OMG 14 1/2 stone at 8 yrs old!

[NooNoo1970]

OMG!! I have just seen a news clip about the programme thats on tonight(8pm ITV1) about the 8yr old who is 14 1/2 stone!!!!

I felt crap at 14 1/2 stone and it was self inflicted and I am an adult, but this poor lad is the same age as my son.(who is 4 1/2 stone, and is fortunatly very tall and slim!!)
I have always said I would be mortified if my bad eating habits and poor relationship with food rubbed off on my children, so I have done everything in my power to make sure the boys eat healthy food, they both love fruit and veg and healthy foods and even though they have sweets and snacks they are always in moderation( i personally feel banning all 'goodies' makes them forbidden fruit and therefore more desirable...which could cause probs later on when they choose their own food)

Obviously I havent seen the programme yet, but the mother is blaming the area health authority??? now surely she should be mainly responsible for her child. I know there are some people who need extra help when it comes to looking after children, sometimes due to lack of education, or just having a child with difficulties, but at the end of the day the mother is the one who feeds her child and brings the food into the house.....she must have realised early on that he was over eating/becoming over weight?

I am astounded that this child has been allowed to become so large.

Sorry just needed to voice my opinion on this. Sorry if I have offended anyone, but just find it so frustrating and sad that after all the campaigns for healthy eating and the 5 a day plan for kids how this has been allowed to happen.

lou

 

[Mamma_caz]

Hiya.,

No you haven't offended me, and I quite agree with you, both my children are overweight not fatties but chubby, both get lots of exercise (we're farmers) and they are fit, alright they could lose some weight but, they are 12 and 15 and that will come as they grow again.

I had this same discussion with my work colleagues this morning, the parents are very quick to blame other people for their own inadequacies, like the mums who fed their children fish & chips through the school fence, when Jamie Oliver had changed the school meals, saying my child doesn't like the new school food.

My attitude is TOUGH!!!! I have no crisps in my house at all, I do not buy any chocolate they have access to fresh fruit and the occasional biccy, if there is any sweet stuff it is home made and if they do have the odd sweet it is not everyday. If they don't eat what they have on their plate, then again tough I am not making anything else for them to eat.

If they raid the bread bin then their next meal is cut back to compensate. (I am a cruel Mum).

But we know from past experience that if we show discipline, and set the boundaries, alright for a few days our kids throw their toys out the pram but for the sake of a life time of being healthy or well behaved a few days is hardly going to kill us.

I could go on but........................

 

[polishrose]

I agree with previous posters.My 8 year old is a little chubby,the rest are slim.To get to 14.5 stone at 8 years old that child must have had access to a heck of a lot of food-and who else will provide food if not the parents?I don't get how they can blame anyone else.

 

[kati]

is this the one where they're deciding whether or not to take him into care because they've decided he's being abused by letting him get so fat? I think thats awful, surely they'd be better off reeducating the family and have them working closely with dieticians etc than to take the kid away from his family.

The mother does sound like she's trying to blame everyone but herself but I'd say the family just needs help instead of being torn apart

 

[archantgirl]

If it's the one that was on GMTV this morning, the mother had appointments booked to see the dietition, but never turned up because she was depressed. Silly woman, it's her fault, not the child, or the authority. It made me angry this morning, as she looked a real chav (sorry if I offend by using that term) she thinks the child will be taken away. It sounds like she is wrapped up in her own problems and don't actually care for the little boy. I felt really sorry for him. And when he was asked if being taken away from his Mum worried him, he did not seem that bothered. Perhaps he should go into care because the mother has her own head to sort out. Maybe it's for the best. I hope he looses the weight, although he has already lost 1.5stone, so imagine how big he was before!

 

[Janey]

I'm going to watch this programme at 8pm to see what the outcome is.

 

[Mamma_caz]

Hi folks, I missed the programme and forgot to record it, what was the outcome??????

I agree that the family needs re-educating, despite my age and the fact that I was lucky to be taught to cook, I still need educating now, otherwise I wouldn't have a weight problem.

There was a prime example of how this could be done a couple of weeks ago on You are what you eat, two mums and their daughters and the girls wouldn't eat fruit and veg, but the one mum put the plate in front of her daughter and told her that, that was all their was, and she looked a different girl in 8 weeks, and yet the other mum tried to break her daughter to the new regime slowly and got a roasting off the presenter. (She never pulls her punches).

It proved that it was down to the food being given to the girls.

But it does mean that the Parents have to care in the first place. I feel sorry for the children, because they have no idea of being cared about.

I have some real humdingers with my daughter, but it is only coz she cares and to some degree knows her own mind, and is clever enough to know right from wrong. Unfortunately some of the children who she is friends with lead her easily.

But she and her brother know we care and what ever we get angry about is because we care and worry about them.

I hope the child gets help and ends up being loved and cared for.

 

[Happe]

I am friendly witha family who have been threatened with the same thing for the last 5-6years. Mum and both daughters are extremely over weight but it is the youngest who the authorities have been interested in. She's been kept in hospital for weeks and only allowed a chicken breast a day, she has to wear a mask to bed to ensure she breathes enough oxygen through the night. At first i was horrified that they were threatening to put her into care but having watched the problems mum has had over all these years trying to get her to eat less and more healthily ive changed my mind and think it would do both of them the world of good to be separated for a while. Not into care but maybe at one of these kids "fat camps" for a couple of months. My friend isnt strong enough mentally to say no when the daughter is demanding food and demand is the right word, there big tantrums when she says no so then mum is stressed ou over thinking they are going to take her away so mum eats and if mum eats then daughters get to have even more. Its a very manipulative destructive relationship they have and something needs to be done. But other than meeting after meeting and hospital appointment after hospital appointment nothing concrete happens. Dont understand the mindset myself, what could be worse than your child having a oxygen mask to breathe, being taken into care and possibly dying young because of what you ahve allowed to happen. Makes me angry.

 

[Mamma_caz]

Hiya Happe.,

I am in total agreement with you, I am close to tears thinking about the children that are stuck in this rut, but I also feel sorry for the parents, I know what it is like to feel trapped by what your children say. My daughter is lovely and spirited but she has brought me to tears before now, worrying about her and what her life will be like if she doesn't knuckle down. The only thing I can liken it to is being stuck in a bubble no matter how hard to push on any side you cannot get out. But I found the only way was to be strong and ignore the protests eventually it sorts its self out.

Perhaps it might be worth your friend contacting the show 'You are what you eat' or even 'Diet Doctors' off Channel 5 as they are looking for people to take part. It might be what they as a family need.