Is obesity linked to class?

Ten stone is an unimaginable weight for a five-year old .... I can only assume that the weight was steadily increasing and that the school and social services have been involved for a while.

Taking her into care must have been a last resort.

Bags I agree. It's not a step that should be taken lightly. But between the options of hospital and care there ought to be a middle path. There are, sadly, going to be an ever-increasing number of cases like this. Someone (??? who???) needs to address this and how to turn the tide of obesity.
Anyone who puts forward suggestions/measures is branded part of the 'Nanny State' well tough! It's the Nanny State and the NHS in particular, with funds which could be better deployed elsewhere, who has to cough it funding of £1,000,000 per hour for treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Rant over. Perhaps care is the best option 'pour encourager les autres'.

the first thing we learned to do in domestic science was to make potato nests and carrot boats. I have to say they did look attractive when we had finished and we had learned how to cook two vegetables. for our school certificate exam we had to make half a bra! We also had to make some fairy cakes. Two of mine got burned so I ate them !

In the top class in primary school, we had to make an apron in preparation for the cookery classes the following year. Because of material rationing and shortage, these aprons were like something out of a French farce. The bib was a small triangle. As for caps, we were expected to find a white collar from a men's shirt - or one of those separate collars they used to wear - and attach it with elastic. It was still the era of make do and mend.

Because i don't think taking into care is always, or by definition, a bad thing. It depends on the circumstances.

Yes, aka, i agree. But we do not know all the details of this story so I'm not willing, at this stage, to condemn the taking into care of that child.

At my grammar school we did domestic science, sewing, singing, and Latin for the first three years. Only then did we choose which subjects to keep or drop for 'O' level.

However, I learned to cook by watching my mum and by buying a cookery book that was published in 1900 when i married, and experimenting with recipes. Isn't experimentation how everyone learns to cook?

Learned how to do a roux from a book, then taught my mum who, nevertheless, prefers the cornflour thickening method because she can't be arsed to stand about stirring.

There is a world of difference between a child being taken into hospital and entering the 'care' system.

A five year old at ten stone sounds as if s/he might be very ill. Some do argue that allowing a child to get that overweight is child abuse. Some argue that obesity is an illness. If a child has a serious illness they are usually admitted to hospital for treatment. What's the difference between that and taking a child into care for treatment of obesity if it's an illness, or to protect it from further abuse if the obesity is caused by abuse?

I am not shocked by the taking into care of a child weighing ten stone. Actually, I find it hard to imagine such a child so the shock I feel is that there exists such a child.

I only did Domestic Science for a year, before we in the A stream moved on to Latin, as some of you have mentioned. But oh, that b****y apron and cap!

I also remember the dreaded apron and cap with bias binding. If your stitches were not neat we had to take it all out and start again. I was always taking mine out and my cap and apron were always filthy round the edges from being handled too much. I learnt how to chop an onion in my domestic science class and still use the same method today. Also how to iron a shirt and how to sit like a lady on a chair. I loved domestic science - it was always fun.

Care proceedings have to be initiated, only after all other avenues have been explored. I am sure the health authority will have long involvement with the obese 5 year old, and it may well have initiated the social work involvement. The points made by Pen and Anno above don't need repeating. The relevant LA will have made an application to the court, the child will have her own solicitor and children's guardian to ensure the welfare of the child is at the centre of decision making. A detailed sw report, setting out the history, attempts to work with the family and medical reports will be put before the court. No child would be removed against her parents wishes without careful consideration by a family court. Currently, the evidence remains confidential but the opening up of the family courts to reporters will hopefully broaden people's understanding of the careful consideration given to family matters. My fear is we'll have more of the sensationalised, dishonest reporting that we've seen in the recent case of the Italian mother and her baby.

If the contrary were the case, and the child was dangerously emaciated, would there be any question about taking her into care?

If parents endanger the life of their child by not being able to manage the child's diet and support /advice is ignored or rejected what should we do as a society?

Do we interfere too much?
Should we allow the child to get so obese that ireversible damage is caused because the harm caused by separation from parent is just as bad?

So glad I am not having to make that decision. Who would be a social worker???

jane The on I was given in 1970 is Cookery in Colour, A Picture Encyclopaedia for Every Ocassion. I'm still using it too.

Oh and Granny23 I forgot to say you don't look obese to me!

Granny23Perhaps your learning Latin contributed in some way to your eloquence and it seems anyway that domestic science lessons would have been superfluous if you could cook a Christmas dinner for 5 at 19.

Aka and jess This is not the first time that a child has been taken into care because of obesity - a boy of 6 was taken into care in North Tyneside a few years ago. There was a discussion on the Today programme yesterday about whether such drastic measures could ever be justified.

Lona It is very kind of you to say so but it is my Doctor who has classified me as obese

That's horrendous Jess ~ both the 10 stone and the taking into care. Surely something can be done to help the child and family adopt a better lifestyle or was this a last resort?

There was a case on the Welsh news reported last night of a 5 year old, who was over 10 stone, being taken into care because of the obesity.

Granny23 You don't look like an "obese pensioner" to me and I seem to remember your wedding photos on your profile showed a beautiful young woman!

You (and your DH ) look absolutely great!

Agus my sister gave me Marguerite Patten's Step by Step Cookery for my 19th birthday and I have it to hand in the kitchen and still refer to it nearly every day for one reason or another!
I'm afraid my DS teacher was one of the very few teachers I disliked and who clearly disliked me, but I still have my little school hand-written recipe book and still use her Christmas Cake recipe, though I don't bother washing all the dried fruit, leaving it to dry overnight and only then soaking it in sherry!

I was in the A stream at secondary school so during the first year was taught French instead of Domestic Science. I do remember having separate Needlework classes during the first year. My first project was a pink apron with a bib and pocket in prep for DS lessons the following year.

Less academically inclined pupils also had housewifery lessons. This involved visits to a house in Port Sunlight Village were they were taught various domestic duties such as ironing a mans shirt and folding sheets properly (so glad to have escaped that)

I don't really feel that I learned anything useful during DS lessons in fact I could barely boil an egg when I first got married. It was only when DH suffered renal failure and had to follow an extremely rigid diet that I got to grips with baking etc.

I think that for many post war babies being 'Bonnie' was seen as a sign of a healthy baby. I was certainly a chubs as my mother fed me on full cream Jersey milk and then took me to the doctors because I wouldn't eat (hardly surprising).

I believe that fat cells are laid down in childhood and once we have them the threat of obesity is always there, unless we eat healthily and exercise regularly. I am sure somebody with a more scientific background could explain this more fully.

Before we made our pinnies we had to make a decorated and named bag to keep our sewing in. I found mine when I cleared mum's flat - how I ever passed that bit I'll never know.

I had to make a blue gingham apron and cap, embroidering my name neat enough was the hard bit. By the time I was 15 I could and did cook anything and everything. I also won cookery competitions. Oh for that kind of domestic science now.