Ok, so this has been bothering me for quite a while now and I’ve only just said it to family members and close friends. It is a touchy subject and I hate to stand there and judge people, but I cannot keep quiet about it any longer.
So here goes…Just because you may be overweight or obese, it does not mean that you should raise your children in the same fashion by letting them adopt the same unhealthy eating habits.
I’ve seen quite a few parents do this with their children and I feel that perhaps not intentional, but as a reward: form of giving love/attention. I honestly believe that overfeeding your child is a form of child abuse and that these people raising children like this need to be told. I’m not advising you to feed your kids rabbit food 24/7, I’m saying that there needs to be a balance. I love my chocolate, chips and ice-cream as much as the next person but you cannot go living and eating out of a bag of crisps for the rest of your damn life.
I think the biggest indicator is clothing size (if you’re shopping seasonal), excessive height and weight gain (children who gain excessive weight develop physically faster than other children their age). They should not have rolls of fat, eat massive portions or be breathless when walking (massive indicator of fitness level). The best thing if unsure, is to get your child checked out by a health professional such as a general practitioner and then devise a healthy eating plan with nutritionist. I would not go by BMI because you do need to take account of body shape and other things.
What also triggered my ‘need to voice’ this opinion was recently over the Christmas holidays I saw an episode of ‘Here comes Honey Boo Boo show’ and it was a thanksgiving special. It really outraged me that a mother (my age) didn’t know how to cook greens. What I failed to understand was that if you don’t know how to do or cook something, maybe you should look it up in a book or on the internet or ask a relative/neighbour or friend. There is no excuse. You don’t even need to know how to cook to eat a fruit or a vegetable- you can eat some raw.
This site also discusses the health issues that can arise from child obesity: http://www.kidspot.com.au/familyhealth/Nutrition-Healthy-weight-Is-my-child-fat+3137+223+article.htm
I don’t want our children to be over paranoid, weight conscious children who develop the other extreme of the spectrum (anorexia nervosa or bulimia). I just want our children to be educated to know the difference between healthy food and junk food and to have some self-control whilst eating them. Eating healthy shouldn’t be a chore but a ‘lifestyle’!!!!
So people if you are overfeeding your children with junk food or you know someone who is tell them to please stop!!! Do them a favour instead of teaching the children self-loathing, self-medicating habits that leads to a short life of misery riddled with complications.
What Dee says... 