Actually when I first saw this story, I was sure this was a big problem. It starts like this:
KIDS are losing the battle of the bulge - and moms aren't helping.
and it ends like this:
Maynard's team speculates that some mothers may genuinely not recognize that their heavy children are overweight, while others are reluctant to admit their children are fat.
but in the middle, it says this:
Sixty-seven percent of mothers correctly identified their overweight children, but 32 percent of mothers classified their overweight children as "about the right weight."Among children who were not overweight, but heavy enough to be considered at risk, only 14 percent of moms reported their sons were overweight but 29 percent said their daughters were overweight.
I somehow imagined to percentages would be much higher than that. Just a week or so ago, I reported on a story from New Zealand that stated, "One in seven primary school children is obese." Now, if 14% of the children are obese, and 67% of their parents know they are obese, does that not say a lot about the quality of parenting out there. Now go get a piece of candy and shut up!
attribution: Jane Galt, of that most excellent blog: Asymmetrical Information.
Posted by Tiger at May 8, 2003 01:17 PM