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Child Item

are parents and family at fault for obese kids?

Andy From Sligo

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?

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Barry Badrinath

It's all your fault Andy!

Stop fattening up the kids! This isn't Hansel and Gretal like! Ya bollox.

edbrez

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

why their are so many obese children about now then?

Sugar.

One eyed Jack

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?

Parents and relatives attitudes to health and nutrition is no doubt a contributing factor in children's attitudes to health and nutrition. Are there really any more obese children about than there were before though?

Personally, I think a greater concern is the amount of underweight and poor musculature children there are about nowadays due to poor diet and sedentary lifestyles.

MilesMorales1

Probably a bit of both. Parents should take responsibility for their kids eating since kids eat primarily what parents serve them. If parents can't be arsed to anything but slap processed food in the oven for their kids to eat, or endlessly fill them up with coke and crisps to keep them quiet, the writings on the wall.

freshpopcorn

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.

Ruu

Somebody think of the children! Wait..they're too fat already.

The_Valeyard

edbrez wrote: »

Sugar.

Yep. Stop buying low fat stuff. Pumped with sugar. At least with full fat your body knows what to do with it.

Everything in moderation.

nkav86

There's a lot to be said for buying and preparing Healthier meals and depending on kids age, that responsibility is with the parents. That being said there are a lot of kids getting pocket money that choose to spend it on all kinds of crap food. I also think there are some parents that play the 'well I didn't know that was unhealthy, they shouldn't be available' card that need to use more cop on and take responsibility for their choices.

Staplor

Parental fault.

Society means I can't feed my kid 3 nutritious meals - take a hike, pick some fruit and veg on the hike. Give it to your kid instead of Mars bars.

Kiwi in IE

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?

My child is seven. He's not obese. He eats healthy food and gets loads of activity. I jobshare and spend pretty much all the time that I am not at work preparing food, shopping for food, growing food, driving my son to various sports and activities. This is only possible because I work part time night shifts, and OH also works shift work opposite me, so that on days I'm working, he is home doing all that. 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.

No, I don't think it's always the parents fault at all (although sometimes it undeniably is), it's the fault of society in general and governments. It takes a lot of time, effort and resources to ensure that children have healthy, nutritious food and enough physical activity. We are a long way from being a society where everyone has those things.

uck51js9zml2yt

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

My child is seven. He's not obese. He eats healthy food and gets loads of activity. I jobshare and spend pretty much all the time that I am not at work preparing food, shopping for food, growing food, driving my son to various sports and activities. This is only possible because I work part time night shifts, and OH also works shift work opposite me, so that on days I'm working, he is home doing all that. 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.

No, I don't think it's always the parents fault at all (although sometimes it undeniably is), it's the fault of society in general and governments. It takes a lot of time, effort and resources to ensure that children have healthy, nutritious food and enough physical activity. We are a long way from being a society where everyone has those things.

I've heard it all now...its society and the governments fault our kids are fat!
Its the parents who put food on the plate. My neighbours don't feed my kids, neither does enda Kenny.

Saw a kid today about 6 who was clearly fat and in his hand was a tub of ice cream. It was his mother's fault..not mine.

murpho999

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

My child is seven. He's not obese. He eats healthy food and gets loads of activity. I jobshare and spend pretty much all the time that I am not at work preparing food, shopping for food, growing food, driving my son to various sports and activities. This is only possible because I work part time night shifts, and OH also works shift work opposite me, so that on days I'm working, he is home doing all that. 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.

No, I don't think it's always the parents fault at all (although sometimes it undeniably is), it's the fault of society in general and governments. It takes a lot of time, effort and resources to ensure that children have healthy, nutritious food and enough physical activity. We are a long way from being a society where everyone has those things.

Don't agree with this at all.

Why couldy you not eat healthily if you both worked full time and got home at 6.
Eating healthy takes very little effort, all about buying the right products and a little plannng.
For example , a large healthy dish can be made , and portions frozen to eat the following week, thus saving time that week.
This notion that eating healthy is a chore is a myth.
Also people have to take responsibility, it's not society's or the government's fault if they are fat.

FTA69

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

My child is seven. He's not obese. He eats healthy food and gets loads of activity. I jobshare and spend pretty much all the time that I am not at work preparing food, shopping for food, growing food, driving my son to various sports and activities. This is only possible because I work part time night shifts, and OH also works shift work opposite me, so that on days I'm working, he is home doing all that. 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.

No, I don't think it's always the parents fault at all (although sometimes it undeniably is), it's the fault of society in general and governments. It takes a lot of time, effort and resources to ensure that children have healthy, nutritious food and enough physical activity. We are a long way from being a society where everyone has those things.

I see where you're coming from but it is possible to prepare healthy meals on a busy schedule and to do that on a constant basis, it's simply a matter of preparation and knowledge.

Come in at six, whack some sweet potatoes in the steamer, season and grill some chicken breasts and then stir fry some green veg or cook them on the hob or in the steamer. Job done in 20 minutes or less. Cook double the amount you need and there's your lunch for the next day. While you're at it boil some eggs, cut some cheese and maybe make a few sausages and there's your breakfast for first thing as well. Cooking healthy and fresh food is not a massive ordeal by any stretch of the imagination.

More complex things like curries and stews etc can be mass made at the weekend and frozen in freezer bags for the week.

The Raptor

I was overweight as a kid, not obese but it was curry chips for dinner or some other crap.

Kiwi in IE

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.

biko

Fat parents with fat kids.

I saw a "working class" family recently and all the kids were fat as hell, it was sad as you can image they were probably brought up on chips and soft drinks, and never saw a vegetable in their life.

fatknacker

It's not handing kids some sweets that's making them fat. It's the hidden sugars in absolutely everything that they eat. Juices, cereals, "healthy" bars, sauces...most parents are aware sweets and take aways are bad...but not so aware of hidden sugar in everyday food.

FTA69

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.

Well there's your answer then, if people choose to go the chipper instead of cooking because they don't know how to cook or because they couldn't be arsed then doing that regularly will result in weight gain. It's about what you want to prioritise basically.

I cook first thing when I'm in the door, it's just what I do, tired or no; and while it can be a balls it's better than throwing sh*t in the oven or eating takeaway. As I said in a post above, it's possible to come in at six and lash out a healthy dinner in no time at all. Likewise doing a big weekly shop and having a full freezer doesn't mean sacrificing your entire weekend and free time on the altar of healthy eating, a bit of preparation isn't the end of the world.

Pretzill

When I was a child there wasn't too much temptation about and sweets were only a Friday evening treat (homemade chips were another Friday treat too)

We rarely went out to eat and takeaways weren't invented (if you don't count Vesta curries yack)

Now I'm sure it's very hard to make the right choices when there are so many goodies available -

But one thing that kept us trim was playing outside, chasing, skipping, hiking with the family, swimming - etc. But yeah there's a lot of food now that is either high sugar pretending to be low fat, or just obvious junk. Having said all that I do remember being really hungry as a child and really looking forward to dinner, after running around like a mad thing before!

One eyed Jack

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.

And none of the above is either societies, nor governments fault. It's parents responsibility for their own children, it's a parents business to ensure their children are healthy. Their priority should be their children's health, not their own convenience. It's easier to come up with excuses for why people can't take responsibility, than it is to actually accept that they are responsible for their children's health and well-being.

Kiwi in IE

fatknacker wrote: »

It's not handing kids some sweets that's making them fat. It's the hidden sugars in absolutely everything that they eat. Juices, cereals, "healthy" bars, sauces...most parents are aware sweets and take aways are bad...but not so aware of hidden sugar in everyday food.

And many of them are in the foods that busy parents resort to to get what they think is a decent meal made faster. Packets and sachets and jars of ready made stuff designed to throw into meals so that they are made more quickly. Healthy meals are meals made from scratch with proper, whole food. These meals generally take a lot of time to prepare.

lollsangel

Both me and my partner work full time on shift work. Meals are planned ahead of time, and at least 6 of the 7 evenings there is a fresh healthy supper. Breakfast is normally porridge with a hot grill once a week. Both kids participle in athe tics and gaa. I have taken to giving them just a snack for school as they have 10 minutes to eat, normally they don't have time. They were obese when they were younger, they're almost 7 now this wad when they were 3 or 4. It was more so hidden calories like in fruit juice that caught me out.
In my mind it's all about moderation. It's okay to have a biscuit or a bun etc once they've eaten the healthy stuff they should. I do think it's bad to be putting so much emphasis on the evils of so called junk foods. I think it would be better promoted in telling people about the hidden calories and sugar where you may not expect it.

MilesMorales1

When I was a young un, if I'd had chocolate/sweets/ any food I wasn't supposed to have that I hadn't been given by the parents, I'd have been walloped for it, and I didn't get enough allowance to waste it on sweets. Don't give it to them and they can't have it etc.

Xaracatz

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.

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.

FTA69

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

When I was a young un, if I'd had chocolate/sweets/ any food I wasn't supposed to have that I hadn't been given by the parents, I'd have been walloped for it, and I didn't get enough allowance to waste it on sweets. Don't give it to them and they can't have it etc.

It's different nowadays though, in the UK you have those bloody fried chicken shops everywhere selling wings and chips for a pound. The kids are never out of the places and are piling into them every day after school. As easy as it is to cultivate a healthy eating and athletic attitude in the home, the gets knocked if kids are surrounded by their peers eating freely available rubbish non-stop. They'll want it too.

It isn't feasible to restrict the ability of a 13 year old to buy rubbish unfortunately.

Kiwi in IE

If we have an 'epidemic' obviously it's something that many people are struggling with. Rather than judgemental, sanctimonious attitudes and useless adverts and campaigns from government organisations that will do diddly squat, wouldn't it be a better idea to try and get to the root cause of why people seem to be struggling so much with healthy food/adequate physical activity and address that? It's very easy for those of us who do feed our kids well and ensure they get physical activity to sit here and judge, with our life circumstances that allow us to manage it, but what if some of those comparatively favourable circumstances were taken away? Could you still do it if you and your partner had 3 kids and you were both were working physically demanding minimum wage jobs with long commutes on public transport every day?

Kiwi in IE

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.

One eyed Jack

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

If we have an 'epidemic' obviously it's something that many people are struggling with. Rather than judgemental, sanctimonious attitudes and useless adverts and campaigns from government organisations that will do diddly squat, wouldn't it be a better idea to try and get to the root cause of why people seem to be struggling so much with healthy food/adequate physical activity and address that? It's very easy for those of us who do feed our kids well and ensure they get physical activity to sit here and judge, with our life circumstances that allow us to manage it, but what if some of those comparatively favourable circumstances were taken away? Could you still do it if you and your partner had 3 kids and you were both were working physically demanding minimum wage jobs with long commutes on public transport every day?

It's not their means, or their circumstances that causes the issue though. It's their attitude to their children's health and well being is the problem, and they're passing that attitude of convenience on to their children, who will pass it on to their children.

The obesity, or the undernourishment, is only a physical symptom of the deeper, underlying issues going on there. It's very difficult to get through to people who think more about themselves and their own convenience than they care about taking responsibility for their own children.

Lau2976

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.

I think we have a tendency to not prioritize what we put into our bodies because it's easier not too.

meeeeh

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

If we have an 'epidemic' obviously it's something that many people are struggling with. Rather than judgemental, sanctimonious attitudes and useless adverts and campaigns from government organisations that will do diddly squat, wouldn't it be a better idea to try and get to the root cause of why people seem to be struggling so much with healthy food/adequate physical activity and address that? It's very easy for those of us who do feed our kids well and ensure they get physical activity to sit here and judge, with our life circumstances that allow us to manage it, but what if some of those comparatively favourable circumstances were taken away? Could you still do it if you and your partner had 3 kids and you were both were working physically demanding minimum wage jobs with long commutes on public transport every day?

Actually the most obese kids are in the areas with higher unemployment. It definitely is societal issues but not because of lack of time to cook properly. There are cohorts of society that don't have the knowledge and neither they don't appreciate healthy food because they never learned to enjoy it. So blaming working schedule is nonsense and while I don't have the slightest desire to eat chicken breast with steamed sweet potato, there definitely are healthy foods that can be prepared quickly. Unfortunately our junk loving daughter doesn't appreciate them. There is not a pick on her but in comparison to her older brother who is very good, healthy eater, she is pull your hair out in frustration type of a child. So sometimes even best intentions are met with a brick walls

But yeah I think it's up to parents, we are responsible for our kid's wellbeing until they can fend for themselves.