KEY POINTS:
Supersize uniforms are being made to fit ever-larger children, and an Auckland school outfitter says it is now making school shorts with a 140cm waist and size 15 shoes.
School uniform manufacturer Underwoods says the national average had jumped by about six sizes over 50 years as boys and girls get taller and fatter.
This forum debate has now closed. Here is a selection of your views on the topic.
Chris B
Its evolution baby!
Paul
Within a generation our lifestyles have brought around new, and arguably unhealthier eating habits. With mothers out working, or simply from ease and availability, most families seldom have a meal that doesn't involve opening a packet containing all sorts of ingredients and additives, which weren't in our diets twenty years ago.
Steffie Yin
We cannot just point fingers at media advertisements, video games or junk food and soft drink companies for making childhood obesity rampant in the 21st century. It is us, as parents and a society, who should be the ones taking responsibilities in combating the growing number of childhood obesity in New Zealand and globally. Isn't it about time we as a society should start taking action rather than blame the media, video games and food companies for making more kids become obese?
Raj Subramanian
Your focus is only on Obesity rather than the height as well. I agree that slimmer and tall are also needed for variations. If we are talking about reducing the slim v obese percentages then I think schools should encourage children to participate at least in two major games. If parents find it a problem to send them after hours, then can try to do it within the school-hours.. Virtual games, watching TVs are major sedentary activities outside school hours, if we can reduce at least 2 hours of those sedentary hobbies or activities and can engage them in outdoor activities, then I think the obesity ratio will come down.
Consider internet browsing, emailing, we again talk about no major physical activity. I would encourage children to use iPods for video viewing and hearing music while they do some physical work, reducing the sitting internet activity by at least an hour. Weekends can be used to go around and do some cleaning and arranging jobs at home, doing a few hours physical tasks. Can we fix a target weight for our kids over 5 year period evaluated every 6 months and remedial physical acivities if went over that?
Andrew
Children are getting fatter because they have easier access to yummy food, and they don't walk/bike to school anymore because their parents have been brainwashed into the "stranger danger" myth. Also, we have many more 'brown' people in New Zealand who have always been disproportionally represented on obesity statistics. Also, people often get fat because they are bored and stressed, which is a consequence of bad educational programmes and child abuse. We should cut back on memory time at school (falsely described as "education"), and increase Physical Education time - that should help.
Ivan McIntosh
While there is certainly a growing number of obese children, and that is an important issue, the article was somewhat over-focused on obesity and not simply the fact that children these days are naturally larger than ever before. My own son was, at 12 yrs old, 5ft 10 inches tall, 85kg, and playing representative age grade rugby and cricket...yet he would be considered borderline obese by outdated BMI statistics. A quick trip to the rugby fields of Auckland will show you fit, fast and reasonably trim 80kg to 110kg boys still at intermediate school. Even the 110-140kg boys, while definitely carrying too much fat, are still fit. .Note the shoe sizes: up to size 15 shoes. You don't wear size 15 because you're fat. You wear that size because you're simply a big person.Encouraging boys and girls to get out and exercise is a good thing, but let's keep the mild scare mongering of the article in perspective..I suspect the vast majority of the uniform size increase is due to the fact that we are breeding progressively and naturally bigger children.
