Uh oh.., a newly released British study says kids of working moms are fat and unhealthy, laying the fault right on the shoulders of working mothers. Watch out moms, the Guilt Trip inducing Fat Police are on their way! Hey working moms, do you think mothers that work full or part-time make their kids fat? Are kids fat because of working moms? Will the Mommy Wars ever end?

According to the study involving 12,500 5-year-old kids by Britain’s Institute of Child Health, researchers found that children of working moms are less active, spend too much time on the computer or watching television and are more likely to eat unhealthy foods, compared to children of stay-at-home moms.

The research, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Child Health, concluded that kids of working mothers are more likely to drink sodas and snack on “crisps and sweets” between meals, and less likely to snack on healthy food choices like fruits and vegetables than kids of stay-at-home moms. Ouch.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

It’s interesting and disturbing that the “blame” is placed on working moms rather than saying kids are fat because of “parents”. Where are the dads in these research studies? In the study, kids of working moms are more likely to be driven to school compared to kids of stay-at-home moms, who tend to walk or ride bikes to school.

BBC commenter Naomi says, “I’m cross on so many levels, but mainly a personal one! I work, my husband doesn’t, he is our daughter’s main carer. He walks her to school, he looks after her after school stuff and cooks her meals every day. She has restricted TV time and is not allowed sweets. Why do people insist on saying ‘mother’ when they often mean ‘parent’. It’s wrong on other levels too of course, but for me it’s the stupidity of assuming a mum should stay at home and a dad should work – are we still in the 50s?”

Regarding kids of mothers who work part-time, the effect on kids eating habits, amount of exercise and activity was less than that of working mothers, but still significant, according to the Guardian. In the study, the average number of hours the mothers worked was only 21 hours each week. Professor Catherine Law, who lead the study, says “Our results do not imply that mothers should not work. Rather they highlight the need for policies and programmes to help support parents.”

Anna North, from Jezebel.com says “if kids’ health really does suffer when moms work outside the home, the solution isn’t to heap more guilt on moms, who often don’t have much choice. Instead, as Law says, parents and kids need better support and facilities to make healthy food and exercise more accessible.”

Healthy eating habits have been deteriorating for many years now, and it doesn’t matter if you live in the U.S., the U.K., or anywhere else. As interesting as it may be to read about why kids are getting fat from research studies and opinion polls, it’s really a matter of common sense, regardless of whether parents work full-time or part-time. If your kid is fat, overweight, obese or even “morbidly obese”, do a personal inventory of the kinds of foods found in your kitchen cabinets, pantry, refrigerator or freezer and what foods you are feeding your kids and how much.

Encouraging healthy eating habits and getting kids to eat healthy is not rocket science, and it shouldn’t matter one bit if moms are working full or part-time, or if dads are working. Many moms and dads simply have no choice but to work outside their home. But, being a working mom or dad and being too tired after working all day to come home and prepare healthy meals and snacks for kids is no excuse. Childhood obesity may get moms and dads arrested and charged with child abuse or neglect, and the fat police aren’t going to be too accepting of the most common excuses used by moms or dads like, “my kid is a picky eater”.

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