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Should American schools do as Singapore is doing, and target obese children for extra exercise and nutrition counseling?


Story: SINGAPORE - The fight against obesity starts young in Singapore. Fat children are separated from their classmates and ordered to do more exercising until they lose weight. As a member of a Singapore primary school’s “Health Club” — where membership is compulsory for overweight kids — kids do special exercises on top of the regular physical education curriculum. Teachers monitor height and weight every month.

While the school does not put restrictions on what they can eat, teachers meet with parents regularly to recommend healthier ways to prepare meals at home...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6124732/


While i think it is not a schools place to intervine with the issue of a childs weight, i think not too many parents are doing anything to help the children...if they catch them from young them maybe we could have a lower obesity rate...what do u think?

interesting. i wonder if that would be helpful. while its not the role of educators, kids these days need some kind of help.

i feel bad for educators though. their roles have expanded so while they still are some of the lowest paid people

In my case since I was an overweight child I woulda neva respond to being put in a isolated or militant setting.

But its up to the parents and what they wish to do with their child.

Off topic but is dat you in your sig?

yup

Well it doesn't seem that they are being put in a military setting. They are just made to work a little harder now to tackle what could be a life threatning problem later. I don't see nothing wrong with the program as long as tact and sensabilty is used.

Don't take this the wrong way, but you're still overweight so do you think you might have not been if you were subjected to that program.

In order to effectively change the situation America would have to completely change their bigger is better attitude. If you measure food portions in America it is bigger than anywhere else in the world. Why is that? How can you give children super kids meals that have bigger portions while slowly phasing out the original smaller portions and think they wont be fat at some point. An american ounce is bigger than an English or Universal ounce, why? That wont work without reform all through society.

I wouldnt of stuck with it personally..but thats just me.
In school I never liked gym unless it was something i liked.
From my school life I only remember participating in hockey and handball bcuz they were sports i liked and i wasnt forced into it.

I dont kno how well that answered your question...but feel free to ask another

But are you happy with your weight now?

To tell the truth yes, very much so!
The only thing I do now are sittups and yoga to keep fit. I've been this size for about 6 years now. When I was younger I use to break a lil and think I wanted to be smaller..but at this age i feel comfortable. My size comes from on my dad's side they are built people(body builders, football players and such).
Maybe later on in life I will change but as of right now I am good.

I think its a great idea! Unfortunaltely there are some parents out there who are totally in denial about their children. They think their 80lbs 5 year old is "just a little chubby" or " has a little babyfat" . Many of these parents feed their kids crap because they themselves don't even know how to eat properly. If the schools can help these kids and at the same time educate the parents then I think its a really great idea. I do agree with 5 star though when he says that we need to change the supersize mentality we have in North America.