One-in-five children obese in Southampton (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Where can I get one of those burgers? It looks fab!

Outside any school or college you see kids walking and eating at the same time and always the wrong things, whole packets of biscuits,family size crisps, chips, pint cans of energy drink and then they throw the rubbish on the floor.The parents dont even know what they are eating away from home.
When I was at school I was given money only on a Friday to get a sausage roll from the bakers as a treat.The parents cant be bothered to make packed lunches so just give them money.

My son is six and I havent seen any fat children in his school. We live in Sholing

Ozmosis wrote:
Where can I get one of those burgers? It looks fab!

Pitcher and piano at ocean village. Nom nom.

vag wrote:

Ozmosis wrote:
Where can I get one of those burgers? It looks fab!

Pitcher and piano at ocean village. Nom nom.

How do you go about eating something like that?

sophisticated wrote:
My son is six and I havent seen any fat children in his school. We live in Sholing

What about all the ones outside?
We live in Fat 59, Charred Well Green

i too have been told my son is obese he is 5 and no bigger than the rest of the kids in school and wears clothes to fit his age he has a healthy diet

hays1179 wrote:
i too have been told my son is obese he is 5 and no bigger than the rest of the kids in school and wears clothes to fit his age he has a healthy diet

May be they are all obese then and wear clothes to fit their size.

I used to give our son packed lunches sandwiches made with wholemeal bread, cereal bar and fruit. I agree with bigfella, i see kids walking and eating. In fact one shop i worked in kids used to come in on te way to school to buy a doughnut, that was their breakfast!!!!!!!!!

sparkster wrote:
I used to give our son packed lunches sandwiches made with wholemeal bread, cereal bar and fruit. I agree with bigfella, i see kids walking and eating. In fact one shop i worked in kids used to come in on te way to school to buy a doughnut, that was their breakfast!!!!!!!!!

Just the one? Their mum's must have had them on a strict diet.

These horrifying figures don't tell half the story. There is a very strong association between childhood obesity and child poverty. Statistics last week showed how parts of Southampton like Thornhill, Swaythling, Redbridge and Weston are experiencing child poverty levels that you would expect to find in places like inner city London, Manchester or Glasgow.

It will come as no surprise that these areas of child deprivation also experience high numbers of obese children. They also experience higher rates of dental decay, risks of accidents (in home and on the road) and respiratory illness.

With the continued economic downturn and unrelenting government attacks on welfare benefits, these problems of poor child health are set to get worse where the gap between rich and poor will get wider with all the implications this has for the very fabric of what was once a civilised society.

There are solutions out there - like universal free school meals that ensure basic nutritional standards for all our children, cheap and affordable sports and leisure facilities - but is society prepared to meet the costs of this?

hays1179 wrote:
i too have been told my son is obese he is 5 and no bigger than the rest of the kids in school and wears clothes to fit his age he has a healthy diet

Clothes these days are bigger. If I buy my sons trousers that fit in length, they fall down, especially school trousers. My boys are not exceptionally skinny either.

So long as the food giants and supermarkets pump money into their preferred political parties, they will be allowed to put as much salt, fat and sugar into their processed food stuffs.
Until they are prevented from producing and selling these unhealthy foods people will get fatter.
Horse meat is a healthier alternative to fat rich beef.
I’m surprised no-one’s thought of that.

blame the parents feeding them junk food and letting them play on game consoles ,You rarely see kids climbing trees or having fun outside these days .

Climbing trees!? Are they wearing a helmet!? Have they been properly trained? is there a guardian in place overseeing them!? Is the property owner insured if the kid falls and breaks their neck? Too many veriables. TV is a much safer option.

Climbing the trees... haha.... in todays society? Keep on dreaming. Climbing trees is not on mtv and the childrens channels. its all about latest hanah montana x factor bull crap.

The PC mothering brigade has slowly been sucking out our freedom.

sophisticated wrote:
My son is six and I havent seen any fat children in his school. We live in Sholing

The story must be lies then.

It doesn't say how many "starving stick insects" there are. Some kids can eat loads and not put on any weight at all. You do see many overweight youngsters and of course it is down to diet. Some parents have no control over their kids and they find the only way to shut them up is to feed them with junk food. Not being a parent myself I am not really qualified to say why. I remember during the time that I went through puberty I did get grossly overweight and it wasn't down to over eating, just a hormone imbalance that corrected itself over time. There must be many other reasons that cause obesity and it is wrong to label everyone as being greedy and irresponsible.

I see the Echo are a mission to make us all feel good again....
Usual junk story again I see!

OSPREYSAINT wrote:
It doesn't say how many "starving stick insects" there are. Some kids can eat loads and not put on any weight at all. You do see many overweight youngsters and of course it is down to diet. Some parents have no control over their kids and they find the only way to shut them up is to feed them with junk food. Not being a parent myself I am not really qualified to say why. I remember during the time that I went through puberty I did get grossly overweight and it wasn't down to over eating, just a hormone imbalance that corrected itself over time. There must be many other reasons that cause obesity and it is wrong to label everyone as being greedy and irresponsible.

"Not being a parent myself I am not really qualified to say why."

Of course you are. Raising children isn't rocket surgery, and I'm sure you've a degree of common sense.

I *am* a parent, so if that makes me 'qualified to say why', I'd venture that it's because the childrens' parents are irresponsible muppets...

- Give your children love and respect. Encourage them to show kindness and respect to others. Encourage them to put themselves in the shoes of those less fortunate than them.
- Teach them about the world, and ask them what they think. Encourage them in their interests.
- Be consistent and fair with them. Remember that they are an equal, just smaller and less experienced.
- Clothe them and give them a clean safe place to live. Feed them healthily, and make sure that they're physically active and take exercise.

I'm not sure there's much more to parenting than that really. Yet apparently it's beyond a lot of people... Fat children, unpleasant foul-mouthed children, dead-eyed listless children, these all pretty fair indicators that at least one of those things has been lacking.

Kids who are unfortunate enough to have a clinical condition behind it are a different matter of course. Although even then, I'm not convinced that all the kids diagnosed with a 'behavioural disorder' aren't just badly behaved brats.

Judgemental rant finished. ;-D

One in Five children in Southampton is obese.

Four out of Five children in Southampton have been deprived of Coca Cola, Chips, Hamburgers, KFC and Pizza.

Fat Baskets

FoysCornerBoy wrote:
These horrifying figures don't tell half the story. There is a very strong association between childhood obesity and child poverty. Statistics last week showed how parts of Southampton like Thornhill, Swaythling, Redbridge and Weston are experiencing child poverty levels that you would expect to find in places like inner city London, Manchester or Glasgow.

It will come as no surprise that these areas of child deprivation also experience high numbers of obese children. They also experience higher rates of dental decay, risks of accidents (in home and on the road) and respiratory illness.

With the continued economic downturn and unrelenting government attacks on welfare benefits, these problems of poor child health are set to get worse where the gap between rich and poor will get wider with all the implications this has for the very fabric of what was once a civilised society.

There are solutions out there - like universal free school meals that ensure basic nutritional standards for all our children, cheap and affordable sports and leisure facilities - but is society prepared to meet the costs of this?

Fat (chicken-in-a-) Baskets

cantthinkofone wrote:

OSPREYSAINT wrote:
It doesn't say how many "starving stick insects" there are. Some kids can eat loads and not put on any weight at all. You do see many overweight youngsters and of course it is down to diet. Some parents have no control over their kids and they find the only way to shut them up is to feed them with junk food. Not being a parent myself I am not really qualified to say why. I remember during the time that I went through puberty I did get grossly overweight and it wasn't down to over eating, just a hormone imbalance that corrected itself over time. There must be many other reasons that cause obesity and it is wrong to label everyone as being greedy and irresponsible.

"Not being a parent myself I am not really qualified to say why."

Of course you are. Raising children isn't rocket surgery, and I'm sure you've a degree of common sense.

I *am* a parent, so if that makes me 'qualified to say why', I'd venture that it's because the childrens' parents are irresponsible muppets...

- Give your children love and respect. Encourage them to show kindness and respect to others. Encourage them to put themselves in the shoes of those less fortunate than them.
- Teach them about the world, and ask them what they think. Encourage them in their interests.
- Be consistent and fair with them. Remember that they are an equal, just smaller and less experienced.
- Clothe them and give them a clean safe place to live. Feed them healthily, and make sure that they're physically active and take exercise.

I'm not sure there's much more to parenting than that really. Yet apparently it's beyond a lot of people... Fat children, unpleasant foul-mouthed children, dead-eyed listless children, these all pretty fair indicators that at least one of those things has been lacking.

Kids who are unfortunate enough to have a clinical condition behind it are a different matter of course. Although even then, I'm not convinced that all the kids diagnosed with a 'behavioural disorder' aren't just badly behaved brats.

Judgemental rant finished. ;-D

The things 'lacking' where donuts and hamburgers.....

I am truly surprised that loosehead has not claimed that it is all the fault of the last Labour government, aided and abetted by the recently elected Labour City Council.

Maybe he has taken 'leave of absence' so that he can commiserate with Maria Hutchings.

FoysCornerBoy wrote:
These horrifying figures don't tell half the story. There is a very strong association between childhood obesity and child poverty. Statistics last week showed how parts of Southampton like Thornhill, Swaythling, Redbridge and Weston are experiencing child poverty levels that you would expect to find in places like inner city London, Manchester or Glasgow.

It will come as no surprise that these areas of child deprivation also experience high numbers of obese children. They also experience higher rates of dental decay, risks of accidents (in home and on the road) and respiratory illness.

With the continued economic downturn and unrelenting government attacks on welfare benefits, these problems of poor child health are set to get worse where the gap between rich and poor will get wider with all the implications this has for the very fabric of what was once a civilised society.

There are solutions out there - like universal free school meals that ensure basic nutritional standards for all our children, cheap and affordable sports and leisure facilities - but is society prepared to meet the costs of this?

I agree that the issues you highlight are a massive problem. Neo-liberalism has widened the gap between rich and poor, and a great number of people are suffering from it. I'm with you on the basic principles.

But I also know a lot of VERY poor working class people that put the effort into feeding their children properly. A jacket potato and some fresh veg is a dam n sight cheaper than kebabs or ready meals, and is very simple to cook.

Almost everyone has access to the internet in Southampton. On phones, in the library, it's there. Searching for easy healthy meals to make your children doesn't take much effort - ignorance is no longer an excuse.

Providing your children with healthy food is your moral obligation as a parent. It's easy, and is in fact cheaper than junk food. Your children may not *like* it at first, but ensuring that they develop their tastes and don't become an annoying fussy eater is also part of parenting.

So poverty is not an excuse. And giving your child diabetes or a heart condition later in life is abuse.

exactly the more junk food they eat now the more risk children have in later life of coronary disease diabetes etc

dogbruce wrote:
blame the parents feeding them junk food and letting them play on game consoles ,You rarely see kids climbing trees or having fun outside these days .

The kids in my road love climbing trees and playing football on the green but some grumpy old git keeps shouting at them and threatening to call the police if he sees them out playing or climbing the trees again!!

Kids can't win whatever they do in this day and age... they get accused of anti social behaviour for being outside and active... get accused of being fat and lazy if they stay inside to play

Dont eat Big Mac s , dont drink / smoke , play with matches , talk to strangers or pick your nose . Live healthy boring and celibate !

SPIKEISLANDTRADER wrote:
Dont eat Big Mac s , dont drink / smoke , play with matches , talk to strangers or pick your nose . Live healthy boring and celibate !

Not everyone wants to be you though.

Linesman wrote:
I am truly surprised that loosehead has not claimed that it is all the fault of the last Labour government, aided and abetted by the recently elected Labour City Council.

Maybe he has taken 'leave of absence' so that he can commiserate with Maria Hutchings.

Actually, to be fair Labour did create a nanny state. Just being honest here!

Graeme Harrison wrote:

SPIKEISLANDTRADER wrote:
Dont eat Big Mac s , dont drink / smoke , play with matches , talk to strangers or pick your nose . Live healthy boring and celibate !

Not everyone wants to be you though.

Oh bless you, that's so cute.

Next time you have a spare minute or two, have a google around the topics of 'sarcasm', 'satire', and 'parody'.

:-)