OP complaining that lots of kids have put weight on over lockdown due to lockdown. I am fat myself. But I think it is down to parents to either increase kids activities or feed them less. Not complain about it being someone elses fault. Am I being too harsh? https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3997110-Many-kids-have-noticeably-gained-weight
Posted Aug 16, 2020, 2:13 PM UTC
No, I don't think you're being harsh.
This being MN, someone will post that their kid has lost weight, weighed less than a Pot Noodle to begin with and had an 18 acre garden to run around in.
Crudities anyone?
Crudité surely don’t be piggy.
<oink, oink>
DS1 looks a bit skinnier than pre lockdown. But that's because he's grown about a foot since March, definitely not been doing laps round my tiny back yard or the local dodgy park. He's barely moved from his bed some (most) days... The rest of us are definitely chunkier!
Tell me about it. I'm on a diet. :(
So am I when I get back from Greece on Wednesday. Mind you, I say that every year when I have to manoeuvre myself into my cozzie. Thought I was going to have to phone the fire brigade to cut me out of mine the other day 😂
I agree that it is parents responsibility to control their kids weight. It was a difficult situation we were all in though; everything stopped all at once, we were limited to 1 walk a day etc. It was even worse if you didn't have a garden for them to play in. Boredom eating, comfort eating, baking as an activity to keep them occupied... it was easy for everyone to overeat, imo. Now that school is going back, they're allowed to play in parks, clubs are starting again they will all slim down and be just fine.
Meh. My daughter before lockdown danced for 2-3 hours 3 times a week, with gymnastics another day. She also played out on her bike with her friends in our street and ran around in the playground. We've had to shield because of my son's condition so she's done very little exercise since March as we've barely left the house (and there's only so many times you can go on the trampoline before you get bored). She's been boredom eating and we've done more baking than usual. She's definitely got chunkier but she'll slim down again.
I think you are being a bit harsh there, op isn't especially blaming people. The situation has been shit and where I am parks were largely out of bounds for the first three months, youth clubs, pools and sports are largely still shut. Kids went from walking to school, playing in the park, lots of swimming and team sports to locked in.
And no, I did not make a 12 year old go on mile long walks around concrete block after concrete block, nor did anyone I know. Kids were punished enough without that. I went from 12,000 steps a day to 800, from swimming a lot to none, of course the same happened to the kids. I could have piled on more misery to an already unbearable year, but decided against.
Fair enough. Parks were still open here throughout. Playrounds were shut until government said they could reopen. We dont have much money, so seem to do way less paid activities as those on MN, but lots of free stuff. So we went to quiet beaches a drive away. And parks. I wouldnt want to walk around concrete blocks either. DP is disabled so simply cant walk as far as you normally do. I could but dont.
Playground at the back of me was closed they locked the gates and the police stopped people going to the beach and asked them whys and wherefores.
There was a small amount of time when you could not drive to a beach. After that they had no authority to stop you.
Maybe so, but locals were put off and didn’t go. And the police were putting notices on cars parked in the car parks here for quite a long time.
The kids went separately to the pitch to play football but only on family groups with parents, which isn’t quite the same as going with mates for example.
The youth football is still closed here and the community centre in the estate (which would run a summer scheme for kids) is still closed too. The leisure centre is only open if you book slots.
I am not saying it is easy or blaming parents. We all get through difficult times as well as we can. And personally although this has been tough, we have had tougher times. But how we deal with tough times is a choice.
Yeah, bit harsh.
Lots of parents work full time - so hard to maintain a healthy level of exercise for their kids, particularly when we were only allowed out once a day. If your kid is bored or hungry - it's just easier to bung them a bag of crisps instead of spending ages peeling and chopping fruit/veg. If you only get 1/2 hour lunch, you reach for what's easy.
Lots of people have really struggled - kids and adults. For a long time, food was the only treat we had. If you're feeling guilty because your child is anxious or lonely... can't book a play date, can't go to the playground, can't go to visit granny, can't go shopping (till recently, anyway). Can order Dominos, can have a film night with snacks, can bake a cake etc etc.
Particularly for very active kids/adults, if you stop suddenly, it takes much longer for your body to realise it needs fewer calories. During that time, you'll overeat because you're genuinely hungry.
The last one is just a theory of mine, but I'd be interested to know if anyone agrees. For me, the food shortages triggered an almost primal fear of DS going hungry (yes, I know silly in hindsight, but I'm not the only one who freaked out over all those empty shelves). Anyway, for the first few weeks at least, I was cooking roasts and puddings every weekend, baking cakes, baking bread, buying in treats, properly going overboard. I really wanted to protect him AND safeguard against worse shortages, illness or potentially me being unable to provide for him. I calmed down, but maybe lots of other people didn't.
Incidentally, DS has lost weight overall because he's naturally hyper, we've been doing long daily walks and he grows like cress. But I'm not surprised this is a thing.
Reading it back, my last paragraph sounds smug as fuck. I should clarify - he's skinny through luck rather than anything I'm doing right. I walk the dog every day anyway and I never thought in a million years he'd want to come along, but he does. I suspect because it's the one time he has a captive audience. Two hour Minecraft monologue every day for 5 months.