Hello!

20 Comments

Parents are being slammed for not recognising the signs that their child is overweight.

A study reveals that parents who DON’T weigh their children are at risk of failing to identify signs of childhood obesity.

It comes as 25% of Aussie kids are overweight, what should parents do?

A discussion on TODAY Facebook page saw parents in total disagreeance.

“What crap you don’t need the scale to tell you you are overweight. Throw out this idea stop giving kids a poor sense of self. Sleep healthy food and activity just stick to it!”

“What a great idea! Let’s give them body image issues from an even younger age!”

“Don’t weigh them if they look healthy and fit. If they’re starting to put on unhealthy weight, try to improve their eating habits. If that doesn’t help, that’s when you weigh them. Focus on health and not being “skinny”.”

“Weight and looks DO NOT justify what a person is. Could be the most loving nicest person you’ve ever met and what you’re going to be nasty just because on how they look?! I call that self centred and shallow. it’s the personality that counts not looks. I was always brought up to respect people wether they are a different shape colour or race. You should too. how about setting a example for your children and teach them respect.”

“Nope. You don’t need scales if you feed your child a balanced diet and ensure they are exercising”

” I know how much anxiety stepping on the scales causes me. Why would i want my children to feel that way? ”

Share your thoughts below

We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.
  • I don’t think you need to weigh your kids personally. We do it every so often just out of curiosity to see how heavy they are as they grow if they ask.. You can tell by their size and what they eat if they need restrictions and it is up to the parents to teach good eating habits instead of allowing kids to eat whatever junk they want or always buying take away.

    Reply

  • Never weighed my children either, however we didn’t have as many fast food outlets etc back then. I tend to think it is up to the individual parent to weigh or not. Obesity is a problem yes- but so is anxiety and obsessing about body image.

    Reply

  • Regular health check ups are important too, it’s a fine line to also not put pressure on kids already about their weight. Too many younger people these days with eating disorders already. It’s sad

    Reply

  • I never weighed my kids either. When they were babies and going regular health checks, the nurse weighed them to make sure they were growing correctly. But after that…….I fed my kids healthy, limited the crap they had to eat or drink, made sure they played outside. Never had weight issues. You shouldn’t need to weigh them to find this out though

    Reply

  • Just get the doctors to weigh them every now and then to keep an eye on it and ensure that they are getting enough exercise and a balanced diet. Not keeping an eye on their weight could miss a medical condition such as thyroid problems that could be fixed in child hood and prevent problems later in life

    Reply

  • Weighing children is playing with fire, if your kids clothes fit move on

    Reply

  • Good health is about balance which means getting exercise, eating well, drinking water and having treats in moderation. Instilling a health body image is important and not focusing on scales.


    • Weight is usually measured at a yearly GP check up anyway and working with a GP on health seems like the best way to go.

    Reply

  • Tricky. I think a lot depends on frequency – weigh the kids every 4 months, not once a week.

    Reply

  • You don’t need to be weighed, you can see just by looking at them. Give kids a break!

    Reply

  • I think children have enough pressure on them without parents weighing the, Healthy diet activities and allow them to be children. Throw scales away we don’t need to create body image issues at young ages.

    Reply

  • I don’t agree with weighing kids either. We don’t need a scale to see if they’re on the chubby side / overweight indeed. When we offer a healthy diet and plenty of physical activities it should be ok indeed.
    Every now and then my kids do want to go on the scale, but that’s not more then once a year or so

    Reply

  • You don’t need to weigh your kids …. if they eat healthy and are active, that should be enough to know that they are okay.

    Reply

  • It up to the parents especially if there is a problem just to be aware for health reasons.

    Reply

  • Dont agree with weighing your kids at all. Our daughter had a jedical condition and was in a wheelchair for almost 2 years unable to weight bear at all. A few months after she was out of the chair my parents looked after her for the weekend and the first thing my mother said when we walked in the door was tell your mother how much you weigh. Well we took her home and she didnt eat for a week. She has always been a bit on the bigger side but eats very healthy food and is at the gym 4times a week at least and has a great attitude towards her body now even being a bigger girl ni tganks to her grandparents.

    Reply

  • I know a young girl who only ate a balanced healthy diet, played a lot of sport, did a lot of swimming and still gained weight but more than her siblings had at the same age,. She looked healthy apart from that.She had also been taught about healthy eating, how some “healthy” food was better than others. She was with friends one day and declined food she knew wasn’t healthy. She actually had a medical problem that was causing it. Some parents weigh their children once or twice a year.

    Reply

Post a comment
Add a photo
Your MoM account


Lost your password?

Enter your email and a password below to post your comment and join MoM:

You May Like

Loading…

Looks like this may be blocked by your browser or content filtering.

↥ Back to top

Thanks For Your Star Rating!

Would you like to add a written rating or just a star rating?

Write A Rating Just A Star Rating
Join