Survey: Parents Think Their Child Is Normal Weight But Other Kids Need Help

"My Susie, you're looking so thin these days unlike your friends."

You've heard the saying denial is not just a river in Egypt, right? Well, somebody needs to explain to parents in Canada the definition of that word in light of this Ottawa Sun story about a new survey showing parents there think their children don't have weight problems when they do.

The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) released a report of their survey findings that showed most parents graded their own children higher for being healthy and at their ideal weight than other kids. And the gap between the two was huge.

Although a miniscule 6 percent of the parents surveyed gave the overall health of children in Canada an A, a whopping 40 percent said their own child's performance with a healthy diet and exercise was worthy of an A while only a tiny 9 percent of parents actually admitted their child is overweight.

"I have a very real fear we are killing our children with kindness," CMA president Dr. Ruth Collins-Nakai said.

This flies directly in the face of the actual statistics which shows over one-fourth of Canadian children under the age of 18 are overweight or obese.

Are parents as in denial about their children's weight problem as they are regarding their own weight problem? It certainly appears that way, although my low-carb blogging friend Regina Wilshire recently blogged that people probably genuinely think they are eating healthy because they are following the high-carb government diet recommendations. Regardless, both the parents and the children are fat and they can't seem to grasp the severity of the problem if they refuse to admit there is one to begin with.

Nevertheless, parents are strongly in favor of programs to help kids get into shape in Canada.

"The majority of those asked supported initiatives designed to improve health, diet and physical activity of Canadian children," Collins-Nakai said.

So, other people's kids have a problem living a healthy lifestyle, but not my child. Susie is the example of health for all of her peers to follow. Sure, we have to buy her plus-sized clothes and she has trouble walking from the parking lot to the front door at the mall without getting winded, but she's healthy as a horse! Yeah, she's real healthy, just look at that husky body of hers.

Oi! I still contend we are in denial. No, we don't all need to look like ultrathin supermodels, but weighing too much is NOT healthy at all. And deep down inside you know if you weigh too much or not. Don't try to cover up the truth because lying to yourself will not make obesity go away. Admit there is a problem and then DO SOMETHING about it! Don't delay, get started right away! Livin' la vida low-carb is a proven, effective plan of action that works pretty well even if I do say so myself. :D