Children of working mothers are more likely to be obese, apparently. They sit at home, entirely alone but for a designated care-giver, thinking ”Where’s my mummy? Doesn’t she love me at all? Oh, for the selfless care of my biological mater! Instead, I’ll have to make do with these sweets and bars of chocolate.”
According to a recent study by the Institute of Child Health at the University College London (UCL) and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, families with an income between £22 000 and £33 000 were 10% more likely than poorer families to turn out overweight children; those with an income above £33 000 were 15% more likely. An increase in obesity was registered where mothers reported long hours at work, where no connection was found with the fathers’ hours.
It’s a funny old business, being a mother. A survey comes out with the clear suggestion that, even with a job, women still have to take care of all the cooking, yet nobody says: ”Why doesn’t a father’s decision to work or not have more nutritional impact on their households? Is it because they are lazy bleeders anyway?” Nobody says: ”It ought to be possible to do a job of work and still get home for teatime. Why aren’t employers more flexible?” They say instead (and this is the picture caption from the right-wing London daily, the Daily Mail): ”A lot on her plate [boom boom!]: A child’s diet can suffer when the mother works.”
There are probably a few lobby-type individuals who think these sort of headlines are a boon for children. Take Susan Jebb, head of nutrition at the United Kingdom’s Medical Research Council. ”This is a wake-up call for middle-class families,” she says.
Well, no it isn’t. Nobody bases their family life on a survey. When you look at your kid, and he or she is fat, there is your wake-up call. But the people who disseminate this stuff do so not for child welfare, nor for adult welfare, nor for the good of the nation’s tidy waists. No, they do it to make women feel inadequate.
There’s such a lot of it about, this vindictive behaviour. What kind of warped individual would take enjoyment from it? I wonder if it’s because their fathers went out to work … — Â