Childhood obesity has never been a more widely debated topic, yet the
Government, the NHS and even parents are being negligent about this
serious matter.
The Guardian wrote an article on February 18th 2013 discussing the massive cut backs that the childhood obesity programmes are facing: "More than half the obesity specialists advising the trusts were either made redundant or quit after the government announced public health funding would be transferred to local authorities this April." This therefore does not give much hope to the future for our children and especially with the ever increasing rates of childhood obesity.
Who is going to take the responsibility?
-Is it the government for giving wrong health messages and not providing the right resources and funding to help combat this issue?
- Is it the big junk food companies for getting children and everyone else addicted to their products, and nevertheless using persuasive marketing tools against children?
- Is it the schools for not teaching the children about healthy eating and not providing enjoyable PE sessions for everyone to enjoy being physical active?
- Is it the parents for not being good role models and letting their children eat unhealthily and not participate in regular physical activity
- Is it a combination of all or just some of these things?
In any case, with the yearly publication of the National Child Measurement Programme we are now being made even more aware of these drastic increases. Also, parents are now notified if and when their child is overweight which for many comes as a shock when they receive the letter. Some parents also become very offended, take it as personal criticism and bad parenting, but this should not be the case. Everyone needs help and a little bit of advice now and then. Especially with the poor and mixed messages about what healthy eating is. It is not easy for people to know what is right and what is wrong!
With regard to the measurement tool used for measuring the children on the National Child Measurement Programme, I'm not trying to say that the method used is perfect as it far from being perfect. The measurement used is body mass index (BMI) which only is based on a child's height and weight. Therefore, it is possible that there are a few children in between who have been classed as overweight who in reality aren't due to big bones, muscles, delayed growth spurt etc. but let's face it. It is the minority, and childhood obesity is a reality that we all need to wake up to and need to start dealing with.
The Guardian wrote an article on February 18th 2013 discussing the massive cut backs that the childhood obesity programmes are facing: "More than half the obesity specialists advising the trusts were either made redundant or quit after the government announced public health funding would be transferred to local authorities this April." This therefore does not give much hope to the future for our children and especially with the ever increasing rates of childhood obesity.
Who is going to take the responsibility?
-Is it the government for giving wrong health messages and not providing the right resources and funding to help combat this issue?
- Is it the big junk food companies for getting children and everyone else addicted to their products, and nevertheless using persuasive marketing tools against children?
- Is it the schools for not teaching the children about healthy eating and not providing enjoyable PE sessions for everyone to enjoy being physical active?
- Is it the parents for not being good role models and letting their children eat unhealthily and not participate in regular physical activity
- Is it a combination of all or just some of these things?
In any case, with the yearly publication of the National Child Measurement Programme we are now being made even more aware of these drastic increases. Also, parents are now notified if and when their child is overweight which for many comes as a shock when they receive the letter. Some parents also become very offended, take it as personal criticism and bad parenting, but this should not be the case. Everyone needs help and a little bit of advice now and then. Especially with the poor and mixed messages about what healthy eating is. It is not easy for people to know what is right and what is wrong!
With regard to the measurement tool used for measuring the children on the National Child Measurement Programme, I'm not trying to say that the method used is perfect as it far from being perfect. The measurement used is body mass index (BMI) which only is based on a child's height and weight. Therefore, it is possible that there are a few children in between who have been classed as overweight who in reality aren't due to big bones, muscles, delayed growth spurt etc. but let's face it. It is the minority, and childhood obesity is a reality that we all need to wake up to and need to start dealing with.
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