How can we stop dopey parents churning out fat kids?

[Loosehead]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7140844.stm

Are some parents just too dam stupid/soft/apathetic to have children?

[Bewlay Bros]

On the whole I believe the problem is worse amongst the peasant classes.

Yes, middle class parents sometimes overfeed their offspring, but it is fair to say it is mostly sons and daughters of poor, and often smelly, people who suffer.

My solution.

Instead of handing out benefits and family credit etc so the parent (no 's' on purpose) can spend it on cheap cigaretts, booze and tattooes, hand out healthy food coupons redemmable at ALL shops. Similar to milk tokens.

This way the parent will be forced to buy healthy fruit and veg as opposed to Sunny D and chips.

A rather good idea methinks.

[Loosehead]

Wardy, you are a genius! When I become leader of the world you will certainly be in the cabinet, although I'm going to call it the "sideboard"!

[kwicky]

From personal experience 'give me a fat child and I will find a fat parent'

[China Doll]

I sometimes think that there should be an exam you have to pass. I see bad parenting from all walks of life and all classes. As with a lot of extremes, very fat children are usually just the physical manifestation of something more serious.

[cazzzz1975]

ooh I fancy me some sunny d and chips tonight! :D

[tiggerblue10]

We should introduce food rationing like during the war. Lol

A lot of parents these days don't know how to cook so they rely on ready made cr@p full of hydrogenated fats and sugar and there is loads of takeyaways nearby to encourage bad eating habits.

[vehelpfulguy]

Why stop at fat kids. How can we stop parents turning out criminals, paedophiles, drug addicts, arsonists, alcoholics and adulterers.

The answer is we cant.

Parents are human with faults, and their children have faults.

Look at the British Royal family, one of the of the most pampered and priviliged familes in the world, but look at their problems.

3 of Queens 4 children have divorced, one admits to having an affair in a TV program.

The fatherhood of some of the royal children is in doubt.

If they cannot get it right, with all their help and support, what hope have us "ordinairy" parents.

And I dont just mean the poor and single parents, many educated and rich parents turn out the most anti-social and awful children.

The human race is not perfect, nor ever will be.

[vehelpfulguy]

>hand out healthy food coupons redemmable at ALL shops. Similar to milk tokens.

Of course there is nothing stopping them going down the pub and selling these coupons, and then spending the money on chips.

And of course shops will be quite happy to take these vouchers in exchange for pizzas and pies, and then say they were used to buy healthy food.

Sorry but any scheme like this is impossible to control and very easy to bypass.

[naomi24]

People are lazy and it's easy to feed children on pizza, oven chips and fizzy drinks. Also I think, rather than introduce children to a variety of foods from babyhood, many indulge their children's whims. If the child likes junk food, then that's what they get. Additionally, often people have not been taught to cook fresh food - and they mistakenly think it's expensive anyway. I seem to remember a survey being carried out within the last couple of years that came to the conclusion that a quite a high percentage of children didn't know what a real potato was. The other factor is lack of exercise. No one walks anywhere any more, and rather than regularly participating in any kind of sport, children spend their leisure time sitting in front of TV screens or computers. I don't blame schools, but perhaps if cookery and sport were higher on the agenda it might help. At least then future generations would know how to cook, children would discover the joys of competitive sport - and everyone would be a lot healthier for it.

[saxy_jag]

Perhaps we should go back to the days of food handouts. You take your vouchers or whatever to a specific food depot where you can only exchange them for healthy food. This would also have the advantage of providing a few jobs.

[funkymoped]

lets tax the lazy ba$tards !

shall we call it a �1000 per pound for every kid ??
the average family of 2.4 children, with an estimated weight of 7lb per child.... very roughly, thats 16grand of taxes.
turn out a fat kid and that could jump to 20 grand !!!!
i think i could be on to something !
:-)

[Goodsoulette]

I'm a single parent and in the peasant class and my kids aren't fat. Through sure start (because I'm a buddy mum) I see a lot of kids who are failure to thrive because they are undernourished, they do eat a lot of crap food but this doesnt provide them with enough to grow and they aren;t chubby either.

I heard that awful Laury Turner on the Wright Stuff claiming that parents (including herself) who work dont have enough time to cook, what a load of old rubbish., These parents have enough time for tv and the internet but cant spend 30- 40 minutes cooking a decent meal. I agree with Naomi, most people can't or wont cook fresh food, even to the point they wont even peel there own veg, I picked up a butternut squah for 80 p and then found a bag of it already prepared with about half a squash in it for nearly 2 quid. I was absolutely astonished.

What can we do though? Giving out healthy food tokens won't work. Poor people are already entitled to tokens for fruit and veg, works out at about 3 quid a week and thats not taken off their benefit they get already and vehlpfulguy is right, shops will accept them for other things, including fags as they already do that for the milk tokens. Encouraging excercise at home and school can be the only way forward, start with the extra curricular sports at primary school and PE teachers could work a bit harder at making that lesson a little less humiliating and a bit more fun.

[Aprillove]

No, they're just too lazy to cook.

[Le Chat]

In direct answer to the question. Yes, some parents are too damn stupid to have children...not just with regard to food either.
I try very hard to meet the emotional, physical and spiritual needs of my two children and it is not an easy job ..but one which I signed up to the minute I decided to reproduce.
I didn't want to be on Crosby beach this morning, with the cold wind whipping my face, running from one 'iron man to the next' (Antony Gormley's Iron Men) treading in dog muck and getting covered in sand! However, my 2 boys need the exercise and the air and the freedom to run and shout and live! It would be a loy easier to plonk them infront of the Playstation or TV but parenting is not an easy option, nor is it a popularity contest!
So naomi is right, it is the lazy parents, who can't be bothered to do what is right and the best for their children. Ignorance is a poor excuse ...we've never been so inundated with easy access to information as now. However, there do seem to be alot of very thick (unintelligent) people around, who can't see past their own interests and they keep on breeding.....

[woodfellow]

Why don't you ask your parents?

[naomi24]

Le Chat has hit upon a very valid point, which, I think, may well be missed. She said she 'decided to reproduce'. It seems to me that many people do not 'decide' to reproduce - they just reproduce, and continue to reproduce, without a thought for the way children should be brought up, educated, or cared for, or for their own ability to support their family, financially or otherwise - and their whole lives are often dedicated, in all areas, to the lowest common denominator. OK, once can be a mistake, but twice or more is sheer stupidity. I feel so sorry for the kids. With such parents, what chance do they have in life? Sorry, Loosehead, I know I've gone slightly off the main point of the question, but the whole issue of selfish, stupid parents makes me angry.