Officials in the UK have chosen to ban the word "obese" from letters being sent to parents about their children's weight. Instead the parents of these children will receive a letter saying such children are "very overweight." The move is being called both "prissy" and "namby pamby" by Tam Fry, a member of Board of the National Obesity Forum. Namby pamby? Regardless of what you call it, Fry feels a better approach is to just come clean with parents.
In the United States, we've tried to ban the word "fat" and have replaced it with the word "obese." This may or may not be having much of an impact on our nation or our youth as our waistlines continue to get bigger (while our wallets become smaller!). One person I know quite well, however, was in denial about his weight as a teenager until he saw a doctor write the word "obese" on his report during the physical he was required to get before he left for college. That person, at that exact point, took charge of his weight and his life.
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As for the UK, Primary Care Trusts, or PCTs, are being guided to measure children's height and weight at ages five and eleven. Parents can choose not to participate, and so can their children. In the event that both do choose to participate, the measurements will be sent by letter to the parents and not the children. Naturally, a good portion of the obese children are not participating in the measurements, thereby negating the attempt to correct the situation. Children as little as seven years of age are being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, which was unheard of in the UK a decade ago.
What do you think? Should we go back to calling people fat? Should we call them obese? Should we only be telling their parents? Is there a good approach to any of this? I'd have to go with a quote from Aaron Neville on this one: Tell it like it is.
Pic by bethography - melting mama.
1. If you are fat (or obese if you'd rather), even if you are a child, you KNOW already. Your parents know, your friends know, strangers on the street know. People say things to you, usually not nice things either. It's not something you can hide or even deny, it is a part of your life whether it is something you cause, something stemming from a medical problem, or just simply "the way things are". I can't see any reason to humiliate children and foster even more obsessive behavior with unhealthy eating in order to cause weight loss. These kids and their parents are well aware of the issue at hand, and it's their right to either change their habits or not to change them.
Yeah, we've seen an increase in childhood obesity and diabetes and all kinds of things stemming from the fact that most of us aren't eating as healthily as we could and not exercising enough, if at all. However we're also blaming every thing and everyone but the person who has decided not to eat properly and exercise and teach healthy habits to their kids. Despite what anyone might say, if you are obese because of bad habits it is a CHOICE. Albeit not one that's hard to come back from, weight loss is very difficult. If you are obese from a medical problem, then you should be working darn close with your doctor about it. I will reiterate, there is no reason for children to be weighed like cattle and reported on back to their parents who are already painfully aware of the situation!
Posted at 3:20PM on Aug 5th 2008 by Sabrina