This is by no means directed at any one.
I was watching TV the other day and it raised the issue that should parents face abuse charge for allowing their children to become obese?
I understand at some point children will get to an age where they can get their hands on junk food.
But before then, should if a child becomes obese should it be the parent that faces prosecution?
The damage that a bad diet does to a Childs body is huge; it can cause irreparable heart damage that can lead to early adult hood illnesses, shorter life span, and many other factors.
I know there are worse examples of child abuse that will be given, and I am not ignoring that but just musing on this point about obese children.
Now I’m not advocating that all the children who are now adults should sue their parent’s lol
But just as it is so obviously wrong for a child can be starved to death shouldn’t it be wrong for a parent to over feed a child to an early death?
I also remember thinking as a child I wish it was against the law for adults to smoke in the same room/car as a child. Funny how they have banned it in pubs to protect staff etc, but its still ok to sit in a room and smoke 100’s with a baby there. Anyhow that’s a whole other issue.
So what are your thoughts, sould a parent become liable for prosecution if their child is obese, Or is it another step to a nanny state?
Xx fem xx
I think it is alot to do with the family/ parents but i also think life is a big factor a few years ago many kids had atleast 1 full time parent who would cook a wholesome meal for the evening tea - now many have 2 working parents and there is less time for the wholesome meals etc.
Playstations wii's nintendo's tv's in each bedroom didnt exist kids went out to play and burned of the energy, i remember as a kid being in the house used to be pretty boring. We as a nation are scared to let our kids out because of things that may happen or things we hear about in the news but if they stay in things like obesity can occur.
Tan
i grew up in a house where everything was cooked in lard.
full fat butter, everything cooked with salt then more added once on the plate. full fat milk.
but hardely ever any sweets, pop crisps etc.
i was sooo active as a kid, lucky to live near woods, walked everywhere, parents didnt have a car.
i wasnt a fat kid but ive put on weight since, pregnancy, lazier lifestyle (i work full time but drive everywhere and then sit in a office) medication induced weight gain and now the love of wine, and crisps and love sweets lol all the things i wasnt allowed as a kid.
i am a single mum but cook healthy meals from scratch.
my daughetr is active and has sweets and crisps in moderation.
but i see so many kids in my line of work and a lot are covered in streatch marks from excessive weight gain. they wear age 10 trousers at 5 and take them up to the knees so they fit the waist.
its sad and appears abusive in my eyes. but many would say well at least they are well fed?
xx fem xx
When I was a kid we had all home cooking, soups with dumplings, suet puds slathered in custard and all that fattening stuff but the main problem these days is so much food we give our kids is processed and full of crap! We also took more exercise. Pcs and playstations et al weren't even thought of! You ate your tea and went out to play so burning off all the calories you just ate.
A healthy diet is the responsibility of the parents first and foremost but that doesn't mean starving the poor buggers, just healthy as in fresh fruit and veg and home cooking. As so many parents work full time these days ( and have to more to the point! ) kids have too easy an access to junk food and that's where the problem lies.
I think we ALL need to rethink our diets, not just our kid's food. A chippy dinner should be a treat not the norm but sadly this isn't the case for a lot of families. The argument that it's cheaper is complete bollocks! A healthy home cooked meal costs a fraction of a meal for 4 at the local chippy so again it's sometimes down to time but mostly the inability or know how of parents of how to cook!
Bring back cookery classes as compulsory in schools. A whole generation seems to have lost that 'hand me down recipe' train of thought and I reckon that's where the rot set in.
we try to feed our child a healthy and varied diet. we substitute highfat for lowfat where possible. but our son has a condition that makes it very hard to give him as varied a diet as we would like him to have, we do have full support of our doctor. but he is still looks overweight, but our doctor is not concerned because he is within paramiters for his height,and he is healthy. he is 5ft tall and only eight. but to outsiders i know they look at him and see an obese child. so i don't think you can generalise and say that it is always the fault of the parents and they should be done for child abuse. when too many people are willing to point an accusing finger without knowing all the facts. and cause irrepairable damage to families. lets face it the state of social services is highly questionable and i have lost all faith in them due to recent headlines and past performances.
We need to teach parents how to cook again - it's all very well teaching cookery at school but it isn't the kids who make the tea.
No, and they aren't going to cook either, if they have not been used to good home cooking at home. Schools are not home, and are not as important as home, and can not have the same effect on a child's life as home experience does.
Blaming parents is wrong, enabling parents is much better.
Parents shouldn't be prosecuted. It is a social problem that shouldn't be sorted out in the courts, but through education. Eating food is a luxury to us all, but for some of us junk food or not, it becomes a nightmare. Medical conditions, that go undiscovered for years are usually the root cause of it.
You start enabling parents with offering them free practical cookery lessons, supported with the input of a chef and a dietician, and you make healthy food cheaper, and you take into account cultural and nutritional needs.
You stop blaming parents, you stop relying on schools to sort out problems that stem from home.
You stop worrying about the kids that are a bit overweight but otherwise healthy. This society seems to hate obesity even where it is not a health issue, you value people for who they are and if there is a health issue then you you help them to overcome that through information, advice and real, practical help.
You involve dads as well as mums.
You don't patronise people but actively try to help and educate them, and you make it easy for people to afford to feed thier families good wholesome healthy food instead of sugar and salt laden convenience foods.
That's what I'd do, anyways :>
i used to work 14 hours a day 5 days a week, saturdays doing 18 hours at 2 jobs with a 2 hour break for travelling inbetween, living 20 mile from a supermarket i didnt have the time or luxury to go supermarket shopping when i wasnt working the buses didnt run and i didnt drive - the luxery was when my parents used to take me on an odd occasion all my shopping was done at the grocers and small spar style shop my son always ate home cooked meals made from scratch and yes food was a hell of a lot cheaper because its not perfect it was all i could get but in the same respect it could have been easier to buy fast food or ready meals
The difficulty is, though, convincing people of that.
Not everyone has the time or knowlege of cookery to be able to do it.
There are a lot of people who just buy whatever packets of food are cheapest - the smart price beans, the buy one get one free frozen pizzas, and so on - not because they don't care, but because it's easy and the kids like it.
When the veg is all organic and it's a quid for 4 tomatoes in the supermarket, and all the lettuce is pre washed and in bags, and you just want to get the tea done quick because you've been at work all day and you have a limited budget, it's really easy to fall into the trap of fish fingers, chips and beans - and when the kids get used to that and start to refuse fruit and veg - especially fruit and veg that doesn't come in a thomas the tank engine box, or with a free toy from macdonalds, then it's hard, and a happy meal and pint of lard is easier, and it's also
That's why I say that healthy food should be cheaper - yes, it is at the market, but not eveyone can get to the market or know what to buy there or how to prepare it when they have got it - that's where education needs to come in, but it's a bit of a losing battle.
Yes, there are a ton of cookery programmes - as an ex chef who now works with families I tend to watch them - it's rare that even I bother to try and cook stuff from them, though. Way too fussy, on the whole, and expensive - Maket Kitchen today, for one recipie for making fresh Chinese takeaway style food, listed ingredients that would have cost about &20 to get in - most of which I would have to throw away after a few weeks of having them sat in the cupboard doing nothing... all this, 'Use fresh beef stock' nonsense - the only time I have ever made fresh beef stock was when I was working in restaurants and we had plenty of bones to boil up and all the required herbs - at home I just use a cube! - point is, cookery shows are unhelpful as they _aways_ demand you use about 20 ingredients that you'd need to buy in especially - fennel and fresh basil and root ginger and rice wine vinegar... cheaper and more practical to just get a takeaway, for the majority of people.
Point is, it all need to be practical and do-able, and you have to recognise the fact that people actually do have limited time and resources - I am a trained chef and can not be bothered messing about to make the majority of the stuff I see on cookey shows.
Keep it simple, promote fresh, home made cooking with decent ingredients and teach people how to make it, and you can make a start.
I brought my daughter up on my own for the first 6 years. It was actually cheaper for me to cook home cooked good meals. Veg and meat was actually a cheaper option for me as it lasted two days.
My daughter has in fact inherited the 'metabolism gene', she's piled on the weight lately but at 16 it's her lazy lifestyle to blame, not me. She didn't actually have a weight issue until she started getting out there in the world on her own and eating her own choices.
So no... it's not always down to the parents.
Children learn their eating habbits from us and if not sorted will in turn pass it onto their own children, i have been over weight most of my adult life, my own fault i just liked food and wasn't very active, i had kids and put on weight each time, tho my children have never been over weight to a state of concern they was slightly bigger than normal for their age, a couple of years ago i decided to turn my life round and loose weight as it was getting me down so i joined a slimming club and over the next year lost just over 7 stone but the biggest supprise to me was the weight my kids lost without me even thinking about it, because i wasnt eating junk i didnt buy it, because i was eating take outs i didnt buy them, because i was eating healthy real rood so was my children.......so yes it is our fault our kids are over weight and we need to do something about it before they are their eating habbits for life.....thats my opinion anyway lol
thank you for all your input, had me thinking.
i taught my kids to cook, and budget.
the whole meal planning for a week, buy a pack of mince and make a spag bol have half on the monday, split it and have cottage pie for the wed. buying a chicken, having a roast on sunday , then curry on the monday etc.
they have been given the healthy eating outlook at home, go to school and get taught how to make bloody pizza and profiterols. they get taught how to cook for a dinner party not how to cook healthy and survive on a low budget. im sure they will thrive on profiterolls when away at uni lol.
the programe i was watching was regarding 0-8 year olds, an age they presumed the child would only be eating what the parents were cooking.
once a child grows up and have more choice why do they then choose bad foods? could it be that money is so tight future bleek, crappy stressfull day they "treat" themselves to a takeaway, but those crappy stress days get more frequent?
i know families on benefit get the healthy living vouchers 2 per child under 5 at a face vaule of £3 each. should all families get this? is it helping, if so why do some low income families in reciept of these still not have fresh fruit or veg ever?
again i want to say ths came from a tv programe and my musings, no intention to say who is doing it right or wrong in here.
xx fem xx
Well we all know junk food is not healthy, but we both think obesity is more down to laziness and lack of exercise, but is parents to blame? We think it’s more a problem with society, kids have to many luxuries nowadays, they don’t even need to leave the house, could even say they are spoiled, yes everyone should have healthy meals but even eating healthy meals without any exercise won’t stop obesity.