Marc Wellness International Blog

I heard about Britians plan to organise fat report cards on primary-school children in a bid to fight obesity and I did wonder if us Aussie’s were going to lead the path and follow too. And it seems in an article released today Western Australian health industry experts have cautiously backed the controversial British plan to compile fat report cards.
The article “Report card for fat kids gain support” said:
Under the British scheme, which starts in September, parents will be sent notification of their children’s weight at the ages of five and 10. The information will reportedly be accompanied by advice on healthy eating, exercise and details of local support services. Australian educators say the plan should be considered because research shows parents often fail to recognise if their children are overweight or obese.
Interesting isn’t it that research shows parents often fail to recognise if their children are overweight or obese. Why is that? The way I look at it is, we love our kids that we would do absolutely anything for our kids, so why wouldn’t we be concerned about their health and wellness? With t

he rising concerns of obesity constantly climbing more and more each year. The article continues…
“At least one in four WA primary school children is overweight or obese and the problem is growing. The rates have doubled for WA boys and almost trebled for girls between 1985 and 2003″.

Whilst initiatives such as the report cards and weighing kids on the scales are discussed, I challenge to ask “Is this the solution?”

Is identifying that a child is a certain weight or if they are classified as healthy, underweight, overweight or obese the solution?Well…obviously it will be a start to gauge what healthy range the child is situated in for their age group but I really believe the emphasis needs to be on education in the environment we live. There needs to be education and action on the truth about how active a family is? & how well balanced is the families eating habits and daily diet?

It is all good and well to find out a statistic or a status of a child’s weight range but it is only the beginning there needs to be a follow up plan!
Parents and families today live in a society where temptation surrounds us everywhere. The temptations to eat junk food, to sit in front of the TV, for kids to play DS or WII instead of get outside and play. The environment we live today is different compared to when we were growing up. There is no such thing as riding your bikes in the street or to your friends house and come home before dark, no way - not today! Today there is stranger danger and kids would rather hang out inside and play online or with their technology tools. Well, not all kids but most enjoy these pastimes.

We have got to help our kids to be motivated and to get up and get active. And the secret is to get them motivated to be active from a young age. Teach them different sports and games and enroll them in the local sporting club playing a sport they enjoy. I know when I was young I had no time to hang out at shopping malls or do ‘nothing’ because I was busy playing sport and training. I played hockey and was so busy training and traveling to my sporting matches that there was no time to do ‘nothing’! And not only did it keep me busy, it kept me active, I had fun socialising with a bunch of different friends to my school friends and it taught me ‘discipline’ to play as a team, work with others and support others.  
But in saying this remember it is not all about sport, we need to also acknowledge what we eat! What do we eat as a family? Do we cook home meals that are grilled and are healthy or do we prefer to get take away and eat fast food that is convenient? So there are a few factors to consider here and it is about knowing how to lead a well balanced lifestyle with activity and diet.

So what do you think? Do you think the Report Cards for fat kids is a good idea or not?