Why some Parents don't Notice that their Children are Obese?

Obesity tends to run in the family due to a combination of social and genetic factors which leave children with obese parents at greater risk of becoming obese themselves. With an ever-growing number of obese adults it is little wonder that the number of obese children is also increasing, as parents are not only passing on their genetic make-up to their children, but also their bad habits. Parents may not even realise that their child is obese, since if they were 'chubby' themselves as children they are quite prepared to ignore their child's weight problem and put it down to 'puppy fat', even though obese children have a greater chance of becoming obese adults.

This is a problem because with obesity comes serious health problems that may not be fully realised while individuals are still young. However, if children carry on down the path of obesity they could become ill due to their weight, suffering from heart problems, diabetes, joint pain, as well as developing self-esteem issues. It is therefore best to address a child's weight problem when they are still young enough to adapt to a new way of thinking about food and exercise. Although they might have picked up some bad habits from their parents it isn't too late for them to learn about nutrition and to get into better habits and a routine that enables them to remain a healthy weight.

For anything to be done to tackle a child's weight problem, though, it first has to be recognised that they do indeed have a weight problem. If parents are obese and most of their children's friends are also overweight or obese it isn't difficult to see why adults may have a skewed notion of what a child of a healthy weight looks like. That is perhaps why some schools are taking a more proactive role in monitoring students' weight so that they can learn which children have weight problems and contact their parents so that they can decide on a reasonable course of action.

Not all parents of obese children are obese themselves, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are always able to recognise when their children are overweight, especially if it is only by a couple of pounds. All parents want to think of their children as healthy and happy, and may have difficulty accepting that their children could do with losing a bit of weight, nor do they want to make their children self-conscious about their weight. It would therefore appear that schools are going to be instrumental, if they are not already, in tackling the growing problem of childhood obesity, working alongside parents to get children to a healthy size.