Creating more eating disorders

I AM sick of this Government interfering in things that I feel are none of their business.

The subject of late has been obesity in children and their diet. If Newcastle City Council stopped allowing more and more takeaway outlets to appear in streets like Chillingham Road, then perhaps things would get a little better. Our children are being labelled as obese just because the Department of Health believe their child development graphs are how our children should be.

Now the Government has stepped in again and told schools they must conform – that what our children have in their lunch boxes should conform to their guidelines. So what has that created?

It has created a bunch of teaching staff warning of dire consequences if chocolate bars or sweets are found in children’s lunchboxes because these items are now ‘banned.’

In some cases children are refusing these items even at home and when parents tell them, ‘that is school this is home and it’s OK at home if I say so,’ their child is saying, ‘I will get into trouble at school if I have sweets or chocolate.’

What you are doing is creating a whole generation of children with eating disorders because they fear being labelled ‘obese.’ Most children lose their puppy fat as they get older and reach puberty and if they don’t then there can be many reasons for this, not just that they are eating the wrong food.

Society and the education system are as much to blame as parents. Obesity is something rich and poor, ill-educated and educated people suffer from. VIOLET J LATTIMER, Walkergate