Government warnings to parents of fat children

[Labarum]

Warnings for parents of fat children - Telegraph

[Lyssie]

Re: Government warnings to parents of fat children

That article is awesome. I wish they would do something like that in the US.

[Greeneggs&ham]

Re: Government warnings to parents of fat children

That article is awesome. I wish they would do something like that in the US.

Will you also like it when the government requires the same, monitored, obese children to follow a low fat, low calorie diet in the public school system to "fix" the problem? This isn't a political message board so I'll just say that you should be careful to follow all thoughts about government intervention to their logical (if not intelligent) conclusions.

[Lyssie]

Re: Government warnings to parents of fat children

I think that someone needs to point out to parents that they are endagering their children's lives by letting them sit around eating potato chips and playing video games without any exercise. I think that parents need to pay attention to their kids and what's going on with them - especially if it is something that negatively affects their health. Do you have a problem when they do the Anti-Drug campaigns on television? Parents were given the option to opt-out.

For the record, nobody said that they were going to be forced to follow any program. This isn't 1984. It's nice to see someone say something to parents besides "oh hey, look at those adorable chubby cheeks" for fear of being insulted or screamed at.

[Greeneggs&ham]

Re: Government warnings to parents of fat children

Why do we always expect the government to take care of our problems instead of picking up the gauntlet and taking care of it ourselves?

I think there are already PSAs on TV, and articles in the newspaper/internet regarding obesity percentages of children in America at an all time high, and how television, video games and lack of exercise are the causes. Having the government raise taxes (yes, the money has to come from somewhere and letters aren't free) to add to those methods with personalized letters to families is not the right answer.

Furthermore, statistically speaking, the parents who would actually do something about the problem likely already are. Parents who are allowing their children to become obese and/or out of shape likely will not change their attitude because of a letter from their governement. Is the cost to begin a program like that worth the small percentage of families that will actually change their attitudes as a direct result of the campaign? I am certainly more pessimistic than others, but I think it would be fair to say that the answer to that question is a resounding "No."

Perhaps this thread caught me on a bad day, so I apologize for my "poor attitude" on the subject of government intervention. I vote instead for volunteers, like you or me, to offer truly free options in their neighborhoods to get their children (and their friends) more physically active.

OK, I'm stepping off my soap box now. Hope there aren't any hard feelings.

[Lyssie]

Re: Government warnings to parents of fat children

Get over yourself.

Obviously waiting for parents to notice that their kids are fat is not happening. Anyway, this is not happening in the US, so you don't need to worry about your precious tax dollars going to try and make a difference with the children (aka the future), all the millions you can contribute will still go towards covering up government scandals, and sending kids overseas to blow up small towns and take over small countries (in a non-war).

Sorry for having an opinion that's different than yours.