M E N T O R

Bad parenting
Last year, history was made
when a couple were arrested
on suspicion of neglect
and narrowly escaped jail.
The reason? They allowed their
11-year-old boy to balloon to a
shocking 15 stone. The couple were
detained on the Children’s Act 1933
and held on bail. Do you believe
they should have gone to jail?
This is an extreme example, but
childhood obesity is a global epidemic
and an intervention is needed
as soon as possible. According
to the Lancet, there are now more
obese people in the world than underweight
and this should worry
everyone. In order to solve the problem
we need to find the cause. What
I’m wondering is: are parents at fault
here?
A recent government study found
that more than 30% of children
aged 2 to 15 were classed as either
overweight or obese, 10% of 2 to
5-year-olds are overweight and, since
1980, the proportion of overweight
children aged 6 to 11 has more than
doubled. These are shocking figures
that show a dramatic increase in
childhood obesity. The question is,
what has caused this increase and
how can we stop this epidemic progressing?
Obesity is a complex problem with
many drivers, including our behaviour,
environment, genetics and culture.
However, obesity is ultimately
caused by an energy imbalance:
taking in more energy through food
than we use through activity. When
we talk about tackling obesity, all we
are really talking about, in essence, is
tackling this energy imbalance, one
Rebecca Vere
fat person at a time.
Childhood obesity is such a worrying
epidemic as it is extremely likely
to progress to adult obesity. Lifestyle
patterns from our early years persist
over time, with childhood obesity
continuing into adulthood. Obesity
during childhood has been found
to be associated with significant
medical co-morbidities, and excess
weight in childhood independently
increases the risk of mortality related
to cardiovascular and metabolic
disease. It is important that we also
consider the psychosocial impact of
obesity as it has been linked to adverse
effects on social, psychological,
and academic development. Obese
children are more likely to experience
bullying, lower health-related
quality of life, and impaired mental
health. Therefore, it is clearly in the
best interests of parents to prevent
childhood obesity.
Although it may be tempting for parents
of an overweight child to blame
‘bad genes’ for problems managing
excess weight, in reality genes have
less to do with the problem than
we would like to think. Whilst they
do contribute to a child’s ‘natural
weight’, a large part of obesity susceptibility
remains down to their
lifestyle. Such a dramatic rise in
childhood obesity in such a short
space of time cannot be attributed
purely to genetic factors, as these do
not change in any substantial way
year on year, or even between generations.
There are many other factors,
such as diet and exercise, which
make a much greater contribution to
weight than genes. These are, arguably,
under the parent’s control.
Obviously parents influence their
child’s diet. Who feeds you before
you learn to feed yourself ? Your parents
do, and children eat what their
parents eat. If parents consume fast
food regularly, their children are
more likely to do the same, which
can result in obesity. Unhealthy eating
habits can result in serious health
complications for the children such
as diabetes and high cholesterol,
which will affect them throughout
adulthood.
So, of course it is the responsibility
of parents to monitor the nutritional
value of the foods their children
consume. Which means it is essential
that parents are knowledgeable
about nutrition and are able to identify
what is healthy and what isn’t.
Many parents simply don’t know
how to provide their children with
a healthy, balanced diet. All too often
parents are over-feeding their
beloved child because they feel it is
what they need to do to be a good
parent, ensuring their offspring grow
big and strong. Ironically, the reality
is that they are providing their children
with health problems that will
stay with them throughout their life.
In order to make healthier choices,
families need to be presented with
clear information about the food
they are buying. The UK has led the
way, working with industry to implement
a voluntary front of pack traffic
light labelling scheme, which now
covers two thirds of products sold in
the UK in response to recent government
guidelines.
Similarly, schools are making a
conscious effort to tackle the problem,
and parents need to do the
same. School dinners have already
been modified thanks to Jamie Oliver.
Unfortunately, I remember
the year that turkey twizzlers, fizzy
drinks and ice buns were confined
to the history books; a secondary
school lunch that the older years
would speak of fondly (although
now I appreciate their true damage).
Food isn’t the only problem. One in
five children aged 9-13 were found
to engage in no free-time physical
activity. This is a shocking figure and
obviously parents can make a difference
to this. Recent developments
in technology mean the easiest way
for a parent to keep their child occupied
is with an iPad rather than
a physical activity. Just go to any
family restaurant and you will see
children glued to a screen to keep
them occupied throughout the meal.
This also extends into the home, an
environment which is undoubtedly
an important setting in preventing
overweight and obesity. Television
viewing has been identified as an
independent risk factor for obesity
and, as a result, might in fact be
more dangerous than playing in the
woods or climbing a tree – activities
which do not seem to belong in the
digital age.
There’s also the matter of loading
children’s days with activities that
preclude kids from exercising more.
Given a choice — and the opportunity
— it is highly likely that children
would opt to spend more of
their time engaging in physical activity,
but they’re not being allowed
to choose freely. Rather, adults are
choosing for them. Parents, in the
most loving and mollycoddling way
imaginable, are over-scheduling
their children to ensure they provide
them with the ‘best possible’ childhood.
But what value is there in being
grade 5 clarinet if you’ve been
left with metabolic syndrome? Parents
are indeed partially responsible
for over-scheduling their kids, but
there’s also the matter of teachers
assigning copious amounts of homework.
Obviously, this will reduce the
amount of time they spend outside.
In a bid to tackle this, the Department
of Health are working to ensure
that from September 2017,
every primary school in England
has access to high quality sport and
physical activity programmes, both
local and national. As part of this,
national governing bodies will offer
high quality sport programmes to
every primary school.
However, it is ultimately the parent’s
choice if their children walk,
cycle or drive to school. Although
initiatives are set in place by schools
to encourage walking and cycling,
parents have the final say. Too often,
overly anxious mothers are driving
their children to school because they
believe it is unsafe to let them walk
or cycle themselves.
School is also tackling the problem
of lack of exercise since new PE
initiatives have already been put in
place. Following changes in recent
government guidelines it has been
recommended that all children and
young people should engage in
moderate to vigorous intensity physical
activity for at least 60 minutes
every day. Many schools already offer
an average of two hours of PE
or other physical activities per week.
However, we need to do more to encourage
children to be active every
day. At least 30 minutes daily should
be delivered in school through active
break times, PE, extra-curricular
clubs, or other sporting events.
The remaining 30 minutes need to
be provided by parents, outside of
school time.
So, schools are making a conscious
effort to make the lunches they provide
healthier and to engage children
in more frequent physical exercise.
Educating parents is the next step
required to tackle the issue. There
are several factors that will contribute
to childhood obesity, however
the two most important are diet and
exercise and these are usually under
the parent’s control. The solution is
to tackle all of the problems simultaneously,
but ultimately parents must
change their offspring’s eating habits
and they need to be educated in how
to look after their child’s health. We
need to improve awareness of this
horrendous epidemic and education
will follow. Otherwise we will be failing
our children with only ourselves
to blame.
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