SHOULD WE WEIGH OUR KIDS?
It’s a controversial topic – some professionals argue putting children on the scales is essential to their health; others believe it’s harmful.Our experts battle it out
THE HEALTHY DEBATE
AGENDA
YES
says Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum and Child Growth Foundation
‘We measure animals in the zoo to see that they’re growing, we measure our cars with an MOT, but in 1989 we stopped measuring our children.The result was that on a yearly basis they got fatter.Now 22 per cent of four-yearolds and 33 per cent of 10-year-olds are overweight or obese.
‘Weight is a delicate thing, but if we weighed our children regularly, nobody would care.You’d get on the scales, your weight would be jotted down and you’d get on with your day.Some mothers may say, “You’ll upset my little treasure”, but we’re pussyfooting around while obesity is costing £24 billion each year.