Overweight kids- Who's to blame

Mutant13

I saw an article on my FB feed today about personal trainers claiming that parents were to blame for their overweight children.

It was causing ALOT of debate.

Personally I think that yes, if there is no medical reason for your child being very overweight, then it is the responsibility of the parent to ensure that they aren't eating poorly or being inactive. And if the child still doesn't lose weight it is up to them to seek professional advice about it. If a parent fails to do that then they are to blame for their child's weight.

What does the rest of MFP think?

kristy6ward

I agree with you.

darrensurrey

I saw an article on my FB feed today about personal trainers claiming that parents were to blame for their overweight children.

It was causing ALOT of debate.

Personally I think that yes, if there is no medical reason for your child being very overweight, then it is the responsibility of the parent to ensure that they aren't eating poorly or being inactive. And if the child still doesn't lose weight it is up to them to seek professional advice about it. If a parent fails to do that then they are to blame for their child's weight.

What does the rest of MFP think?

You want the truth? I think it's all YOUR fault. You should be ashamed of yourself.

JenAndSome

Makes sense to me. I try not to give my kids a lot of junk. I do find that I reward them sometimes with food, but it's not a daily occurrence. I guess it makes it a better reward to them if they aren't getting the junky stuff too often.

paige_eloise

I agree. In terms of young children, if there is no medical condition, then it is the parents fault.
And this is coming from a girl whose entire family is overweight, there has to be a link somewhere?
At the end of the day, parents need to teach their children to eat healthily and exercise.

Mutant13

I saw an article on my FB feed today about personal trainers claiming that parents were to blame for their overweight children.

It was causing ALOT of debate.

Personally I think that yes, if there is no medical reason for your child being very overweight, then it is the responsibility of the parent to ensure that they aren't eating poorly or being inactive. And if the child still doesn't lose weight it is up to them to seek professional advice about it. If a parent fails to do that then they are to blame for their child's weight.

What does the rest of MFP think?

You want the truth? I think it's all YOUR fault. You should be ashamed of yourself.

I knew giving candy to strangers kids was going to catch up with me somehow

kayx199189

I believe it really is the parents fault, Especially If the child has been overweight their whole life, One of my best friends is very overweight and surprise surprise her parents are also very overweight. From being born we learn from our surroundings and if all you see is unhealthy foods and a unhealthy lifestyle then you'll become conditioned to think that way. This is why even in their adult life they will always struggle with their weight because to become healthy would be trying to retrain their whole way of thinking and thats very hard to do. It's like learning to write with your left hand when your right handed

Mutant13

I agree. In terms of young children, if there is no medical condition, then it is the parents fault.
And this is coming from a girl whose entire family is overweight, there has to be a link somewhere?
At the end of the day, parents need to teach their children to eat healthily and exercise.

Yeah, I also did mean to say young children. If you have a teenager who goes out and buys take away with their wages I suppose it's hard to do much, that being said they should have been taught to eat properly by then

Mac_X

I buy the groceries in my house. If the house isn't full of cakes and chips and things, they can't eat it. Problem pretty much solves itself. And TV/video games or not, I've never had a problem getting my son to go out and run through the woods with the neighborhood kids playing games and such. Maybe it's different for some.

onwarddownward

My son is overweight. He's on a medicine that caused him to gain a lot, but in dealing with this, I realized that if we can't cut out the medicine, we can do other things.

So I'm teaching him (he's 13 and has autism) to cook healthy foods, I told him about soda being bad for him, he now drinks ice water. And we have stopped eating out, for the most part. I had been a horrible role model, we were eating out at fast food places way too much.

I am giving him encouragement when he eats to take less food than he would typically. I've told him, if he's still hungry in a half hour, he could have more. So far he's not needed more after eating. But he still has the tendency to binge. We're working on it.

We also swim an hour a day, which is helping a lot.

I see him making good choices now on his own and I'm thrilled for him. But I do feel it was my lack of guidance that let him get to this point. Blaming the meds was my cop out. I'm done with that now.

MattN1972

Being a parent of an 8 and 5 year old, I will say i never realized how hard it would be. It is extremely hard. I know the teasing and bullying i went through as a kid and it will kill me if my kids go through the same.

My wife and I are trying not to deprive our kids but rather teach them portion control, healthy habits and the importance of staying active. The marketing of big business to kids is rediculous but at the end of the day the parents are responsible for the well being of their children.

darrensurrey

I saw an article on my FB feed today about personal trainers claiming that parents were to blame for their overweight children.

It was causing ALOT of debate.

Personally I think that yes, if there is no medical reason for your child being very overweight, then it is the responsibility of the parent to ensure that they aren't eating poorly or being inactive. And if the child still doesn't lose weight it is up to them to seek professional advice about it. If a parent fails to do that then they are to blame for their child's weight.

What does the rest of MFP think?

You want the truth? I think it's all YOUR fault. You should be ashamed of yourself.

I knew giving candy to strangers kids was going to catch up with me somehow

And with the number of kids out there, if you're spending all that money on other people's children, you're going to be poor and will end up buying Spam to get your protein. Just sayin'.

taunto

The parents ofcourse. Who else? Once the kids are of age though, then its on them. I was skinny and fit till I came to US and there I was by myself and I got into bad habits. My parents did me well, I just got into poor habits.

KentWhiteRabbit

I believe it really is the parents fault, Especially If the child has been overweight their whole life, One of my best friends is very overweight and surprise surprise her parents are also very overweight. From being born we learn from our surroundings and if all you see is unhealthy foods and a unhealthy lifestyle then you'll become conditioned to think that way. This is why even in their adult life they will always struggle with their weight because to become healthy would be trying to retrain their whole way of thinking and thats very hard to do. It's like learning to write with your left hand when your right handed

Totally agree, I have been speaking with a young adult on here and they are struggling with changing to a healthy lifestyle while all around them their family are still overweight and eating badly...and they keep encouraging their child to be like them.

xxxMumof2xxx

Sounds to me like you're a pretty great dad dealing with an autistic son. Well done to you for giving your son the guidance and key skill for life.

My son is overweight. He's on a medicine that caused him to gain a lot, but in dealing with this, I realized that if we can't cut out the medicine, we can do other things.

So I'm teaching him (he's 13 and has autism) to cook healthy foods, I told him about soda being bad for him, he now drinks ice water. And we have stopped eating out, for the most part. I had been a horrible role model, we were eating out at fast food places way too much.

I am giving him encouragement when he eats to take less food than he would typically. I've told him, if he's still hungry in a half hour, he could have more. So far he's not needed more after eating. But he still has the tendency to binge. We're working on it.

We also swim an hour a day, which is helping a lot.

I see him making good choices now on his own and I'm thrilled for him. But I do feel it was my lack of guidance that let him get to this point. Blaming the meds was my cop out. I'm done with that now.

trud72

partly parents and partly schools/government!

darsh11

I certainly think the parents are to blame. We have stopped encouraging our kids to play outside, we have stopped encouraging our kids to be active and participate in a sport, or dance, or any other physical activity. We have stopped preparing food and teaching our kids what is healthy and what is junk. I saw it happening in my own kids and decided that I had to walk to walk to enforce good habits. If they see me being incactive, overweight, and eating crap they will think it is ok to be that way. I am very passionate about this topic because I have met children that don't know what really fruit and vegetables look like because they have never seen them.

BlessedAndTotured

parents are to blame. The little kid doesn't buy the food, the little kid doesn't cook it, and most of the time doesn't choose it.
I was watching the show "super nanny", one of the women complained her obese diabetic son was sneaking junk food from the cupboards and eating sweets(candy), crisps(chips), cookies, chocolates etc. and she had no idea what to do to stop him eating it.
sorry but if your son is obese and diabetic, ****ING STOP BUYING JUNK FOOD FOR HIM. are parents really this stupid these days they have to get a proffesional TV nanny to help them? just save your money and stop buying it.

EmmaJackson130

I completely agree, as a parent it is my job to teach my child about healthy eating and to make sure that she does it until she is old enough to have that responsibility for herself.

I am overweight because my mum equated love with cooking, she showed her love through making nice stuff and I was always taught to clear my plate. Now I am having to undo this teaching and although I now will stop eating when I'm full I still find it difficult not to clear my plate.

I have made a conscious effort with my daughter not to do this. If she says she is full then I say ok and she puts her plate by the kitchen sink. She is a fussy eater and sometimes most of her meal will go back but she knows that after dinner all she is allowed before bed is a glass of milk and a piece of fruit if she didn't eat her meal. She isn't over weight and she doesn't binge eat so I hope I am getting it right!

taunto

partly parents and partly schools/government!

Nope. Theres no partly. Its fully parents. If your school doesn't provide healthy foods and keeps pushing high calories junk foods then talk to them. Many communities are now doing it and for almost the same cost. The fact that NO parent screamed at the schools when they passed out pizza as a serving of veggies shows that parents are the one neglecting.

grabenson7

Both