fat chance!

In my very first 3AW programme for 2007 back in January I had a swipe at a Professor who had come up with the latest cockamamie idea on solving childhood obesity.

Mike Daube, Professor of Health at Curtin University, wanted a new federal tax of 15 % on junk food. He reckoned a hefty increase in prices would make people think twice before buying a McDonald’s burger or a bucket of chicken from KFC. I said it was absolute bulldust.

And what constitutes ‘junk food anyway’? Who would make the rules? Another multi-million dollar army of public servants?

A piece of battered fish and some chips would qualify. But what if I bought a piece of fish and some spuds and battered and fried them at home. Would the fat police be knocking at the door?

A pizza would attract the junk food tax. Would a vegetarian pizza?  Would French fries be considered junk food when sold at a fast food outlet but not junk food when served with other food at a restaurant.

I said then, and I’ll say again:

What we need here is common sense. Encourage your kids to eat fresh fruit. As kids we had to eat our greens whether we liked it or not before we left the table. Prise them away from their computer games. Make them exercise. And lead by example. When you look at a fat kid in the supermarket also have a look at the fat parent buying the potato chips and chocolate biscuits.

The issue is back in the news because eight-year-old British fat kid Connor McCreadie weighs 88 kilos and child protection agencies are threatening to take him away from his mother and he could be placed on a child protection register alongside victims of physical and sexual abuse.

Closer to home there are reports that five per cent of all Australian kids are obese  and that children as young as two are being treated in obesity clinics which are turning patients away.

How can a two-year-old year old be obese? How can a five-year-old or eight-year-old except for a few with rare medical conditions?

Look at Connor McCreadie and look to his Mum. He doesn’t feed himself. She is the one making him sandwiches at 11 a.m. and then cooking sausages and hamburgers and chips for lunch. Or giving him the money to buy it.

And reportedly he has snacks every twenty minutes of biscuits, potato crisps, and chocolate bars. His mother says he doesn’t like fruit or vegetables. Take a few carriages off his daily junk food express and maybe he would.

This is not child abuse – as we know it -- but it is certainly parental neglect and irresponsibility.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2007