My son wants to diet... and he is only six

6:00pm Wednesday 13th June 2012 in Features By Kelly Buckley

Body image issues – Tayler Gunn and his mum Leanne Kane Body image issues – Tayler Gunn and his mum Leanne Kane

TAYLER Gunn is constantly worried about his weight. He’s cut out cheese, ham and spaghetti from his diet for fear of putting on the pounds. His body mass index is a subject that often comes up often when chatting to his friends and family.

This would be a fairly unremarkable story, except that Tayler’s six.

And it seems he’s not alone. MPs have made recommendations that all schoolchildren receive compulsory body image and self-esteem classes. It followed a report by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image, which said more than half of the public had a negative body image and girls as young as five now worried about how they looked.

Tayler’s mum Leanne Kane, 25, of Devonshire Gardens, Laindon, says: “It is something he worries about. It’s ridiculous, I just keep telling him he’s strong, he’s not fat.”

The parliamentary group report also said cosmetic surgery rates had increased by nearly 20 per cent since 2008 and blame media images of super skinny celebrities.

As part of the same recommendation, there was a call for a review into the Equality Act, suggesting it be amended to include appearance-related discrimination being classed the same as race and sexual discrimination.

Leanne welcomed anything that could be done to help children, but said Government involvement was one of the reasons Tayler was so self-conscious about his weight.

In October, she was given a letter from Tayler’s school saying he was bordering on being clinically obese. When he was given the letter, Tayler was five, 3 stone 5lbs and 3ft 6ins tall. Since then he has grown two inches, but lost one pound in weight.

Leanne adds: “It definitely affected him, and he is really worried about his weight.

“I was so angry because I was given a letter basically saying that I’m not looking after him properly, but I do. He thinks he is too fat and he’s six. It’s just awful.”

Comments (2)

6:26pm Wed 13 Jun 12

dizzypop06 says...

So sad that the governments interference has created these problems for this little boy. I am not saying that healthy eating advice should not be given, but unfortunately it is not being done in the right way. How can a child be told they are bordering on clinically obese when they clearly are not. At six years old children go through growth spurts and can put on a few pounds before this happens.

If health advice is going to be given, at least make sure the people running it have some sort of common sense and not rely on ridiculous charts to judge every individual.
So sad that the governments interference has created these problems for this little boy. I am not saying that healthy eating advice should not be given, but unfortunately it is not being done in the right way. How can a child be told they are bordering on clinically obese when they clearly are not. At six years old children go through growth spurts and can put on a few pounds before this happens. If health advice is going to be given, at least make sure the people running it have some sort of common sense and not rely on ridiculous charts to judge every individual. dizzypop06

8:19pm Wed 13 Jun 12

thesouthendone says...

Why on earth would any mother want this in the paper? The boy has insecurities, he probably isn't going to benefit from having that plastered all over the local paper. I feel sorry for the child but disgusted with the mother. sickening.
Why on earth would any mother want this in the paper? The boy has insecurities, he probably isn't going to benefit from having that plastered all over the local paper. I feel sorry for the child but disgusted with the mother. sickening. thesouthendone

Comments are closed on this article.

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree