RANT - Glasgows Growing Obesity Problem

[Steve B]

this rant has been burning at my heels for some time now, and its just taken that channel4 megane thread to set me off. Scottish parliament seems to be intent on rooting out scotlands obesity problem by giving kids healthier meals in schools, getting them to go outside more and get fitter and stop drinking so much!
is it a relatively fair statement to make that the majority of obesity-affected families are working-class? sometimes, i think this is nonsense, but more and more things are telling me that it could be true.
Take your average family trip to the cinema. Mum, Dad and 2 kids. I know, lets go to the Cineworld cinema in town, its really nice and the food is really good. Now let us consider that an adult ticket costs 6.20 and a childs ticket costs 4.75. Do the family from the relatively working class background still want to take their children to the cinema, when a night in front of the telly with optional DVD at 3.75 from blockbuster costs significantly less?
I recently went to play badminton at my local leisure centre only to discover that a single court costs 6.70 per HOUR? Now im sorry, but unless badminton is suddenly an 11-a-side sport, where u can split the cost equally, i certainly cant afford, and frankly will not fork out that much money to play for so little a time each week.
Foregoing my urge to play badminton, i picked up my tennis racket, only to discover that for an outdoor court, in the pissing rain, i'd also have to pay 6.70 per hour??? If i wanted one indoors, the price skyrocketed to over 15 quid, and thats just for an hour of tennis. I dont know about all of you, but i'd rather sit on the couch and watch wimbledon, let federer do all the running, while i sit here with my burger and chips!!
Turning away from all things costing money, as im a student and dont have much, i cast my mind back to two weeks ago, when i was walking to the train station, past the lovely stretch of grass opposite the terraced houses on my block. Kids frantically running after a football that was obviously too big for them to kick, yet laughing all the same. Two weeks later, "No Ball Games" signs are the only things that inhabit the stretch, apart from the occasional tumbleweed or two. And if the 5 year old kids do decide to get their football back out, the oldies in the high-rises phone the cops!!
Is this occurence just in my area, or is it happening elsewhere, that the sad-demise of the averagely healthy kid/teenager is being destroyed by extortionate pricing of local amenities, be it health-related or not.

Rant over...

[Lee H]

Yeap - I've seen this in our area too.

When I was younger we'd spend many hours on the local schools playing fields, playign football etc, but now the schools surrounded with a 10 foot fence to "protect" the children from harm, but this too is stopping the kids in the area from benefiting from exercise.

As such, these kids are now congregating on streets, playing football on the roads and damaging cars as they've been pushed from using the fields.

[Steve B]

exactly my point, only here they use bucky to damage the cars, but it equates to the same thing!!!

[Carlh]

To be honest I dont think the governments plan is just aimed at Scotland more UK wide in general.

I completely agree with your arguements as we had a similar issue with the local council they also had the meals at schools redesigned for a more healthy option and then out up all no ball games signs in the park..... Saying that though most kids wouldnt use the park unless they were 13 - 17 years old and hang round there with there mates and there 10 Bensons and bottle of Diamond White.

Lets face though (and I am only saying this has a parent) there are far more things in life which are more worrying than obesity for children at the moment, drugs and violence for example..

Given the choice between a Big Mac or a half ounce from a local dealer I know for damn sure which 1 I would prefer my son to have. (

Fair enough obesity can problems in life later on, but at the end of the day for the majority of people it would be easier to loose weight than beat a drug addiction.

I think the government have got the majority of there priorities wrong and they need to sort out the proper issues that are facing this country such as drug abuse instead of sweeping them under the carpet.

Just my 2ps worth.

[Steve B]

yeah, i dont think i really meant this rant to be focussed on obesity alone. Its just the fact that its as if they're doing everything they can to prevent children from avoiding walking a bad road, then complaining when they do.

[Lee H]

Compensation Cultures is also to blame as well.

As kids, if we'd hurt ourselves playing football it was all part and parcel of the game.

Now, if a kid get's hurt i.e breaks an ankle or leg it's seen as an easy way for 2 weeks in Disneyland in Florida.

[Moonshade]

I totally agree!!

[DavidM]

What ever happened to climbing trees, and chasing other kids down the road with mud bombs?

[Carlh]

What ever happened to climbing trees, and chasing other kids down the road with mud bombs?

Must have passed during the 1930's when you was a kid David

[DavidM]

[Steve B]

lol or sticking sticks (good use of words there) in poo then chasing the girls down the street

[shelley bda]

What ever happened to climbing trees, and chasing other kids down the road with mud bombs?

Totally agree!

By laying on activities and play schemes Children are losing the use of their imagination and having to occupy themselves, you don't have to spend loads of money to be able to keep your kids fit and healthy, what's wrong with taking the kids to a park/beach with a ball/tennis racket? when I was a kid as long as we had a tennis ball we'd play all sorts of games from cricket to rounders, swimming is cheap and very good excercise

Children aren't allowed to climb trees anymore because of the risk they might hurt themselves but they are losing the chance to learn about risk taking and pushing the boundaries, the amount of parents that say to me "I prefer my kids to be on the computer inside, at least i know where they are" I say "Fair enough but they need to have the chance to be able to wander free now and again to learn to be independent" really does make me wonder what kind of adults these kids will grow up to be

It's good that Schools are offering healthier meals because more often than not ( in my experience anyway ) that's the only cooked meal some children get, and i don't see what's wrong with the odd Maccy D as long as Children are having fruit and veggies every day.

[Agent]

nice deleted post Dave

[DavidM]

Thought the revised one more tactful... not as funny though

[Zak33]

bloody good thread. Bloody good.

[Elmo]

*snip*

Sounds remarkably like scotstoun....

but yes, i completely agree. On top of that though, decent, healthy food costs an absolute fortune. I've recently been doing a weekly shop with a budget of around £30 all in, and i'm finding it totally impossible to buy 100% healthy food, more often than not, in order to have enough food to last the week, i've had to sacrifice my health just to feed myself. Some of these families have to make the tiniest amount of money stretch across quite a large family, and god knows how they do it. I quite often see people's trollies in ASDA piled to the top with purely smartprice goods....

and they wonder why kids are fat.... *sigh*