OPINION This kind of fat is not phat

Parents, understandably, tend to look at the own children's behaviour through rose-coloured glasses. It's often the other child who started the fight or didn't do what they were told or was acting up. A new poll commissioned by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), suggests the self-delusion of parents may be putting their kids on the path to poor health. According to the poll, only 9 per cent of Canadian parents believe their children are overweight or obese when, in fact, data collected by Statistics Canada indicates 26 per cent of Canadian kids are overweight or obese. "I have a very real fear we are killing our children with kindness by setting them up for a lifetime of inactivity and poor health," said Dr. Ruth Collins-Nakai, president of the CMA. In the eyes of adult respondents, only 6 per cent gave Canadian kids an `A' for overall health, but when it came to assessing their own kids 40 per cent gave their children top marks. The CMA releases an annual report card to measure public feelings about the health system and the overall grades vary little from year to year. However, this year the report card focused on child health and the CMA, which represents 62,000 physicians, is expected to push both federal and provincial governments to adopt specific targets for improving kids' health. Poll respondents suggested adopting initiatives such as mandatory physical education from Kindergarten to Grade 12, a mandatory school curriculum on the benefits of physical activity and healthy diet and removing all junk food from schools. But better child health must begin at home. Parents can follow simple guidelines such as those on the Ministry of Health Promotions HealthyOntario.com website. Suggestions range from having the family eat together to educating yourself on proper diets to getting rid of the sugary drinks kids love. Making sure your child spends more time playing outside and less time with the video games also helps. Oh yes, and stop fooling yourself that your child isn't overweight.