It's really crazy how your eating habits are influenced by your parents. My mother is really into eating really healthy and both I and my sister eat healthier by choice now. I remember when I was really young my mom's friends were impressed that I willingly ate vegetables...they were actually impressed by that! I would always notice the look on my mom's face like "...uh why wouldn't he?" It's really kind of sad that eating your vegetables nowadays is impressive.
Peoples' perception of various tastes vary dramatically, partially through genetic factors (some people are even termed "supertasters,") but also with age. There is research showing that children perceive bitterness especially strongly, and that this attenuates with age.
So when some children say they don't like vegetables, it may not be such an illegitimate claim after all. I personally still cannot stand brussel sprouts, into my mid 20s.
I never had them until my mid-20s, but apparently a lot of people's only experience of brussels sprouts is boiled to death, which allegedly increases their bitterness. I've had them roasted, and they were reasonably good.
As an overweight parent, I know I'm overweight and am working to change that, with slow, but steady results.
I've always been very conscious of my child's weight, because I don't want her dealing with the same feelings of shame, discomfort, lack of energy, etc. that I went through as a kid, or to face the medical problems later in life that I'm now working hard to avoid. This is, for me, a Really Big Deal. Being overweight sucks. I want better for my kid.
If anything, having a kid has helped me, because teaching healthy lifestyle and eating habits by example is far better than telling her one thing and doing something totally different, myself.
On the other hand, I have an overweight friend with a 100+lb, average height, 9yr olds who will argue all day that the kid "isn't fat."
That is certainly what my money would be on. Below a certain age, kids don't tend to become fat unless their parents let them (that whole being provided for thing sees to that).
I wonder how much of this effect is just due to the fact that admitting the child is overweight would be tantamount to admitting that they themselves are overweight. Without making any moral statement whatsoever, that's simply hard for people to do.
