Giving the issue a wide berth

I read this article with some interest and, I’ll admit, dismay. I might have even found myself getting a little angry, possibly because I recognised that to some degree, I don’t like to offend people and I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings – and that can be counterproductive. The BBC are suggesting that obesity might be turning into a taboo subject. I think that’s a disaster. People should call a spade, well, a spade.

In this case, they should call an obese person for the fat Buddha that they are.

Quite frankly, all this talk about protecting the children from being ‘stigmatised’ and ‘labelled for life’ is completely divergent from the message that we need to act to prevent child obesity. Referring to these children as ‘very overweight’ just uses two words to replace one that said it pretty damn well. It perpetuates the myth that it is acceptable to be overweight, and it sounds like the plea of parents who are trying to excuse themselves of responsibility for the wellbeing of their children.

A report due to be presented to ministers today will outline that childhood obesity is set before the age of five. This is an extremely important period in our development as it is, and I suspect the findings of these researchers will come as no surprise to most responsible parents. Until you pack the little buggers off to school, it falls to the parents to shape the future of their child. Stuffing it with crisps, sweets, and foods with high calorie-density is as damaging to their development as showing it video recordings of Hitler at Nuremburg. It also means that all the focus on PE and healthy eating at school is wasted if the parents take their eye off the ball and get lazy with the massive responsibility they have brought into the world.

While Jamie Oliver’s school-dinner frenzy is ultimately changing things for the better (even if it is interminably irritating), this report shows that the real focus ought to be on the parents before the child gets to school. The mandatory measurement of height and weight at school suggested by Professor Terry Wilkin of the University of Bristol is likely to be met by wails from parents determined to deny that they had any part in turning their child into a small blimp that is going to struggle with its size – possibly for the rest of its mortal life. I agree that it is of prime importance that we don’t alienate parents, because it is of vital importance that they are on-side and understand their role in this. I also believe that playing a sop to their ego is unacceptable. If they think they are being made to feel responsible for their child’s health, well, in almost all cases, they are. As a wise man once told me, man up and face it.

The Chief Medical Officer for England, Sir Liam Donaldson, has gone on the record saying that although we need to get in early “...and build the foundations of healthy living at an early age...” it is also “...never too late. Obesity is one of the few serious medical problems that can be reversed very, very quickly.”

David Haslam of the National Obesity Forum concurs with this view, telling the BBC that: “It is never too late or too early to intervene. The earlier the better in terms of long-term outlook.” In his view, childhood obesity is probably down to environment and learned behaviours.

So that’s three learned figures all telling us that it’s down to the parents. And yet these are the parents who we’re listening to trying to excuse themselves of the guilt for turning their child into ‘the fat kid’. Except there seem to be rather more of them these days.

Obesity should not be a taboo word. If their child gets the shit kicked out of it mentally or physically at school for being the size of a small moon, then that should send a pretty fucking clear message to the parents. You can’t blame the kids (although you can blame their parents for not teaching them tolerance). Stigmatised? Good. Then do something about it.

You want to become fat in later life? That’s your call and your responsibility. Don’t take that choice out of your child’s hands, they’re not responsible enough to make that decision for themselves because they don’t know any better. Give them a fighting chance in life. Show them pretty colours and clever toys. Read to them. Give them a copy of The Hobbit as soon as they’re capable of reading for themselves; tell them about the gay penguins if you like. Do all this, and for their sake, feed them healthy food and take them out to play.

Raising a child shouldn’t be easy. It’s not difficult and it’s not rocket science, but it does take effort. If you’re not prepared to put that effort in and invest in all that potential just waiting to be realised, you don’t deserve that child.