Parents with overweight children age two and five years of age did not perceive them as weighing too much

This study examined whether the parents of children who were overweight at two and five years of age perceived their children as being too heavy and related the findings to sociodemographic factors.The data collection included parental questionnaires and anthropometric data from a longitudinal birth cohort of 2,666 children born in the southwest region of Sweden in 2007-2008.We found that 14.9% and 11.8% of the children were considered overweight or obese at the age of two and five, but 96.4% and 87.1% of their parents perceived their weight to be just about right at these ages. The difference was statistically significant (p