Most dads of obese kids think their children are an acceptable weight

HALF of dads believe their kids’ weight is “about right” – despite them being obese, a major study has found.

Parents are struggling to pick up signs that their children are putting on weight to dangerous levels, research shows.

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A report into children’s health shows 85 per cent of dads thought their children were of a healthy weight – but 52 per cent had obese kids.

Nearly 40 per cent of mums of obese children aged 4 to 15 also thought their children were in the right weight bracket.

The figures were uncovered from a Health Survey for England study published last month by NHS Digital.
Obesity among children aged 2 to 15 was most common in the fifth of households with the lowest incomes.

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The survey also found the proportion of 8 to 15 year olds who had ever smoked had fallen from 18 per cent of boys and 20 per cent of girls in 1997 to 6 per cent of boys and 3 per cent of girls in 2016.

Tam Fry, chair of the National Obesity Forum, last night said: “The problem lies with parents being overweight themselves – it becomes the new ‘normal’.

“Parents also think their children’s weight isn’t obese as their friends are also in the same category and they don’t pick up changes.”