Posted on 05/21/2006 5:41:21 PM PDT by FairOpinion
Primary schoolchildren are to be weighed regularly and their parents told if they are too fat under a Government drive to reduce obesity.
Children aged four to 10 in England will be put on the scales this term to help prepare an obesity "map". From next year, parents of any obese four- to 10-year-old can expect a letter telling them that their child faces long-term health problems unless they live a healthier life.
Yesterday, the Department of Health rejected suggestions that the Government was "policing" the size of children and increasing the risk that some children could be stigmatised or bullied if they were identified as being obese. A spokesman said tackling childhood obesity needed to be taken very seriously.
According to current trends, it is set to become the greatest cause of death in the UK. Obesity has trebled over the last 20 years, and a health survey in England in 2001 found that around 24 million adults in England were overweight.
It is rising among children too. In the past 10 years it has doubled in six-year-olds (to 8.5 per cent) and trebled among 15-year-olds (to 15 per cent).
The National Audit Office says that by 2010 the cost of treating obesity and related illnesses in England will be £3.6 billion. The tests will be carried out with children wearing "light clothes".
Parents can refuse permission for their child to be tested and can ask not to be sent the results next year.
Caroline Flint, the junior health minister, believes that parents are the "first and foremost" influence on their children and have a key role to play in tackling obesity.
He's old enough now to have more control over the effects. Before he's given something sugar-laden, he's reminded that it's not an excuse to act up...it's an opportunity to show me he can control the effects of sugar so that he's more likely to be allowed a treat next time it's offered.
It's great that your ds can recognize the "sugar effect". Too many kids (and parents) don't see it.
I don't want to ban all sugar laden treats; I just want people to notice when they cause problems for kids. The problems can be managed.
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