are parents and family at fault for obese kids?

rizzodun

I've skimmed the 30 posts in this thread so maybe I missed someone saying this, but if it hasn't been said then I'm amazed.

Part of the problem is that kids these days are too sedentary.

When I was younger there was one TV to fight over, a games console hooked up to the same tv, no pc or internet, so just by those reasons alone I spent a lot of time outside.
I could eat pretty much anything I wanted when I was younger, and as my family owned a restaurant I pretty much did, and never gained weight.

Basic rule to losing weight, burn more calories than your take in, so, the more active you are the more calories you can have.

There's two tv's in my house, a laptop, games console, and internet enabled mobiles, my kids can spend the whole day without moving from the couch, of course it's easier for kids to gain weight, but food is only a part of it.

So, regarding parents being to blame? Yes, absolutely, if you couldn't be bothered to turn off the tv, laptop, or take the mobile or gamepad, and encourage your child to step outside and burn some calories, you're to blame, and possibly more so that the parent who does the above but possibly could spend a bit longer making a healthier dinner in the kitchen.

Samaris

I'd say there's a whole lot of reasons, most of which have been brought up already.

- Children are more sedentary and/or there's less allowed space outside for playing. A lot of kids aren't allowed to play on the street anymore, whereas go back a couple of generations and there were a lot less cars on the road. Add that to the explosion in gaming devices and, well, can see how that happens!

- Connected to the above; today's children are the first generation to grow up with the example of gaming and parents buried in their phones. Go back ten, fifteen years and a parent would probably tell you to get your head out of that device and act like a human being for a bit.

- More fast food places around, although there were several that got a load of us on a Friday lunchtime in secondary school too.

- A huge variety of cheap, generally mildly rubbishing food about, quick prep stuff, hidden fats and sugars etcetera.

- It's far more common now for both parents to be working all day now, rather than one parent staying at home and one working. As discussed above, it can make it harder to prepare healthy dinners. Not impossible, ofc, but certainly more difficult.

anothernight

Blaming the government for what you choose to feed your children is ludicrous.

Lau2976 wrote: »

The argument of working full time is ridiculous. Both my parents worked full time and we ate healthy, home cooked meals nearly all the time. It's an issue with time management more so then anything else.

Same here, and my parents didn't use readymade sauces or anything. We came home for lunch every day and there was always homemade food for us. As we grew older they made sure to gradually teach us how to cook bits and pieces too, which decreased the amount of meal planning my parents had to do.

byhookorbycrook

Many children get very little exercise. some parents at primary schools who would drive into the classroom if they could.There are children who don't know how to play, unless you mean on a games console. Deli counters every day are crammed with secondary students buying their lunches -and let's be honest, it's not fruit and wholemeal bread they are buying. I think some parents choose the easy option ALL the time and that in turn impacts on a child's eating and exercise habits.

_Brian

rizzodun wrote: »

I've skimmed the 30 posts in this thread so maybe I missed someone saying this, but if it hasn't been said then I'm amazed.

Part of the problem is that kids these days are too sedentary.

When I was younger there was one TV to fight over, a games console hooked up to the same tv, no pc or internet, so just by those reasons alone I spent a lot of time outside.
I could eat pretty much anything I wanted when I was younger, and as my family owned a restaurant I pretty much did, and never gained weight.

Basic rule to losing weight, burn more calories than your take in, so, the more active you are the more calories you can have.

There's two tv's in my house, a laptop, games console, and internet enabled mobiles, my kids can spend the whole day without moving from the couch, of course it's easier for kids to gain weight, but food is only a part of it.

So, regarding parents being to blame? Yes, absolutely, if you couldn't be bothered to turn off the tv, laptop, or take the mobile or gamepad, and encourage your child to step outside and burn some calories, you're to blame, and possibly more so that the parent who does the above but possibly could spend a bit longer making a healthier dinner in the kitchen.

Id agree that exercise is very important...
But even active kids need a healthy diet.. No point in building a lifetime habbit of crap food and hiding it with activity when they are young.. soon as they hit secondary or college or work they explode as they know nothing only eat crap and nothing else..
You can't exercise away a bad diet..

anothernight

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

There are children who don't know how to play, unless you mean on a games console.

That is incredibly sad.

byhookorbycrook

Unfortunately, even children who play a lot of sport often don't have unstructured play time and literally don't know what to do. I LOATHE the term "play date" where it seems the children must be amused and entertained by the adults instead of just figuring it out for themselves.

Xaracatz

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

Xaracatz wrote: »

It's not easy - there's no doubt about that. But cook and then freeze the leftovers if you can, which means it's not a daily chore.

The alternative of going to the chipper is a woeful one if done regularly. If time is really tight, stick some frozen veg in the microwave, shove some chicken under the grill, and heat up some beans.

I don't do it myself, I spend half my life preparing and obtaining food and healthy meals, I can just see why some people might simply not be able.

But that was my point - people are simply able to do this.

galah

Maybe it's just semantics, but when i hear playdate, i understand you arrange a time for two friendly kids to meet and the rest is up to themselves? Wouldnt cross my mind to entertain them; they're getting together to play with each other. But maybe my English isnt that good...:pac:

Back on topic, it's unreal how much sugar is in everything these days. It's very hard to find, for example, full fat no sugar yogurt (that has flavour as otherwise the kids wont eat it) or any other products. I dont like low fat stuff as it's usually full of other crap - rather have them eat less of the full fat stuff than more of the low fat foods. Same with sugar.

Sometimes it can be hard to make good food under time constraints (we also both work full time) - but i find frozen veg are your friend (chips dont count!) as you can bung them in the wok with sone rice noodles, throw in a few prawns, done. That takes under 10 mins even on a busy day. For example.

And maybe instead of taxing sugar and drinks, the government should tax couches and game consoles when there's kids in the house? Just an idea. Or run the power for these off a bike that generates electricity or something :P

mariaalice

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Unfortunately, even children who play a lot of sport often don't have unstructured play time and literally don't know what to do. I LOATHE the term "play date" where it seems the children must be amused and entertained by the adults instead of just figuring it out for themselves.

I know this is a bit off topic but people got annoyed when I expressed amazement at the idea that children need to be occupied all the time. They thought the after school and holiday care was great in the local child care place because they organised activities for the children all the time, no question of children developing an inner life and learning to manage themselves without adults.

pwurple

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

If both of us worked full time and came in at 6 every day, there is not a hope in hell that we could manage healthy breakfasts, lunch and dinners every day and lots of physical activity.

We kinda manage it so far both working full time. Two kids just back from their PHN assessments last week, both normal BMI thank feck (the toddler was a bit of a fatty up to now, but has run it off). Most meals are homecooked and healthy. Weeknights are nothing fancy, usually meat or fish, spud or pasta and random veg. We have treats alright, like proper homemade cake, mini scones, and yup, chocolate. Maybe three or four treats a week. I personally think too restrictive with treats completely backfires when they get some independance and you get overeater teenagers. Somewhere in the middle of the sugar-nazi and 100% deep fried diet is moderation.

We have loads of help. Family live nearby, and we have an awesome au pair.

Most important of all... we live in an urban area where we don't need to drive much. We are walking distance to school, so they walk there rain or shine. We have a nearby gaa club, and a place to cycle/scooter etc. Plenty of friends around.

They are in a car on the weekend, to go visit grandparents or to the beach/woods/hills. It's a tiny house, the most we could afford here, but location location location is the best thing ever for keeping us active and out of the car.

Andy From Sligo

kupus

edbrez wrote: »

SugarParents .

fixed your post

xLisaBx

While I think that parents can be at fault for overweight and obese children, I think at times they can also be at fault for sparking the notion of starvation and going to extremes to be skinny.

All we hear about are campaigns to ban size 0 models and photoshop and the likes, but really, comparisons and gossip between mothers outside school gates and whispers about other children does much more damage IMO.

I think a positive body image environment is crucial to children and teens, but there comes a point where somebody is dangerously overweight, and "loving your curves" is no longer acceptable- risks of heart failure, pulmonary failure etc. are much more pressing issues.

Keane2baMused

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

Alright, so suggestions have included taking a hike and picking fruit, foward planning and making meals on days off. If both parents work full time, get home at 6 and therefore have about 2 hours before the kids need to be in bed, when is all this meal preparation, hiking and forward planning going to be done? On the weekends? I guess if your spending all weekend cooking for the week and shopping, there wouldn't be much time for that hike, or any other form of physical activity.

Those who are saying that healthy meal preparation isn't a chore clearly don't have a family who they provide regular meals for. It's certainly a chore and I imagine when you're tired and frazzled after a day's work, the kids are hungry, whiny and tired, the chipper looks like a pretty good option as opposed to getting straight into chopping vegetables the minute you get in the door and spending the next hour making dinner.

I have a family of 4 and cook healthy meals in under 30 minutes 5/7 days. Sunday is a roast which takes longer and we may eat out once.

It is absolutely the parents fault up to a certain age. You nurture your children and have to decide for them what is good food and what isn't. They look to their parents as role models.

If you eat crap they will too. If you only have healthy food in your home they will love it also.

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

100% without question the parent/s fault.

Government? Society? Sugar? What a load of horse sh*t.

If you have an obese kid, take a good look in the mirror parent/s... that's your doing. Celebrate by buying your kids a packet of crisps and let them wash it down with a can of coke. When your kid doesn't eat his dinner, sure just give him or her an ice cream or a mars bar. :rolleyes:

Into The Blue

freshpopcorn wrote: »

That ad has being on for years now.
You can see the disgust on the parents face when they imagine having a fat child/teenager.
It's actually an ad I hate.

Why?

rizzodun

_Brian wrote: »

Id agree that exercise is very important...
But even active kids need a healthy diet.. No point in building a lifetime habbit of crap food and hiding it with activity when they are young.. soon as they hit secondary or college or work they explode as they know nothing only eat crap and nothing else..
You can't exercise away a bad diet..

I agree 100%, I was more so pointing out the value of exercise that hadn't seemed to have been mentioned from what I could see. My diet when I was younger wasn't unhealthy, more that I didn't have to be picky and focused on healthy eating, and the love for the outdoors and being active when I was younger means that now I'm more keen to keep a healthy diet so that I can continue that active lifestyle, that's something I want to hopefully pass to my kids.

Latatian

Microwave some frozen veg (green beans, cauliflower, spinach, peas), add whatever will persuade the little feckers to eat it (butter, nutmeg, ketchup, whatever, don't care). Add some spuds/mashed potato/noodles/pasta and a fast-cooking protein source. All pretty quick and easy. You can cook such a dinner in about the same time that it takes to do a microwave dinner, if you pick the right ingredients.

It starts to fall down when you realise that kids aren't robots who eat whatever you want them to. Some will. Some will pick up from their friends that vegetables aren't what the cool kids eat. And sometimes they just won't eat for apparently no reason. Sure, you can offer small portions, etc. and deal with the crying hungry child- or you can make them the same basic palatable thing that they liked yesterday. Or whatever the food is that they've seen on TV now.

Another problem is that parents (and all of us) get told healthy eating is hard, and complicated, and filled with pitfalls, and probably tastes awful anyway ('kale and quinoa salad' or 'ricecakes and lettuce'). Kids certainly won't enjoy it, kids like 'kids food', which is processed potato, processed meats etc. And cooking is hard. So you shouldn't do it and should instead go buy something ready-made or get takeaway.

This, of course, is not necessarily true but if you have that mental block and skill gap the time to work through it is not at 6pm after a full day's work when you're facing kids who may very well not eat what you make anyway.

There are problems of ignorance (not necessarily the parent's fault, you don't know what you don't know) and of these weird cultural memes that spread about food. "The baby is so BIG and STRONG" "Look at him he hasn't a pick on him, what is his mother doing?" "That's all he got for lunch?" "Sure let the poor child have a biscuit- ah I'll give him just one." I see kids going to relative's houses now and they have the same thing I had when I was small. You get fed, much too large amounts of food often for the size of the child, because food is love, 'treats' even more so. And because people are really, really bad at estimating portion sizes and do not want to underfeed children.

Yes, of course, the parents absolutely have a huge role to play in child obesity- there are just things that can hinder even those parents who *want* to change, from being able to do so or knowing how.

kupus

Leonel Magnificent Stud wrote: »

100% without question the parent/s fault.

Government? Society? Sugar? What a load of horse sh*t.

If you have an obese kid, take a good look in the mirror parent/s... that's your doing. Celebrate by buying your kids a packet of crisps and let them wash it down with a can of coke. When your kid doesn't eat his dinner, sure just give him or her an ice cream or a mars bar. :rolleyes:

What are you trying to do? break boards completely.
People here will have a melt down if they have to take responsibility.
You cant go around making common sense statements like that. You just cant.

uck51js9zml2yt

kupus wrote: »

What are you trying to do? break boards completely.
People here will have a melt down if they have to take responsibility.
You cant go around making common sense statements like that. You just cant.

Let's just report those vile people so they get banned;)

My kids love raw veg and fruit.
I do a weekly shop and by mid week there's not a banana or apple in the house.
Did I mention my 2 year olds love of oranges and red pepper:)

melissak

I think a school gardening and cooking program would be great for kids. Let them grow cook and eat fresh veg every day and learn how to eat properly. The health benefits would be huge.

Andy From Sligo

freshpopcorn wrote: »

That ad has being on for years now.
You can see the disgust on the parents face when they imagine having a fat child/teenager.
It's actually an ad I hate.

yes I have seen that advert on TV for some time too - no, the advert I particularly was citing and what prompted me to start up the thread was a Radio Advert today which I havent heard before, I dont know what it was word for word but the voiceover said something like "Parents and grandparents , when the children ask for sweets learn to say no" - so im thinking, OK we have had the argument about the government, the traffic light system on packs of food, and discussions about Sugar Tax and sugery drinks tax... now it looks like its time for the parents and grandparents are in the firing line ....

mind you it is (or was when my kids were younger) bloody very hard to say NO! to kids when they asked for sweets, unless you want to be classed mean parents of the year with some kids - me personally was blessed with 2 kids who werent that mad keen on sweets and sweet stuff and preferred savory items. I remember emptying out a cupboard when they were little at christmas time and finding a couple of chocolate eggs and sweets given to them at Easter!! - my lad loved when he was a kid and still loves cheese over sweets, my daughter from an early age preferred vegetables and still does and hardly eats any sweets

ceadaoin.

For many people nowadays, "Cooking" is bunging a few things in the oven or adding a ready made sauce to pasta or noodles. OK in moderation, but not for every meal. It can also seem expensive to make sauces or meals from scratch when you don't have a good selection of spices in the cupboard, tinned tomatoes, utensils etc.


I think that more education about healthy foods and nutrition and basic cooking lessons for primary school age kids would help.

Andy From Sligo

melissak wrote: »

I think a school gardening and cooking program would be great for kids. Let them grow cook and eat fresh veg every day and learn how to eat properly. The health benefits would be huge.

I dont know if it was on Irish TV or UK TV but the makers went into some primary schools with some fresh vegetables and asked the pupils to name them and recognise them and they filmed them as they were handing these fruit and vegetables - and loads couldnt even recognize the vegetables and didnt know what they were! - thats where it gets kinda scary if they havent even seen fruit or vegetables before, they most probably would have recognised a burger, chips , chickenn nuggets most probably without no problem at all, which most probably denoted that for dinner at home they most probably never ate any or was served any vegetables or fruit ever!

Andy From Sligo

ceadaoin. wrote: »

For many people nowadays, "Cooking" is bunging a few things in the oven or adding a ready made sauce to pasta or noodles. OK in moderation, but not for every meal. It can also seem expensive to make sauces or meals from scratch when you don't have a good selection of spices in the cupboard, tinned tomatoes, utensils etc.


I think that more education about healthy foods and nutrition and basic cooking lessons for primary school age kids would help.

My daughter who is now 21 this year cooks all her meals using vegetables and pulses and grains etc , and I said to her once "yeah but isnt using all those ingredients quite costly? - more than getting junk food or processed food and takes longer to cook?" and she rubbished it and said not with the likes of ALDI and LIDL these days, you can get an awful lot of fruit and veg she said what you would pay equivalent for junk food or ready cooked microwave meals and she said you dont need to be a rocket science to cook it and it takes no longer regardless what people say, she just reckons a lot of time people think its just the easy way out, getting a microwave dinner or putting some chips and nuggets into a fryer or ordering from take-away because they think its complicated cooking vegetables , but its not she said. She has made me some veggie meals and they have been very tasty and filling in a small portion, even though i like meat and yeah, didnt seem to take too long to cook

Esel

I blame Joe. He is a bit porky...

Breakfast: Tayto/King, can of coke.

mrkiscool2

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

I think I heard latest safe food advert on radio today telling parents and grandparents to learn to say no when they are asked for sweets from their kids, grandchildren. So are parents and grandparents at fault now why their are so many obese children about now then?

Yes, kids don't get fat if you feed them a healthy and balanced diet, unless they have a glandular problem (which is a lot rarer than fat people will lead you to believe). Teenagers are trickier but kids? Easy if you actually give a crap.

Esel

mrkiscool2 wrote: »

Yes, kids don't get fat if you feed them a healthy and balanced diet, unless they have a glandular problem (which is a lot rarer than fat people will lead you to believe). Teenagers are trickier but kids? Easy if you actually give a crap.

Easy for you to say.

What if the parents are not savvy? Or their parents were not?