Being away may make me neglect writing this blog, but not thinking about it. Its original intent guides me through most days and leaves me scribbling notes on napkins. One such stained and biro-covered beauty, which I shall recount here, happened to be from a children’s play centre we visited out of desperation on the very wettest day of our recent trip. Big bumpy slides, snot-smeared ball pools, luminous cushion-covered climbing frames – you know the scene.

On arrival, despite their mother’s preference for back gardens, my two four-year-olds went racing off with excited screeches to clamber over squashy purple triangles and throw themselves head first down the least terrifying slide they could find. I chose a seat and took out my book, only to be too distracted to read.

What immediately struck me, in amongst the melee, was how many children were overweight. Some were just a bit plump, and had you seen them in isolation you’d have thought nothing of it; but many were fat – swollen in their colourful clothes, their would-be lithe children’s frames clothed in a layer of excess.

As I write this, it feels terribly cruel to label a child fat. It won’t have anything to do with decisions they make. They are the victims – of poor nutritional education in their parents, a burgeoning culture of childhood that promotes being indoors not outdoors, an ever-growing expanse of junk food aimed specifically at children, and, most often, poverty.

And of course, I am not the first to say this: the World Health Organisation regards childhood obesity as one of the most serious global health challenges of the 21st century. A recent study shows that in England more than 20% of 4-5 year olds are overweight; the older the children, the higher the figure. Our play centre was in Hull, (north east England), which has one of the highest rates of childhood obesity nationally. It is also an area of significant economic deprivation. The two go hand in hand.

So what? My napkin note continues. The food on offer was appalling – a sick twist on what food should be. At the food counter you could buy Robinson’s Fruit Shoots (containing roughly 5 teaspoons of sugar) and chips, fish fingers, and “chicken” nuggets, soaked in cheap fat and slathered in sugary ketchup. By the toilets, vending machines spewed out chocolate bars, adult-sized bottles of fizzy drinks, and jelly sweets. With nothing else available and hungry worn out children fast approaching, even I suspiciously bought a bag of Mini Cheddars. More fool me: they had one “mini cheddar” each, before I checked the ingredients (glucose syrup and 1/4 of the salt an adult should eat in one day) and promptly threw them away.

Supermarkets and cafes are just as bad; brimming with food and drinks aimed at children, often promoted as healthy “containing calcium”, “two of your five a day”, “essential vitamins”, but in truth full of sugars (whether natural or refined) and other junk. Another example? I know a decent-enough cafe which serves a “babyccino” (warm milk froth in a espresso cup) for two-year-olds and above with a flake, six jelly babies, and a serious dusting of chocolate powder – all unasked for.

We are so desperate to make children’s lives better – human instinct most likely. Think of all the sponsored marathons run for the Children’s Society and the lasting popularity of Pudsey Bear. What a contradiction to then feed them this rubbish. Being too heavy at five will make your life harder – much harder. So let’s boycott poor quality food and pass by the aisles of children’s snacks. If children can’t hold out until teatime, bring a small supply of your own good food with you, and make it things you wouldn’t mind them eating for a proper meal – that way if they end up eating nothing in the evening, it doesn’t matter. To indulge them, as children must be from time to time, one scoop of luxury, organic ice cream will be more than enough.

At least the children we saw running around – silver linings and all of that.

A bag of children’s snacks (if you can’t make them hold out until tea time) … 

• Hard boiled eggs
• Freshly chopped raw vegetables (cucumber, tomatoes, red pepper, celery, carrots)
• Unsalted nuts
• Apples
• Cubes of cheddar cheese
• A bottle of water