never imply that the parents are lacking in parenting skills

The whole issue of being overweight or obese is incredibly sensitive and Ukmedix News has often seen that parents can get extremely sensitive and emotional when it comes to the weight of their children. Recently for example in America, the Florida Department of Health sent out letters to parents who had overweight children to warn them about the negative implications of their weight. The Department of Health was inundated with angry calls and letters from the parents who said the even if their children were overweight it wasn’t their fault and it was due to bad school meals and lack of physical education on the curriculum.

There is a huge stigma associated with being overweight or obese and parents may often react in an emotional way when told by other people that their children are overweight. Parents often blame themselves for the problem and think that other people will think they are bad parents for letting their children be so overweight.

If your children are obese you are setting them up to be obese for the rest of their lives. Research has shown that the children who are obese in their teenage years are likely to stay that way right through their adult lives.

Doctors and health officials should be made aware that when they deal with parents who have overweight children they should be extremely sensitive and should never imply that the parents are lacking in parenting skills. Nevertheless doctors should point out the negative implications of obesity such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes over the long term.

Both the United States of America and the United Kingdom have big problems with childhood obesity which health experts say will develop into a serious health time bomb for the nation costing it millions of pounds in lost productivity and expenses in state health care.