Went swimming today. There was this kid there who must have had a 50″ waist and been at least 15 stone as a very apple like shape, being 4ft at the very most. Age wise he must have been 10-12yrs old.

Whose fault is this and should it be classed as child abuse if it’s the parents fault?

Boy could float well though, so maybe it’s not all that bad for him.

Is this the rainy day topic you threatened the other day?

Good he was swimming and not gaming.
Parents.

Jamie – no far from it. That one is a beauty. It wasn’t raining today.

Its the advertising industry, supermarkets and fast food places to blame

Jamie – no far from it.

Phew!

parents

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_ElXYzFX_w[/video]

Depends.

M_F and his evil branding ways… nothing to do with the parents 😆 🙄

i blame the tories/labour/lib-dems/america/mtv/computer-games/websites that idolise super fat women personally

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_ElXYzFX_w

That’s nearly as funny as the one about gingas

TandemJeremy – Member
Its the advertising industry, supermarkets and fast food places to blame

It’s his parents – I’d wager they are a pair of lard arses too.

Unless they’re one of those comedy couples you see where the bloke is about 7.5 stone ‘cos his obese mrs won’t let him near the biscuit jar.

No, sorry – my mistake, it’s genetic.

(actually TJ, I agree the industry is partially to blame, but the parents have to shoulder the majority)

It’s because smoking isn’t cool any more.

If children were allowed to smoke 40 a day then they would have no appetite and not become obese.

It’s the parents though. Must be difficult having a child who wants to eat all the time, but surely they must see it happen over time and should take steps to stop what is happening. It’s not as though that level of obesity occurs overnight is it?

Unless they’re one of those comedy couples you see where the bloke is about 7.5 stone

AKA “feeders” or “unlucky”

(actually TJ, I agree the industry is partially to blame, but the parents have to shoulder the majority[/u]

+1

unless the kids got a job and is sneaking out spending his secretly earned money on lard then the parents should have the ability to say no to requests for fatty foods induced by advertising.

Parents and society

parents: letting kids eat poor nutritional food and not exercise
Society: for thinking its ‘ok’ to be fat

On the plus side, they are softer when you crash into them

I don’t think its society. I mean, do you know anyone that thinks its ok to be fat? I don’t. whether they are or not is another matter…

parents don’t always feed their kids bad food because they don’t care or are too lazy to prepare healthier food you know, a lot of the time they just can’t afford higher quality healthier food, if the government or society really gave a shat as they claim to they’d stop telling us eat better and start helping us by making it affordable!. the next time you go shopping compare the prices between the low fat healthy options and the “value” options and you’ll plainly see how much more it costs too eat healthily and therefore how unaffordable it is for those on low incomes.

On the plus side, they are softer when you crash into them

…and far less likely to run into the road in the first place.

mmb – thats rubbish

Its very easy to afford it. Healthy food is no more expensive – but you cannot get cheap healthy preprepared food – you need to cook it yourself

the next time you go shopping compare the prices between the low fat healthy options and the “value” options and you’ll plainly see how much more it costs too eat healthily and therefore how unaffordable it is for those on low incomes.

used to think that, then i discovered how many meals you can make with “value” vegetables for cheaper 😉

Food that’s bad for you is yummy though. I can make a prety knock out cury but take sways are really really nice and it’s easy to eat loads of calories in a small portion doesn’t feel like it, but you do then befre you know it….. Kaboom massive belly.

It’s the parents for me.

low fat healthy options

low fat does not always mean healthy, in fact the craze for low fat diets has been quite unhealthy

don’t get me wrong i’m not saying that it’s not the parents fault, as with most problems there are several contributing factors and lazy parents are only part of the problem and i stand by what i say healthier food is more expensive.

If you add in a charge for your own time then healthy food is expensive. The raw ingredients are far from it though. You can eat healthily cheaply ver easily if you put a tiny wee bit of effort in.

I agree with mmb but also feel very strongly that Domestic Science (as it was called in my day 2K years ago) should be compulsory for more than one term. This was all my kids got.

Many parents haven’t a clue about nutrition, we need to eat seasonally and know how to cook!

Food may be cheaper in real terms but for reasonable quality meat and poultry, ie anything that has not been intensively reared, is very expensive.

I could of course try and convince people about how much cheaper and healthier it is to eat pheasant, partridge, rabbit etc purchased from their local farmers market.

cinnamon girl has it right there, educate and teach skills and that will go a long way.

Some kids have bigger appetites than others its just the way they’re made. Left to their own devices they’ll seek out cake and biscuits.

Last Year our youngest was obese according to the Wii Fit and getting self concious about his weight, so we made an effort to get healthy snacks, which is actually harder than you might think, and to get out the house playing sports every day. Perfect excuse for a new mtbs too 🙂

Problem went away, but could easily have been twice bad by now if we were ignorant or lazy?

Still eats like a horse though.

educate children to appreciate how and where food comes from.
personally I blame the food manufacturers and supermarkets for preying on an area of society that struggle financially and therefore take the ‘cheaper and unhealthy’ options available to them.
What some of these people fail to understand is that they could buy and cook cheaper cuts of meat to a healthy and tasty alternatives, which Mr oliver and Whittingstall regularly demonstrate.

What does grate me is the people who say healthy food is expensive, but are quite happy to spend a fortune on fags. “ooh a chicken costs £6.00 how expensive, fags for a fiver, bargain”

Healthy food isn’t expensive.

Provided the kid has no medical reason to be so obese, such as thyroid problems. His parents are to blame and no one else. Advertising, food costs and Marketing are not. Providing healthy food is not significantly more expensive than fatty foods, exercise is also free.

educate and teach skills and that will go a long way

yep, couldn’t agree more; of course parents can do this as part of, erm, parenting 🙄

Food may be cheaper in real terms but for reasonable quality meat and poultry, ie anything that has not been intensively reared, is very expensive

Hmmm, I’ve been reading a few articles recently, and I’d say the jury’s still out on whether organic food is better for you than non-organic food; might be better for the environment or the chicken (if it’s free range as well) not neccessarily us…. but until that’s decided one or the other I’d say it was better to eat a cheap chicken plus tatties ane peas cooked yourself than cheap ready meals.

A diet of cheap processed food full of trans fats and a more sedantary lifestyle don’t help.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be organic, perhaps from a local farm where welfare standards matter.

As regards chicken, well, if you had seen where battery chickens are kept, the lack of daylight, inadequate ventilation etc., you would not eat them!

the government for lack of nannying

A roasted battery chicken would still be better than a fast food chicken in terms of nutrition. I agree 100% with c-g that good healthy living should be taught in schools, along with understanding tax & respecting other people.

On the flip side my properly fed, active 9 year old nephew has raised concern at school for having a faint six pack and biceps.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be organic, perhaps from a local farm where welfare standards matter.

As regards chicken, well, if you had seen where battery chickens are kept, the lack of daylight, inadequate ventilation etc., you would not eat them!

Both those statements are good reasons to buy organic, free range produce in terms of the welfare of the animal; but it doesn’t neccessarily equate to a healthier food for us in terms of nutrition.

What I, and others, are trying to say is that it is possible to eat healthily when on a budget, it is just that it probably won’t be organic free range or nor does it have to be.

I’m going for the parents.

In terms of depressing sights… the fat family queuing at a drive-thru McDonalds for Sunday lunch has to be up there with in-patients smoking at the hospital doors.

One of the major causes of obesity in the western world is the industrialisation of food production.

Food manufacturers try and make things ‘more-ish’ by increasing the fat, sugar and salt content of food.

That a 10 year old kid has become (apparently literally) a model consumer in their eyes and its all his (or his parents) fault?

Also now that women no longer ‘know their place’ people generally have less time to cook the convenience stuff has taken over. Which, yes that’s right, is full of fat, sugar and salt…

We are going to hell in a hand basket.

The sooner we give up on ‘civilisation’ as a failed experiment and return to the stone age the better I say….

But surely the food manufacturers should be brought into line? Advertising on TV at kids programme times should be controlled surely?

I don’t want a nanny state but it seems as though some people are getting away quite lightly (see what I did there?). Yes, parents need to be responsible too but so do the manufacturers.

The sooner we give up on ‘civilisation’ as a failed experiment and return to the stone age the better I say….

^^^^LOL

however;

people generally have less time to cook

Not wishing to come across as smug, but both me and my wife work full time, have two teenage kids, yet are able to cook dinner every night, well pretty much, it is not difficult and generally takes around 30-40mins

I am not in advertising and I said so yesterday!

I would suggest parents are to blame though – at that age he *shouldn’t* have access to the money to buy the food himself so his parents must be allowing it.

Or he *could* have a medical problem.