Parents blame genes for their overweight children

A third of parents with children under the age of four years think their child has become overweight.

A study of 1,192 parents with children under the age of four, found that 31 per cent of parents had concerns their child was overweight, but 22 per cent weren’t really worried about it.

The majority of parents – 51 per cent – were concerned about the problem, with 7 per cent putting them on a diet plan.

Of those parents who were not concerned, 48 per cent put the heftiness down to puppy fat and 26 per cent blamed it on the child’s genes.

Mark Pearson of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk which conducted the research said: “It was surprising to see that a quarter of the parents who believe that they have overweight children simply put it down to their genes. Whilst this could be a possibility, parents have to bear in mind that children aged four or under shouldn’t be overweight; and diet and exercise is important for their child to develop properly.”

“Whilst children as young as this regularly do grow out of their ‘puppy fat;’ there is no harm in keeping an eye on your child’s weight, as it reduces the risk of your child become unhealthy. As long as your child eats healthily and gets plenty of time to run around and play though, they should be happy and healthy.”