Most European Parents Overlook Child’s Weight Problem

Nearly half of the parents of overweight children feel that their child has a normal weight and many of them worry that their overweight child will get too thin, a new finding suggest.

The researchers at the University of Gothenburg based their finding on a study that included parents of more than 16,000 children including 1,800 children from Sweden of age 2-9.

The study was led by Susan Regber, a pediatric nurse. As a part of her dissertation, she allowed the parents to provide an estimate of their children's weight and health status of their child. The parents were asked to describe their own worries about the child becoming either too overweight or underweight. Parents' responses compared with the actual weigh of the children.

Researchers arranged discussion group with children and parents. The parents highlighted several obstacles that come in way of healthy eating habits. A few of them include extended working hours, financial limitations and easy access of unhealthy food and drinks.

The parents also highlighted that spouse and grandparents deviated from the rules set up at home.

"Many parents simply do not see the increase in growth, and are dependent on objective information from, for instance, child welfare centers and school health care to act," said Regber.

The study revealed that nearly 40 percent parents of with overweight children were worried that their child would become underweight. Those parents whose children are underweight, only 33 percent of them are worried.

In Central and Northern Europe, only one out of the two parents looked at their child's weight as normal, whereas in Southern Europe the number was 75 percent.

"How parents perceive their child's weight status is of major significance to being able to promote a healthy weight development. Our studies show that the parents' insight into obesity in their children indeed grows in pace with the child's age and higher BMI in the child, but also that a weight development at preschool age can go from overweight to obesity without necessary lifestyle changes being made," said Regber.

Most of the parents in fact depend of the objective information to notice the increase in growth in their children.