Fat children are more likely to have their father to blame for their weight problem than their mother, a new study shows.
Research by Australian child health experts has revealed that fathers who are disengaged or do not set clear limits for their kids are more likely to have heavier children.
Dads who did lay down boundaries generally had children with a lower body mass index (BMI), the study of almost 5000 youngsters found.
Surprisingly, a mother’s parenting behaviour or style apparently had no impact on whether a child was overweight or obese, according to research by Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne. The specialists said it was vital to study early parenting because home life often established patterns for lifelong obesity.
Earlier research had shown that childhood obesity was highly stable during the primary school years, right from school entry, Professor Wake said. “For instance, the BMI of a prep-grade child has an 85 per cent correlation with their BMI three years later,” she said.
“Obese school children are very likely to become obese adults.”
Extra weight is a precursor to serious childhood and adult diseases such as asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

A new research fund set up by the Families Commission lists fathers as one of six priorities considered for funding amongst some more obscure themes such as ‘Impact of Global Climate Change on Families’ and ‘Intergenerational Transmission’. The fund will distribute $1 million per year, and complements the two existing research funds, ‘Blue Skies’ and ‘Innovative Practice’, each distributing $100,000 per year.
A families commission report compiled from community consultations in the three main centres also identifies the need for ‘fathers to be more engaged in parenting programmes and [to be] generally better supported in their parenting role.’
Participants in all three consultation meetings also identified one-stop family service hubs as an optimal method of delivery of support and education for parents.
The Families Commission was set up in 2004 in what was considered to be a concession by the Labour government to its then parliamentary supporter United Future. Its total annual budget is around $7.5 million.

The United Nations’ Human Rights Committee has admonished the New Zealand government for the length of time it took for one father to have his case dealt with in the Family Court.
The father had been fighting for access to his three children since 2000 and had been subjected to allegations of sexual abuse and domestic violence.
It took more than three years for the case to reach the Court of Appeal, and the UN Human Rights Commission said that breaches the father’s human rights and the length of process could “irreparably harm the interest of a non-custodial parent”.
The NZ government had been given 90 days to respond to the Committee’s finding, and Courts Minister Rick Barker had already told the ‘Dominion’ that he accepts a breach of covenant had occurred.
Father & Child Trust coordinator Harald Breiding-Buss said that the criticism by the UN Human Rights Commission may well have wider ramifications.
“The overriding principle of the Family Court is the best interest of the child, but here’s a UN committee saying that there are also Human Rights issues involved for the parents. It may mean that an exclusive focus on the child by the Court is actually not consistent with Human Rights principles if it ignores the parents’ interests.”

21 August 2007 marks the official date when the Father & Child Trust has been in existence as an incorporated body for 10 years. The occasion will be marked on the day of the Trust’s Annual General Meeting in late June.
Father & Child Trust is based in Christchurch, but since 2006 there has also been a small home-based office in Mt Wellington, Auckland, with some funding attached to it.
The Trust evolved from a playgroup of mainly at-home fathers which started in 1994, and has worked towards better inclusion of fathers in health, social and community services ever since. The Trust funds and owns Father & Child magazine.
It was the Trust who put teenage fathers on the agenda and achieved a better recognition of these ‘other’ teenage parents.
The Trust has also pioneered working with fathers ante– and postnatally, and produced a ‘Dads and Babies’ resource for maternity health providers.
A special anniversary issue of Father & Child magazine is planned.
We produced NZ’s only ‘Dads and Babies Guide’ and since 2003, the national ‘Father and Child’ magazine.
As NZ’s longest established Fathers group, we now provide local support in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch while encouraging Dads all over NZ!
Father and Child Trust are funded by Lotto and Community Grants, Private Donations and magazine subscriptions.