I means "Albeit one that's hard to come back from, weight loss is very difficult." Not NOT hard to come back from. Typos....

If notifying the parents is done with professionalism and GENUINE concern, I don't see how that would humiliate the child. However, having the child present during the parent/teacher discussion about his/her weight would be humiliating.
Parents ARE responsible for the well being of their children. This includes what they eat, whether it is at daycare or at a playdate. It is the responsibility of the parent to monitor this. You cannot assume everyone shares your values about nutrition and your child.
I believe that some parents are too lazy to be on top of their children's diet, getting them out daily for exercise, and limiting the amount of mindless television and video games that they are allowed to play.
Someone should intervene on behalf of the obese child. My heart aches a few times a day whenever I see obese children in public. Their little organs are swimming in fat and their bodies work so much harder than they would if they fell into the normal weight ranges.
i have struggled with my weight in my adult life and I have a 19 month old. Rest assured she will never hear her mother call herself "fat" or know what a "diet" is. We exercise daily, eat lots of fruits and vegetables and read instead of watching hours of TV. Monkey see, Monkey Do.

Seems to me that if children(and adults) get up off their butts, out from in front of the video games(or tvs) and actually DO something, obesity, fatness, being grossly overweight, whatever you want to call it, would diminish greatly.
When I was a teenager, I ate the standard teenage fair, pizza, chips, pop and candy, never got over a size 2, I'm well over 40 now, and still wear a size 6. I eat chips, or candy, or pasta, or whatever I feel like eating, although, I did give up pop for coffee....oh!!! and I sit 8 hours a day at work!!! What's my secret? Shhhhh, don't tell anybody....I DON'T spend hours playing video games or watching tv. When I'm home, I get my housework done, play with the grandkids, and oh yeah, STILL do stupid things like hoolahoop, and dance around my living room!!

First of all your battle with weight does not explain or belittle someone else's struggle. If it were that easy to loose weight then there would be no fat people. Overeating is an addiction and if you do not share someone's addiction, then you wouldn't understand. I think I am more of an expert on the situation being that I have lost 157 pounds and it is life changing and an awakening to know that people treat you differently and that you don't think you have a problem until you can't eat. Then you are depressed until you find your way. I have much more sympathy now for people that are bigger than i was because now I know their struggle.

And again, this argument from unhealthy eaters that it's too expensive to eat healthy. Um, not the last time I checked! Eating healthy foods does not mean you have to fill your kitchen with exotic fruits and spices purchased from Whole Foods. Eating healthy can be as simple as purchasing a big tub of oats for oatmeal. This is an incredibly cheap, healthy, and quick breakfast. I repeat- not expensive. Are you telling me a bunch of bananas, a big bag of potatoes or carrots, a loaf of brown sandwich bread and canned tuna is going to break the bank? Please. Excuses, excuses. The terms lazy and greedy come to mind. I blame the parents.

We need to bring the basics back to schools- how to grocery shop, how to prepare a healthy meal, etc... CLEARLY, we can not rely on the parents to do this. In short, they are killing their own children, slowly but surely.

It is just not true that junk food is cheaper than fruit and vegetables and other healthy *unproccessed* foods. The people that are fat, who have fat kids, are the way they are because they are too lazy to do the work to prepare the healthier foods. Yes, it takes more time to prepare and cook and serve a healthy meal that to throw a "happy meal" of crap down your chunky kids whining maw, but it's your JOB as a parent. Don't telll me you're too busy working three minimum wage jobs to cook, either; the vast majority of people using this excuse are welfare bums. Laziness is the real epidemic in this country; obesity is just one of the symptoms.

lylydd,

I guess you never had to try to feed a family on Food Stamps or on a lower income. While stores like Aldi's have fruits and vegetables available sometimes, they usually don't last as long, aren't as fresh, and aren't there as often. It would be easier for somebody to afford a couple cans of 50 cent soup than buy all the ingredients to make soup. It's cheaper for a person who buy a can of tuna fish in oil at Aldi's than to buy fresh fish at a market. It's cheaper for one to buy frozen veggies at a discount store than fresh produce in a grocery store. It's cheaper to buy a TV dinner at Aldi's than to buy all the ingredients that go into making a healthy dinner. It's also cheaper to buy cheap, fatty meats at Aldi's or even WalMart than to buy leaner cuts of meat at another grocery store.

I remember once working with families who were low income, and I wondered how in the world they could be overweight. Then I walked through an Aldi store and clearly saw why. Maybe if you could look past your hate and self-righteousness, you will see there is more to obesity than just laziness. Granted, you might be too lazy to do any real research on the matter so are relying solely on your ignorant prejudices.

As for diabetes affecting "fat" kids, you obviously have only looked at the overweight kids who were diagnosed. A friend of mine recently had her 8 year old diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. No, this child is not fat, in fact just the opposite applies. She is skinny as a rail.

Diabetes is a hereditary condition. Overweight kids do run a risk of getting diabetes, but so do skinny kids who have a relative somewhere in the gene pool that had it.

Jennifer, I couldn't say it any better than you did. Brava!! These kid's fat parents are overworked (maybe), lazy (certainly), dumb (intentionally) - pick one. They're raising fat kids with all the same characteristics. Just like smokers, fat people have more health issues than normal people do - so YES! they are a strain on our already busted medical system. They are consuming way too much food in a world that is having an increasing hard time sustaining itself and I for one, blame the parents and then the kids themselves when they are old enough to know better.

Parents - change just one little thing a day - get outside and take a 30 minute walk with your kid(s). Do you know what a difference that could make? Hey, you might even be a ble to chat a little while you're walking - learn things you never knew about these people you are RESPONSIBLE for. If YOU make the decision to have these children, make the commitment to give them the BEST start in life that is possible - do WHATEVER is necessary. Don't allow them to start out FAT.