Hey - your child's a fatty

No, I can't and I won't be surprised if the doctor says he is overweight.We are trying to control his diet and I never thought he would reach this stage. But for the past one year, my now 10 year old seems to have no control on the amount of food he eats (even when it is healthy). Constant reminders upset him and short of serving him myself and not giving him anything else to eat, I don't know what to do :(

I wouldn't be shocked if it were true. I like to think I would notice it myself and I'd be more concerned by the fact that my child was overweight in the first place, rather than because the doctor told me so. So far my child seems to have boundless energy and doesn't stop exercising, but if I did see a problem developing I hope that I'd be able to do something about, and get some good advice. I'd hope that the doctor would also be able to give me some constructive information, and not just tell me that my child had a problem.

I'd be pretty upset since he'd clearly have to be blind. My kids are scrawnny as a rail. We'll my oldest has filled out now ( which I'm trying not to think about ) but my family are inherintly tall & thin.

I think there is a lot more to this then simply starchy, fatty foods and lack of exercise. A lot of families can't afford the high cost of better, nutritous foods and most kids are left home alone while their parent or parents work. Parents get affronted b/c they feel helpless to change the problems. When children do develop weight problems the parents often feel guilty about it. I think that the solution may be to encourage more families to garden, teach better eating choices and limit the amount of time spent on tv and computers. I know children who rarely play outdoors b/c their too busy playing hand held games. [b]**AT PEACE WITHIN** ~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~[/b]

My eldest has ribs poking out all over the place at the moment. But next month, when this latest growing spurt is over, I expect he will fill out again and they'll disappear. He grows upwards, then outwards and I've come to accept that as normal for him. Not all kids are built the same way though, and his body shape has been dictated by his parents. I agree that many kids these days are overweight, and it certainly doesn't do them any good now or in the future. Bad eating habits, normally the cause of obesity, are something that are difficult to unlearn in later life. If my doctor told me the kids were overweight I'd be very suprised, but I'd listen as one presumes that the doctor is more of an expert in the world of health than I am. On the other hand, I'm more of an expert on my kids than any doctor, so I wouldn't take anything I was told as gospel. There's no point in being offended though. A doctor is only doing his or her job and wouldn't tell a parent their child was obese unless they thought it was true based on their training and expertise.

I should be disregarding the rest of this discussion, as I can see my son's ribs, but... My son plays with his cousin everyday. And his cousin is on the heavier side. I've tried to bring these kids to the park a few times and I see my son running around, but not his cousin. Most often than not, I would see him either eating or just sitting around in the couch watching a movie, or playing video games. It is a bit hard for me to say it in front of his or his parents face, but I do hope that a doctor would.

As a parent of skinny children, I have the opposite problem and if told they were obese, I'd laugh. However, if the situation were different, I would hope that I would notice before having to be told by a doctor. I might be offended or upset to begin with but would accept that it was down to me and do something about it for them. On the other hand, could someone tell me how to fatten up an underweight child who eats like three horses and hates physical exercise?

I would not wait for a Doctor to tell me I would have done something about it as soon as I noticed myself as we all know it is not healthy at all for them The main problem I think these Days is that they hardly exercise play outside like we used to, as they prefer to be in front of their Computers or Game Consoles When I was a child I used to climb Trees, skip, run through Fields and all that sort of stuff, my favorite was Rounders though I used to love playing rounders xx

In my opinion, kids should have a little extra. Not be obese, but have a little extra meat on their bones. My daughter is slim, she has a very high metabolism (not from me) and she eats healthy foods.

I will certainly not be angry or upset,if the good doctor says that my child or grand child is fat, and I would certainly try to rectify the problem. But the main problem is my wife and mother will not accept that their children or grand children are fat, and they will be feeding them as you have rightly put it, a very high calorific diet of fatty, starchy food, with lots and lots of oil.

hi pikefish no as my son when a youngster was stringbean thin but very healthy. He has stayed around 140 now he is out of work except for a few days of parttime work. when he was working full time he had developed a bit of tummy bulge and was u p to 170 which was too much for his frame and once he got back to biking again he dropped down to 130 or 140 and has stayed there too. I saw a great program a couple of years back here in the Us on our tv. It was called Helping America 's Obese oNe by One. and it played for several years then I never saw it again. So many times they would find an obese teen and would you not believe it the parents were also tubby and all were eating at MacDonald and Burger King all the time. He went into their homes and helped them plan healthy meals and shop for healthy food, and the whole family slimmed down.but he went into the southern states and a lot of parents refused his help completely.The whole families were tubbos , I mean like 250 or more pounds for mom and dad and the kids at 14 were also at least 200. I think that kind of living and thinking is pure child neglect. They should be held accountable for the fat the kids had put on. Several kids had high blood pressure and some had type two diabetes which normally only occurs in overweight adults. I suppose you can lead a fat slobby parent to healthy food but you cannot force them to eat it. And for goodness sakes do not blame MacDonald s or Burger King either. Good health should begin at home when kids are babies and toddlers.

I'd be perplexed, because all three of them are thin!

For me not to it because it is malnourished the result.

Oh goodness no I would not be offended if my Doctor stated this to me about my child as I would know that he is not being intentionally hurtful. I would immediately seek further advice as to how I can help my child. There are so many ways to go about making sure a child is well balance with exercise regimens, however it could be a condition causing the weight gain, or genetics. But at any rate, I would as a responsible parent seek help right away, in all honesty though I would not wait for a doctor or anyone else to inform me as I would be seeking help at first glance that my child may appear unhealthy.

I would not be and I wasn't. Our doctor told our oldest son when he was around ten that he need to drop some weight. He wasn't obese by any means but ten pounds on a little 10 year old body looks much worse than on an adult! The doctor talked with him about the consequences and what he could do to stop gaining and stay healthy. I'm very grateful to that doctor because coming from him it had more factual authority. As a result my son lost that weight and although he has struggled with his weight ever since he stays trim and lifts weights and runs. I'm so glad our doctor decided to say something--I'd been trying to get some weight off him but he wasn't cooperating much until the doctor talked with him. Parent all too often think their child is perfect so they are offended when a "fault" is pointed out.

Discussion disregarded! Sorry, I cannot leave this one that fast! Kids are bigger mostly than they were 30 years ago when I was a little fella. I get to see a lot of children as I am always picking my two up from school and dropping them off each day. I also frequent a lot of children's playgrounds where you get to do a lot of people watching. It is incredible when you look at the large parents and then their children who you know are going to be just as large when they grow up. I know you have had your weight battles and I mean no disrespect to overweight people when I say that you have to wonder what they are thinking. Could it be a form of child abuse when these parents allow their children to eat junk and become overweight? Or is it all just genetics? I think that some of it could be genes, but I have seen these kids stuffing massive amounts of greasy food into their mouths so I also know that bad eating habits are also to blame.

I don't have kids, so I can' treally talk from experience, but it's true that in the developed countries people are getting fatter and fatter, and it starts when we are kids, with parents over-feeding their sons and daughters. Nowadays is a taboo to say someone's fat, even if it's a risk for health -although fat people are always in denial saying that is healthy...-, but health is a very important matter and it shouldn't be ignored. If parents can educate their kids in eating properly, there wouldn't be so much obesity, and so many people who can't almost move because they have too much body fat.