In Britain, (see HERE )apparently a couple is being threatened with losing custody of their children because they (the children) are overweight.
WHAT???!??? True, parents need to try and curb their children’s overeating, but it does not always work. As much as I try to help Ricki make good food choices, she can not be watched 24 hours a day. Ricki can recite all sorts of great phrases about wanting to eat healthy, but (as occurs with many adults) when temptation arises, she capitulates.
My mother encouraged me to eat healthy, and I finally did, from age 57……
Even though they watched these kids at home, I am sure that they didn’t shadow them at school. [And I am SURE that having a social worker observe their mealtimes REALLY helped these kids feel GREAT. (I am being facetious here…) Maybe we can set up foster homes for all kids who don’t exercise, too…….]
If England (or any other country) wants to stop the childhood obesity epidemic, let them try THESE efforts:
1) Forbid all TV, magazine, and billboard advertisements of sweets, fried foods, and soft drinks.
2) Outlaw the placing of snack foods/ soft drinks near the check-out isle (which generates a lot of impulse buying)
3) Insist that package labeling of portions be a full-sized portion. (Yeah, just how many people do you think eat only one bar of a 70 calorie trail bar, when they are sold in packets of two to a package…..and once you open the package, the second bar starts crumbling up and falling out…)
4) Have “snack” machines in the school that sell only bottled water and low-fat cartons of milk.
5) Offer FREE weight-watchers (or similar) at the school, with available vouchers for off-school sessions for those too embarrassed to go at school.
6) Maintain more sport facilities at school, and encourage after-school use.
5 comments:
While I agree with you in principle, there are a lot of parents who don't have a clue.
I remember watching an American talk show - I think it might have been Maury (where they ask people who are TOTALLY disfunctional to apply to be on TV) and he was interviewing parents with overweight children. There was a mother and her 2 year old weighed 80 lbs. She fed him whatever he wanted. If he wanted several Big Macs for breakfast, that is what he got.
At age 2, his mother did have control of his diet and she seriously needed some lessons on what to feed her child and on how to say NO.
We already have 2, 3 and 4. 1 has always been restricted.
Please don't talk about subjects you're ignorant of.
ILoveM:
I don't know where you live.It is true that I am a bit ignorant of the situation in England, but when I was there two years ago I saw plenty of advertising of sweets, and the candy was by the checkout line in the bookstore..... In Isral and America, we do NOT have 1/2/3 [Notes:
1) I did not say in #1 "in school" . I mean ALL advertising of these foods.2)Yes, we have portion labeling (#3), but if you look carefully you will see that I said REAL portion labeling. Often the portions are miniscule by any standard, and people unfortunately don't check.].
3)#4 is just starting, and many countries do not have it.
I still maintain, that in a world where a large percentage of the population is obese, and we have a fast-food culture, taking kids away from their parents is hardly the answer to the obesity epidemic. The reasons for childhood obesity are many, and are often rooted in psychological problems. (I know that I was able to lose weight only after I came to term term with an emotional issue I had with one of my two wonderful parents.(The issue arose not due to anyone being bad, but due to the traumatic stress that one family member endured.)
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