Teachers Notes

1. Ben
After Jack, Ben would probably be the next one
that eats the most even though he’s tiny, but to
me he’s catching up.
– Kylie, Ben’s mum
The smallest of quintuplets, Ben lives in a
household of devoted carers and has overcome
myriad health problems and development
delays resulting from his premature birth. But
as the tiniest of quintuplets with a birth weight
of just 500 grams, Ben is one of the biggest
eaters in his family and science suggests he
could be at a high risk of becoming obese.
• According to recent research, how many
Australian toddlers are already overweight
or obese
• What is the number one predictor for a child
becoming fat
• What happened to Ben in his first six
months of life
• How did this experience affect his early
development
• Why might Ben now be cleaning up the
bowls and leftovers of his brothers and
sisters
• What does the research reveal about the
appetites of low birth-weight babies
• What is the inevitable result of eating
energy dense and nutrient poor foods and
expending little energy
• What are some of the reasons the parents
of Ben (and some of the other children’s
parents) give for finding it hard to control
their own weight
• How does the evidence that our bodies are
designed to store fat make long-term weight
loss a more difficult task
• What is the second highest predictor of a
child becoming overweight
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