When you turn fat, blame your parents

Yet something else to blame your parents for: "Disciplinarian parents have fat kids: study" (Reuters Health, 6 June, 2006).

Parents who are strict disciplinarians are far more likely to wind up with children who are fat by age six, perhaps because the youngsters over-eat as a reaction to stress, a study said on Monday.

The report from Boston University School of Medicine also found that the fewest weight problems occur among children whose parents are "authoritative" — having high expectations for self control but respectful of a child's opinions and who set clear boundaries.

The study also found that children of parents who are permissive, defined as indulgent and without discipline, also have weight problems but not to the degree of the offspring of strict disciplinarians with low levels of sensitivity, the study said.

Researchers also found that children of neglectful mothers and fathers, those who are emotionally uninvolved with no set rules, fared about the same as kids raised by permissive parents.

Growing up, I had passive-aggressive authoritative parents and was skinny. Meanwhile, all my siblings perceived themselves as fat, but I don't think they were fat; they were just not toned. I have one parent who was skinny as a child but grew fat over time, and another who was of average weight throughout life. My husband was of average weight in childhood, but had fat cheeks (and still does).

You figure it out.