to train them well, not to shovel more chocolate into them to keep them quiet. Ditto with TV, videos on laptops, games from an early age....this is not parenting, it is low level 'coping.'

Anyways, I know people do not like to hear this sort of stuff... hate me if you will

My autonomous friend, how can you not find real food in a supermarket? The choice available is limitless: fresh veg, meat, milk, flour, oatmeal, fruit and plenty more, all additive free. However, I did have pizza last night because I could not be ar£ed cooking.

eviltwin

I was in the zoo on Monday and was shocked by the numbers of overweight kids there, young kids who would be dependent on an adult for food, kids under 10. Some had overweight parents, some didn't. What I noticed was how inactive they were, they were being carried or pushed in buggies. I'm talking 4/5 yr olds. It was shocking to see, those kids deserve better.

Autonomous Cowherd

galljga1 wrote: »

My autonomous friend, how can you not find real food in a supermarket? The choice available is limitless: fresh veg, meat, milk, flour, oatmeal, fruit and plenty more, all additive free. However, I did have pizza last night because I could not be ar£ed cooking.

Lol Okay I exaggerated somewhat. But even the so called 'fresh' stuff is laced with chemicals, hormones, antibiotics, and organic is pretty steeply priced. I grow 50% at least of my own vegetables plus fruit. And buy local organic eggs. And don't eat meat. But yes the odd time a pizza is just the trick

machiavellianme

LordSutch wrote: »

Fizzy drinks (large) Popcorn (large) Burgers (large) French fries (large) Mars bars (large) Crisps (large), biscuits, cookies, more fizzy drinks, ham burgers, more french fries, another large bag of crisps and a mars bar, plus another fizzy drink please.

These haven't existed for a very long time. Scandalous how small (and expensive) they've gotten.

galljga1

Autonomous Cowherd wrote: »

Lol Okay I exaggerated somewhat. But even the so called 'fresh' stuff is laced with chemicals, hormones, antibiotics, and organic is pretty steeply priced. I grow 50% at least of my own vegetables plus fruit. And buy local organic eggs. And don't eat meat. But yes the odd time a pizza is just the trick

Yeah, we are being pretty much poisoned or pickled, depending on what we eat. I gave up growing veg. It all arrives at the same time, I used to end up trawling the village to find someone to take a bag or two off me. My six year old only drinks milk or water or juice/smoothies we make together. This is not due to enforcement, just what he likes. He will discover Heineken in time and it will be all downhill after that.

galljga1

LordSutch wrote: »

Fizzy drinks (large) Popcorn (large) Burgers (large) French fries (large) Mars bars (large) Crisps (large), biscuits, cookies, more fizzy drinks, ham burgers, more french fries, another large bag of crisps and a mars bar, plus another fizzy drink please.

I was in the foodcourt of a mall somewhere outside Chicago when a guy the size of a small house waddled over to a table close to us with a tray stacked with enough food to feed the average village. This was accompanied with a gallon cup (bucket) of DIET pepsi. What got me about this guy was that he had fat hanging from his elbows. How the hell can you have fat hanging from your elbows?

crockholm

Why do people care that we have an "obesity epidemic", I couldn't care less if the country is full of fat feckers or stick men let people live their own lives.

crockholm wrote: »

Lets be honest,is there any reason that Religious education should not be transferred over to PE?

I was expecting it to take at least 3 or 4 posts for religion bashing to start, but no second post. Your faith is infinitely more important than any PE class.

galljga1

Odin Wrong Windowsill wrote: »

Why do people care that we have an "obesity epidemic", I couldn't care less if the country is full of fat feckers or stick men let people live their own lives.



I was expecting it to take at least 3 or 4 posts for religion bashing to start, but no second post. Your faith is infinitely more important than any PE class.

Eh....No!

Dravokivich

NIMAN wrote: »

As a parent of a child who started junior infants this year (with 2 more coming behind) I find it shocking that they get so little structured PE time.

1hr a week is not enough.

But then again we now live in a world where kids are told not to run in the playground. And we wonder why they are getting fat (although a lot of that is also down to how their parents feed them).

Eh... this no running in the school yard thing isn't a new thing. It's been going on at least 25 years.

mailforkev

The problem is that overweight is the new normal so if your kid looks the same as all their friends then it's not as immediately noticeable that he or she is too big.

As for PE in schools, in my school if you picked Geography for the leaving, as I did, then you had no PE.

PE was basically the least important subject while we had lots of Irish and religion classes. So at least if you were obese you left school a lapsed catholic who struggled to speak Irish.

Mandatory PE is not the solution to the fat kid epidemic but it would go a little way to promoting a more active lifestyle.

Shenshen

galljga1 wrote: »

My autonomous friend, how can you not find real food in a supermarket? The choice available is limitless: fresh veg, meat, milk, flour, oatmeal, fruit and plenty more, all additive free. However, I did have pizza last night because I could not be ar£ed cooking.

While I agree that real food is indeed still available in supermarkets (and thank the invisible pink unicorn for that), you sometimes do have to go looking for it a bit.
And when you compare what's being sold ready-made vs fresh ingredients, the ingredients you'd want to cook something similar to the ready-made meal are not necessarily all available in the store. Especially if you're talking about curries, or Thai dishes.

That said, I would imagine a lot of people would be scared to try to cook such dishes themselves anyway. So if they want them, they get the ready-made ones.

I think overall it would be a good idea as a start to offer free cooking classes to everyone. It really isn't difficult, nor is it hard or even overly time-consuming. You just have to know what you're doing. And as other posters have pointed out, there are a great many parents around who can't cook or won't cook, and their habits will of course massively influence their children.

As for more PE - I'm not convinced. PE turned me off sports for decades, I only re-discovered that it actually can be enjoyable to get a bit of exercise in my late 30s.
Maybe a better approach would be to address the quality of PE lessons over the quantity?

Del.Monte

Whatever about swapping PE for religion, the amount of time spent learning Irish would be better spent on the playing field or just going for a walk.

RobertKK

Fat children, often have fat parents.

They all need to get an education on what to eat and on exercise.

Grew up on a farm, we didn't need PE...and the parents never ate fast food so we didn't either and a soft drink was a treat, not something regular.

Menas

There have always been fat kids, its not a new phenomenon. But that is because there have always been bad parents....and weak parents who just give their kids everything they ask for.
If my 4 year old had his way he would have ice cream for breakfast, cookies for lunch and chocolate for tea. All washed down with a gallon of capri sun and interspersed with crisps thruout the day.

galljga1

Shenshen wrote: »

While I agree that real food is indeed still available in supermarkets (and thank the invisible pink unicorn for that), you sometimes do have to go looking for it a bit.
And when you compare what's being sold ready-made vs fresh ingredients, the ingredients you'd want to cook something similar to the ready-made meal are not necessarily all available in the store. Especially if you're talking about curries, or Thai dishes.

That said, I would imagine a lot of people would be scared to try to cook such dishes themselves anyway. So if they want them, they get the ready-made ones.

I think overall it would be a good idea as a start to offer free cooking classes to everyone. It really isn't difficult, nor is it hard or even overly time-consuming. You just have to know what you're doing. And as other posters have pointed out, there are a great many parents around who can't cook or won't cook, and their habits will of course massively influence their children.

As for more PE - I'm not convinced. PE turned me off sports for decades, I only re-discovered that it actually can be enjoyable to get a bit of exercise in my late 30s.
Maybe a better approach would be to address the quality of PE lessons over the quantity?

Yeah, I would not get too hung up on the whole PE thing. Kids spend much more time running around outside school, cycling, playing with friends etc. Re making a meal from scratch, yes, all the ingredients are sometimes not available in the one supermarket but if you cook regularly, you tend to build up a stock of strange items in your kitchen, some of which you may only use once. I like cooking, so I am willing to experiment. Sometimes the kids don't appreciate it, sometimes I don't appreciate it, you live and learn (not to do it again).
Getting back to exercise, my 12 year old started cycling to school 2 years ago (approx 2 miles, on country road). One of the teachers told another parent that I was mad letting her cycle: and we are all getting fatter.

tigerboon

Dravokivich wrote: »

Eh... this no running in the school yard thing isn't a new thing. It's been going on at least 25 years.

Some schools maybe but our kids play football at school nearly every day. You have to ask the question why a school has this policy in place.

P. Breathnach

Shenshen wrote: »

... I think overall it would be a good idea as a start to offer free cooking classes to everyone....

Yes, with an element of education about nutrition.

And what is the best opportunity to get everybody to learn something useful? School. If I had to choose between mandatory PE classes and mandatory cookery classes, I'd consider cookery/nutrition the better option for long-term benefit.

That is partly because those kids most in need of PE become experts in avoiding it.

dirkmeister

How about parents take some responsibility?

Children are only in school for 5 and a half hours daily.
Perhaps they could go for a walk in the evening?

Schools don't feed children either, some of the sh!t that gets into lunchboxes would make you wonder.

Autonomous Cowherd

Menas wrote: »

There have always been fat kids, its not a new phenomenon. But that is because there have always been bad parents....and weak parents who just give their kids everything they ask for.
If my 4 year old had his way he would have ice cream for breakfast, cookies for lunch and chocolate for tea. All washed down with a gallon of capri sun and interspersed with crisps thruout the day.

That is the good point, Menas. Choice. People seem to think some sort of laissez faire parenting is modern, where their children are like mini-adults and get to make their own choices. But actually that is our job. To lovingly say no. It is a choice for us to engage fully with parenthood or to let it slip by in some strange lifestyle that does not recognise responsibility.

But then again, I think this whole obesity thing is merely evidence of systemic failure. A consumer lifestyle based on excessive hours spent treading a work hamster wheel interspersed with addictive consuming to quell the angst and ennui of a life that is essentially bereft of freedom will always show up as problems on the physical/emotional/mental level.

Lol, but hey that's another story

galljga1

dirkmeister wrote: »

How about parents take some responsibility?

Children are only in school for 5 and a half hours daily.
Perhaps they could go for a walk in the evening?

Schools don't feed children either, some of the sh!t that gets into lunchboxes would make you wonder.

I cannot agree with you more. The same goes for basic manners. The ultimate responsibility lies with the parents.

Menas

Autonomous Cowherd wrote: »

That is the good point, Menas. Choice. People seem to think some sort of laissez faire parenting is modern, where their children are like mini-adults and get to make their own choices. But actually that is our job. To lovingly say no. It is a choice for us to engage fully with parenthood or to let it slip by in some strange lifestyle that does not recognise responsibility.

But then again, I think this whole obesity thing is merely evidence of systemic failure. A consumer lifestyle based on excessive hours spent treading a work hamster wheel interspersed with addictive consuming to quell the angst and ennui of a life that is essentially bereft of freedom will always show up as problems on the physical/emotional/mental level.

Lol, but hey that's another story

And dont even get me going on exercise! Kids should not be sat in front of a tv all day (this is what most would chose to do)...they should be out climbing trees!

LilRedDorcha

My primary school had this healthy eating policy, where certain foods were banned. I don't remember how much PE time we had, but it was definitely varied and everyone had to take part. The teachers also did their best to teach us about nutrition, and my 6th class teacher even got most of the class out of the habit of putting sugar in our tea by teaching us how to wean ourselves off of it. You could see the difference then when we went to secondary school. Most people (note: not all) from my school still kept bringing healthy lunches even though anything was allowed in secondary school, whereas people from other schools had unhealthier lunches (again, not all children from other schools). Obviously not the case for everyone, but there was a clear difference.

However, I will point out that my parents had and still have a great attitude. Time on the consoles and PC was limited, and they used to take us out walking when the weather was fine. We don't stock fizzy drinks or sweets in the house, and they'd be treats as opposed to being normal things to have. We never felt deprived or anything since we had a great balance. The school can do a lot, but if the parents don't meet them halfway, the children are still going to end up eating poorly and not getting enough exercise.

denhaagenite

Shenshen wrote: »

It really isn't difficult, nor is it hard or even overly time-consuming. You just have to know what you're doing. And as other posters have pointed out, there are a great many parents around who can't cook or won't cook, and their habits will of course massively influence their children.

This I agree with. As a young teenager the task fell to me of cooking all of our evening meals (family of six at that stage as two had already flown the coop). I can cook, amongst other things, spag bol from scratch in 15 minutes. It's really simple. We only buy brown rice and pasta because frankly, once you get used to it, there's no taste difference.

I do think workplaces need to be a bit more flexible so that parents can maybe make an agreement for one to be home early enough to cook a nutritious meal everyday, maybe allow people begin work between 7am and 10am and leave when their time is up?

Having said that, I believe it is really the fault of the parents. A lot of schools no longer allow junk, and creches often cook during the day to show small children how it's done.

anncoates

To be fair, we need a certain amount of fat and ginger kids to help draw the piss-taking away from the normal ones. Like slow-moving members of the herd.

Kev W

Odin Wrong Windowsill wrote: »

Why do people care that we have an "obesity epidemic", I couldn't care less if the country is full of fat feckers or stick men let people live their own lives.



I was expecting it to take at least 3 or 4 posts for religion bashing to start, but no second post. Your faith is infinitely more important than any PE class.

"Let people live their own lives within this very strict set of rules that if you break them you'll be tortured forever out of love."

Kev W

Del.Monte wrote: »

Whatever about swapping PE for religion, the amount of time spent learning Irish would be better spent on the playing field or just going for a walk.

Or sleeping or staring at a wall.

cloud493

School PE is ****e, as someone else, it wasn't till I left school and started exercising independently I discovered its not ****e.