Opening my eyes

At the park today there were some older kids playing on the equipment as well as the littlies that the equipment is designed for. But the older kids were being sensible and staying away from the little ones so no one got hurt. I was standing near them while Charlie played and happened to overhear their conversation.

They started talking about how much they weighed - one said he weighed a ton, another said he weighed half a ton etc etc. Then the first lad, who I thought was a bit chubby said his real weight - 60kg. Goodness I thought, that's pretty heavy for a kid your size. Then he proudly said 'and I'm nearly nine'. Christ on a cracker! was my next thought. This kid, who at first glance I thought was a bit chubby, is the weight that I should be (to be well within my healthy weight for height range, I'm 168cm). So he's 8 years old, probably about 140cm high, and weighing in at 60kg. It can't be healthy for him to carry that much weight. That's when I realised how easy it is to forget what a kid is supposed to look like and why many parents don't seen to realise that their kids are overweight or obese.

I'm glad to be able to say that none of the other kids at the park were overweight. They all looked skinny to me, so that probably means that they are a healthy weight, like they should be.