A UNC study says only a small percentage of parents with overweight kids recall being told by a doctor that their child has a problem. I’d say that either the parents don’t want to admit what they’ve been told or doctors fear hitting parents with reality. We can start addressing the problem by recommending that doctors stop trying to spare the feelings of the parents and kids. In short, stop using the term “overweight” and adopt the unambiguous word that tells the real story: “fat.” We’re doing no one a favor by papering over the fact that many kids today eat too much and exercise too little.
A new analysis of national survey data finds that less than one-quarter of parents of overweight children recall ever being told by a doctor or other health care provider that their children were overweight.
And although that percentage has increased over the last 10 years, more improvement is needed, said Eliana M. Perrin, MD, MPH, associate professor in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, pediatrician at North Carolina Children’s Hospital, and lead author of the study.
“Parents might be more motivated to follow healthy eating and activity advice if they knew their children were overweight, but very few parents of overweight children say they have ever heard that from their doctor,” Perrin said.
