Some Parents Want Their Child to Redeem Their Broken Dreams

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130619194953.htm

"Some parents see their children as extensions of themselves, rather than as separate people with their own hopes and dreams,".

The study, conducted in the Netherlands, involved 73 parents (89 percent mothers) of a child aged 8 to 15.

Results showed that parents who reflected on their own lost dreams (as compared to those of acquaintances) were more likely to want their children to fulfill them -- but only if they felt strongly that their child was a part of themselves.

"Parents then may bask in the reflected glory of their children, and lose some of the feelings of regret and disappointment that they couldn't achieve these same goals," he said. "They might be living vicariously through their children."

Future research will be needed to determine how this desire of parents for their children to fulfill their dreams may impact the mental health of their offspring, Bushman said.

racial/ethnic differences in obesity can be explained by behavioral risk factors

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130603163759.htm

We know that, already by the age of 2, black and Hispanic children have close to double the rate of obesity of white children in the U.S. Our finding that most of these racial/ethnic differences can be explained by behavioral risk factors indicates that designing and implementing interventions to reduce those risk factors during pregnancy, infancy and early childhood could help eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in childhood obesity."

almost all known early-life risk factors for childhood obesity -- including low rates of breastfeeding, lack of sleep, and high consumption of fast foods and sugar-sweetened beverages -- are more common among black and Hispanic children.

• rapid infant weight gain
• non-exclusive breastfeeding
• introduction of solid foods before 4 months
• sleeping less than 12 hours per day
• drinking sugar-sweetened beverages
• eating fast food frequently
• the presence of a television in the bedroom
 

Mind you, lets not forget this seems to be happening everywhere, to everyone, albeit it at a faster rate to those ethnic/racial subgroups:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130612173238.htm
The number of children admitted to hospital for problems related to obesity in England and Wales quadrupled between 2000 and 2009, a study has found.

"It's clear that rising obesity levels are causing more medical problems in children, but the rise we observed probably also reflects increasing awareness among clinicians, who have become better at recognising obesity."

Better at recognising obesity?! What do these guys want?! A fucking medal?! You're either obese or your not, its a simple matter of weight (kg) over height (m)squared and the end number being over 30. Its as clinical as you can possibly get. A machine can get it right EVERY time, so why can't we? *Sigh*, one day where going to look back at our own kind in history and say "what the hell was wrong with us? These are supposedly some of the most highly trained professionals within society and they can't weigh a patient and calculate a BMI (which, lets be honest, is a shity indicator anyway, with bodyfat% being just as valid, if not a more important consideration - but still better than not diagnosing at all!).