[ubermum]

I'm trying to address the issue we have in this country with childhood obesity. Something extreme needs to be done, doesn't it? What do you suggest, a couple of adverts telling parents not to feed their kids coco pops? Oh that will fix it...

The thing is, childhood obesity is so much more complex than what kids eat from the canteen. There is a whole host of contributing factors.
*Portion sizes have increased across the board with every product. Chips that came in 25g bags when I was a kid, now only come in 50g bags.
*Screen time for kids has greatly increased. Parents are reluctant to let their children take off playing on their bikes and other similar outdoor activities as it is not seen as responsible and most of us have a degree of fear that something will happen to them if we don't supervise them at all times.
*A lot more children are being raised in households where both parents work and they work longer hours than my parents did when I was a child. It seems to be the only way that most people can service a mortgage these days. This leads to an over reliance on convenience and take-away foods just for time management.
*Most kids are driven to school rather than walking. This is not only due to convenience, but due to parents working and other lack of time issues.
*Parents themselves are bigger and have a distorted idea of body size, both for themselves and their children. Many overweight children are considered just a little chubby by their parents.

What kids are eating at the canteen is probably the least of anyone's problem.

[SarDonik]

The thing is, childhood obesity is so much more complex than what kids eat from the canteen. There is a whole host of contributing factors.
*Portion sizes have increased across the board with every product. Chips that came in 25g bags when I was a kid, now only come in 50g bags.
*Screen time for kids has greatly increased. Parents are reluctant to let their children take off playing on their bikes and other similar outdoor activities as it is not seen as responsible and most of us have a degree of fear that something will happen to them if we don't supervise them at all times.
*A lot more children are being raised in households where both parents work and they work longer hours than my parents did when I was a child. It seems to be the only way that most people can service a mortgage these days. This leads to an over reliance on convenience and take-away foods just for time management.
*Most kids are driven to school rather than walking. This is not only due to convenience, but due to parents working and other lack of time issues.
*Parents themselves are bigger and have a distorted idea of body size, both for themselves and their children. Many overweight children are considered just a little chubby by their parents.

What kids are eating at the canteen is probably the least of anyone's problem.

Yes I agree with all of what you are saying and I guess banning all junk food from a canteen isn't really addressing the problem, kids need to be able to turn down junk food and opt for healthy food. Obviously the solution is for parents to take responsibility, better educate their children etc etc I'm not sure what the solution is to be honest. If we wanted to fix our obesity problem in 5 years, something extreme would need to be done. I have no idea what this would entail really. I don't really understand parents that regularly feed their kids junk food, is it ignorance or is it just apathy?

This post has been edited by SarDonik: 26/04/2012, 10:51 AM

[balletmom4]

I doubt very much a Pediatrician told you to feed your kids Maccas to fatten them up. The food is so lacking in anything nutritious it will most likely result in your kids losing weight. There are much easier & cheaper & healthier ways to 'fatten' your kids up. In fact a journalist went on a Macdonalds diet for a fortnight and lost weight, so yeah I call bullsh*t.

Actually, my DS was encouraged to eat macca's fries (plus a few other fattening foods) after he stopped eating completely following surgery for skin grafts (full thickness burns). He wouldnt eat ANYTHING, and was previously a great eater. So, we bought fries for him to eat, and he actually ate a few. It does happen, but I know it must be the exception rather than the rule.
Zombie Mums DD was diagnosed with Coeliac disease, weight loss and inability to gain weight is a issue with this disease, (which would have been undiagnosed when the info was given) so I'm guessing thats why she encouraged to try this apporach.

[MummaDiva]

So what is the next step ... do people think schools should be policing lunch boxes? Banning kids from eating anything unhealthy? Or maybe pantry inspections in homes, since parents are obviously not to be trusted.

Actually, one of the mothers in my DD1s class has done her reading help in class in the morning and then stuck around for lunch, just to inspect what other mothers are putting in the kids lunchboxes. My lunchboxes seem to have passed OK but she has made formal complaints (to the principal) about one particular girl (who has some behavioural "issues" hitting / slapping this woman's daughter in particular). This girl is given a packet of chips for lunch, a chocolate bar for recess and a 600ml coke to last the day. A bit over the top on the part of both mothers.

I agree that a better a solution, particularly in the OPs situation, is to actually limit the amount of money. There is no reason why a FYOS child needs so much money for school canteen.

I think the best solution to the OPs problem is for the OP to join the P&C or the canteen committee or whatever and go about making changes to the canteen menu in a constructive way. Whinging from the sidelines won't do a thing.

[ZombieMum]

I doubt very much a Pediatrician told you to feed your kids Maccas to fatten them up. The food is so lacking in anything nutritious it will most likely result in your kids losing weight. There are much easier & cheaper & healthier ways to 'fatten' your kids up. In fact a journalist went on a Macdonalds diet for a fortnight and lost weight, so yeah I call bullsh*t.

Doubt all you like. My DH, my DD and I were there and heard it straight from his mouth.

Of course - you know nothing of my DD's reasons for seeing a paed in the first place so I find it somewhat amusing that you've posted that there are easier ways to fatten up a child with ASD, that had sensory issues with food, and was also on daily medication (of which one of the side effects was it acted like an appetite suppressant). She's been getting her height and weight checked every 6 months for the last 10 years and was always an underweight child.
We didn't eat junk food - which is why I think he suggested it - he thought she might like the taste (as a lot of kids seem to), yet there was no enticing her to eat it because it tasted like cardboard to her. I did give it a few tries though.

Fortunately there are some EB members here that do think.

Zombie Mums DD was diagnosed with Coeliac disease, weight loss and inability to gain weight is a issue with this disease, (which would have been undiagnosed when the info was given) so I'm guessing thats why she encouraged to try this apporach.

I guess you're kind of close in a way. - its my DD1 that sees the Paed every 6 months and she doesn't have the official Coeliac diagnosis (she had a positive blood test but biopsy was negative.) This Paed hasn't been very helpful when it came to her weight issues - we got more useful advice from a naturapath - and she's the one that insisted we see the GP for the Coeliac screening blood test. When she's gluten free, she gains the weight.

It's my DD3 that has been officially diagnosed with Coeliac disease and she has never seen a Paed, but has seen a dietician - because they know a lot more about nutrition than Paeds do (which I thought would have been obvious to SarDonik. )

I once had a paed tell me to let my daughter drink fizzy drink when she had a really bad gastro bug when she was 2. He said he didn't care what she drank, as long as she drank, and sometimes it's the only thing kids can keep down. He was right. It didn't have any adverse effects as far as I can tell, but I did get abused in the chemist by an old lady when I went in to get some more medication for DD. According to old lady I was a terrible mother feeding that rot to DD (fair enough DD was guzzling Coke straight from the bottle, rather like a wino in the park) and she would die because of it. She didn't though. Funny that.

When my DS was 18 months old, he was in hospital recovering from gastro and they gave him a fizzy drink! - I was horrified as I'd never given my kids fizzy drink at that age. It did the trick though!

This post has been edited by ZombieMum: 26/04/2012, 11:11 PM

[Majeix]

I'm trying to address the issue we have in this country with childhood obesity. Something extreme needs to be done, doesn't it? What do you suggest, a couple of adverts telling parents not to feed their kids coco pops? Oh that will fix it...

I understand that and I don't disagree that we have a problem and should try to fix it. I'm just questioning some of your ways of doing it. I belive that healthy food in canteens is important and if my school had a canteen I would be pushing for it offer healthy foods and expect treats to be limited and relatively healthy. I also do not believe adverts about the evils of coco pops will fix anthing. Howeve as well as all these things I do not believe that offering a healthy version of "bad foods" is necessarily wrong either, or an essential part of combating childhood obesity. I can certainly see some logic in your idea. It's just I think a lot of valuable discussion about healthy eating can also come out of finding a healthy variation of something and I see no reason to deny my children a much loved and ery healthy treat just because it might in theory make them drawn to unhealthy Ivariations. Instead I would rather give them their healthy treat and tell them that they can have this more often because it is healthy and the other ones rarely because they are not so good for them.

[SarDonik]

Doubt all you like.

This ^. You'll just have to accept I don't believe you and deal with it

[Heather11]

At my children's school lunch orders are through the bag system so parents can control what is ordered.

In R-2, iceblocks are through this system also. Year 3-7s can buy them over the 'counter'.

We are told not to send more than $1 for younger kids to spend at recess and the money is to be given to the teacher in the morning who then gives it back to the students at recess.

There is no sharing or buying of food to share allowed.

These rules are put into place from day 1 so that children and parents alike are aware of them.

ETA: Our school canteen has healthy options - fresh salad rolls and wraps, salad plates, baked potatos etc.

When I went to school our canteen was outsourced from the local deli and the staple diet was pies, pasties, hotdogs, kitchener buns, donuts, and finger buns with no real healthy options available.

This post has been edited by Heather11: 27/04/2012, 11:38 AM

[RillyBilly]

I know you said you weren't returning, Op, but in case you change your mind.....

you're concerned about slushies being unhealthy? They're basically crushed ice (water) and some flavouring. Yes, the flavouring may have sugar in it, but to my way of thinking, if they encourage children who may not otherwise do so, to get some water into them, how is that bad?

[SarDonik]

Yes, the flavouring may have sugar in it, but to my way of thinking, if they encourage children who may not otherwise do so, to get some water into them, how is that bad?