Singapore To Cancel Anti-Obesity Program

I grew up overweight, and as painful as that was as far as being teased and made fun of, this program would have made it even worse.

I hope the new program works for these overweight kids.

Brian

I'm from Singapore and a beneficiary of the "Trim and Fit" program during my adolescence years.

No doubt, I was teased quite a bit but the benefits that I reaped from the program far outweighs the jeer that I've gotten from my peers.

More importantly, the authorities in Singapore will be revisiting this issue rather than abandoning it altogether.

Singapore's original program sounds like a disaster from a mental health standpoint. I also object to what's happening in the States where schools are sending home notices that kids are fat.

Most people know when their kids need to lose weight. If the schools want to send general weight loss information to everyone, that's one thing.

But singling out kids who are overweight has got to be devastating to them. Not to mention some kids who are overweight do grow out of it. (Obviously, I'm not talking about true obesity with that last comment.)

I'm not advocating ignoring the problem, but I think it can be handled in a more sensitive manner. Kids face enough pressure.

Kids are always going to single out other kids that are different, obese or not. When I was in grade school, we had "reading groups". Each group met separately with the teacher and you knew who was a good reader by which group they were in. We had the Jets (really good readers), the Cars (average readers) and the Tugboats (slow readers). Every kid in the Tugboat group was teased relentlessly.

I don't think cancelling the program is the right way to go, but I don't think obese kids should be put on display or anything either. I wish they would have had something similar to this when I was a kid...I think it would have helped a lot of kids make better choices (myself included).

'Tugboats' HaHaHa!! That's Great!!

On a serious note, in Special Ed. now in the USA there is a lot of discussion on whether to 'mainstream' or 'include' kids with special ed. needs in general classrooms or to keep them in a separate group. Spectra is right about kids being picked on who are 'different'. I don't think inclusion will avoid this, but I do think the best answer is to have all the kids together for a 'homeroom' and then have all of them have special classes outside of that. This same principle can be applied to fitness. I'll leave it to Spectra's school system to give them 'names' as they are a lot more creative than me. :-)

Sure, kids bully each other in many scenarios, but I think it's up to the adults to model postive behaviors and encourage healthy changes through positive motivation as a way of counteracting that teasing. Picking on overweight kids, or singling them out over a long enough period time will result in these kids growing up to be angry, resentful adults. (Does anyone read Louise Hay and get her point about love and acceptance as the greatest motivators?)

I'd be interested in seeing a side-by-side comparison of the results of the two programs, to see what the success rates are.

Yeah, I would much rather they made all the kids work out... it's good for everyone, not just someone overweight. Singling them out was too much.

Why can't it be a "healthy living" program for EVERYBODY? By letting the skinny/slim children continue unhealthy habits is just as bad, because when circumstances change as they get older, they'll gain and be overweight parents- they'll probably have overweight kids and the cycle continues.

Zabietta said:
Why can't it be a "healthy living" program for EVERYBODY? [...]

I like the idea of making all the kids do the healthy living class. Even skinny kids can have unhealthy habits that they may be picking up at home. There are probably a lot of obese kids that have healthier eating habits than the skinny kids. When I took health class in high school, we had a nutrition unit...I knew EVERYTHING about healthy food, I just didn't put my knowledge into practice normally (only when I was dieting, lol).

Dr. J--lol, yeah, my sis was a "tugboat" and I was a "jet" and she always told me she was jealous that I could read better than her, but she's a better artist and a much more coordinated athlete. And now, she can read just fine, she just has to go slower. Reading groups were the most humiliating thing ever. Even the "Jets" got picked on for being nerdy and everyone always wanted to copy our homework. You just can't win when you're a kid.

i agree w/ spectra on this one, everybody should have to be on a heathier lifestyle plan, it could benifit everybody, even the skinny. i hope they come up with a trim and fit plan for all schools for every student, it could really help our unheathly society.

It's unfair those children are teased by classmates.But the parents of these overweighted children also should have sense to let their child have a healthy lifestyle.

Anyway,overweight has disadvantage with their body.

Kid's have the right to learn physical education but not to implement it forcefully. It will just give them more pressure in school.
It's good that they stopped that program, for it would cause students to skip school.

I agree singling out kids sounds like a terrible idea. In junior high, we had the classes divided as 6th grade A, B, C, and D and it was very clear that they divided them by your grades, so everyone in class A had high average grades the year before, and so on. A friend of mine got demoted to "B" one year and she never really put an effort in her schoolwork anymore, not even in college. I think that is so messed up. And like Spectra said, the kids from class D always tried to beat up the A kids. In HS, they tried an inclusion thing, and the classes that had been previously divided up to F by grades were redivided. They tried to move the quiet, nerdiest kids (like yours truly) to class F, where they were out of control, so that we'd "lead by example". As if. All that happened is that we never got a real class and had to spend after school time in the school with the teachers, and it made it so much easier for us to be beat up.

I'm sorry about those school experiences, Jan! I had my times playing 'guinea pig' for someone elses ill thought out ideas in school also. :-(

everyone needs to exercise. period.

www.thebestlifeever.com

Thanks Dr. J. I did get to enjoy the wonderful after-school programs I'd otherwise not have attended. I'm glad I got to attend courses like History of the Religions, Geopolitics, and Quantum Physics instead of lounging in front of an Aaron Spelling-tv show, like I'd done previously. So it was worth the bullying.

Jan! People could learn a lot from the positive perspective you have on your experiences, and hopefully we all do! A very successful man that I know told me this. "Circumstances do not make the person, but rather reveal the person to themselves!"

It's a good thing that they cancelled the weight loss program. You can't force children to do extra work. They already have enough pressure in their studies. I think it's the parent's decision to do something about their children. They are the ones who sent their children to school anyway.

I was in the TAF Club- and I didn't benefit on bit. I gained more weight, but it was due to increased muscle mass. I was 13- and had legs so muscly, they were like horse legs.

And you can NEVER leave, unless you loose the weight until 2 kg below the "normal weight", or you found out you had a medical problem which prohibits you form excersise.