You don’t have to look far in modern Britain to see that the problem of obesity now extends to even the youngest members of society.

Three-year-olds are sporting increased midriffs, and to that end one of our best-known high street retailers is catering for oversized children.

Marks & Spencer has introduced its ‘plus size’ school uniforms and clothes, amidst cries from health campaigners that this demonstrates the scale of the problem of ‘overindulged’ children.

Some sections of the media have suggested that this move is wholly wrong, but the fact is kids need to wear something to school that fits them. Would they prefer fat kids to attend school in the nude? Oh the ramifications.

Yes, many kids are spoilt; their parents have never been educated on how to prepare healthy meals, and about the only exercise they get is walking between the ‘fridge and the sofa. Yet, they still deserve some dignity while the bigger issues involved here are tackled at both national and local level.

Interesting research has shown that daughters were ten times more likely to become obese if their mother was overweight, and sons six times as likely if their father was.

It’s easy to blame all sorts of things for the obesity problem that’s sweeping through all sections of our society, and equally as easy to oversimplify the solutions.

Eat more healthily. Do some exercise.

Would we really expect retailers not to cater to the current size and shape of our kids? Cashing in, perhaps, but our children have to wear something.

In fairness, M&S isn’t the first retailer to sell larger size clothing for kids. Next sells “plus fit” clothing, as does BHS.

M&S is looking into the possibility of introducing the range permanently, while a group of retailers has begun a project to measure 6,000 children and change regular clothing sizes based on the results.

These are rough times. With the chaos of our current economy, it becomes that much more critical that you are very deliberate in the way you spend and save. If you have lost your job, no doubt, you are in emergency mode. For those of you who haven’t, be prepared… because in this day and age, no one’s job is safe. Regardless of your financial means or the lack thereof, it is critical that you have good control over your finances. Your family’s happiness and well-being depend on it.

Here are some pointers to help you to protect your finances through this difficult spot:

Tellies, Not Takeaways

A great way to continue to put food on the table is to make sure that the table you eat at is in your dining room and not in a pub or a restaurant. Fortunately, 73% of families surveyed choose to eat at home to save a pence or two. Besides, fish and chips, cottage pies, baps, and bangers-and-mash right off your own hob simply taste better than pub grub, do they not?

Regarding entertainment and recreation, most of these same families chose to watch Eurovision Song Contest on the telly in the lounge instead of going to the cinema, cut back on holiday travel, and so on, and so forth. Spend quality time at home to lock in the quids.

Food Frugality

Mums, you would be surprised what you could save just by being aware of what you buy and resolve to buy only what you need. There are various tips you can employ whilst shopping, including:

• Stock up when on special offer items you will need or buy later. But don’t go overboard and overspend.
• Make a meal plan for the week. Convert this to a shopping list and get only the items on the list.
• Buy a bread making machine and save by baking your own fresh bread. Life is good when you have one of these.
• Don’t shop when you’re hungry.
• Don’t bring your husband if he is hungry. Just kidding. Actually, we’re not.
• Save Your Spondulicks, Spend Some on Shares

Blokes, you need to do your part too. Skip the pub crawl and enjoy a pint or three at home. Take the odds you save, and put it away for a rainy day. Consider this brass your brolly when the downpour starts. The missus will love you.

In case you’re one of those who have been saving for a long time and have built up a large balance, take a portion that you can afford to lose and begin trading shares. You can either learn to trade in the stock market or even trying your hand in the foreign exchange (trading notes). Please remember that these can be very risky moves, so use only money that you could burn with a match and still not skip a meal. At the same time, if you receive proper education on how to trade and you are very conservative on your money-management skills, you can actually put your money to work for you, rather than allowing it to lazily stagnate in a savings account, losing value over time because of inflation. At the very least, put your money in some conservative money market, bonds, or mutual funds.

We hope that you’ve found some pointers that can help you keep your bank account from ever reaching nil. It is a tough world out there right now, and you are now better prepared to put a financial hedge about your domain and the ones whom you love.

The BBC has a commitment to include more regional cities and towns in its dramas, and Tracy Beaker is a great example of a drama putting Newcastle and Northumberland on the map.

Jacqueline Wilson’s hit character, played by Dani Harmer, returns to work at the Dumping Ground as a young adult, with the cast including more kids from the North East.

Peter Salmon, the first Director BBC North said: “Now we are on our second series of Tracy Beaker we will see more of Tyneside on screen and even an episode set on an orienteering course in the glorious Northumbrian countryside.”

“To be based and filmed in the region fills a void that shows like Byker Grove left and we are working closely with the BBC to really embed the show in the North East,” said Northern Film and Media (NFM) chief executive Tom Harvey.

Filming will take place on location between July and October this year, with a transmission date still to be confirmed.

Matt Buttery, CEO of Family Matters Institute, says, “Fathers are increasingly feeling the pressure of having to work longer hours in order to provide just the basic needs of their families. It’s even worse for non-resident fathers and fathers who have remarried, who are supporting the costs of two households.

“If these calculations are correct and the cost of raising a child in Britain is approximately £800 per month, by the time families have added on the costs of housing, utilities, and other basic requirements, one wonders what the monthly income of a family has to be sustain an acceptable standard of living.”

Paul Kellett of DadTalk.co.uk says, “Through our social networking site for fathers, we have heard users speak of cutting their pensions out in order to meet weekly household needs. With more and more parents taking this measure, leaving themselves vulnerable in old age, the cycle of poverty is set to continue.”

“The high cost of childcare in the UK is one of the reasons that families depend so heavily on grandparents to provide care,” says Julia Shipston of BeGrand.net. “One in four grandparents care for their grandchildren on a regular basis and provide an estimated £3.6 billion of childcare every year. Yet their role in supporting families goes largely unacknowledged. At BeGrand.net we’re committed to supporting grandparents, and believe it’s high time their contribution to family life was recognised.”

Family Matters, DadTalk.co.uk, and BeGrand.net call upon the new Families and Childhood task force to think outside the box and come up with legitimate solutions that will cut the cost of living for British families.

The latest story to hit my email inbox is that of middle class adulterers using Twitter to conduct illicit affairs.

While the micro-messaging service Twitter has many great uses, it’s also proving to be a tempting virtual space for people to hook up with each other.

As we’ve already seen, lawyers are probing social networks for evidence of infidelity.

Divorce-Online.co.uk studied over 1,000 behaviour divorce petitions produced by the divorce service between December 31st 2009 and June 30th 2010 for the word Twitter and found that 102 (10%) of the petitions looked at found that the micro- blogging service had been mentioned in a word search of their behaviour allegation data.

Looking deeper into a sample of those petitions, they found that the majority of the errant spouses (72%) were men aged between 35-45 and were earning above £40,000

The common themes in these divorce petitions were that the errant spouse was using Twitter to either conduct affairs or flirt with members of the opposite sex and their spouses had found out and were using this in their behaviour allegations.

Men’s Hour will air on BBC Radio 5 Live and be hosted by award-winning journalist and presenter Tim Samuels.

Initially broadcasting for just six weeks, starting this coming Sunday, 18th July at 7.30pm, it will take a look at the emotional challenges of relationships and life as well as including a hint of irreverent manly chatter.

“Less about leering at ladies and more concerned with how to maintain monogamy, this is the men’s magazine women have been waiting for.”

Each week, Men’s Hour will feature guest interviews and regular features such as Questions You Daren’t Ask Your Doctor and Midlife Music Crisis. Tim Samuels will be joined by leading males from the world of entertainment, sport, politics, media and an on-hand shrink as they leave their comfort zones behind them – familiar people talking about unfamiliar things.

Choreographer and star of Pineapple Dance Studio star Louie Spence will also be joining Tim as a regular weekly guest.

Tim Samuels said, “It’s about capturing the spirit of when good mates sit around nowadays – amidst all the banter you can actually open up about what’s on your mind without being ripped apart. We’re celebrating modern man’s mix of swagger and neurosis.”

Young diving sensation Tom Daley has just launched the Get Set, Go Free campaign, as part of Team Nestlé, which aims to encourage families to try out a range of free activities during the summer holidays.

Nestlé is offering families the chance to try one of 37 different activities at over 4,600 venues across the UK, including martial arts, swimming, dancing, paintballing and scuba diving.

All parents need to do is to collect points from the wide range of Nestlé products, including Kit Kat, Cheerios and Nesquik.

With a government survey showing that nearly three-quarters of children are not getting an hour of physical activity each day outside of school, the initiative aims to get kids moving and involved in a new activity that could become a long-term favourite.

The photo above shows Tom and his family trying out kitebuggying. “You have to give it a go if you get the chance,” he enthused.

He also treated a group of Devonshire parents and children to a beginners diving lesson.

Visit the Get Set, Go Free web site for more information.

British teachers have now submitted their funniest school sports day stories to SchoolStickers.co.uk, and here’s the top 10:

10. A poor llama being hit on the head by a welly throwing participant.

9. In the relay race, a girl passing the baton to the next runner, but keeping on running, overtaking her team mate.

8. In the egg and spoon race – children trying to cheat and hold onto the egg.

7. A pet’s race turning into total chaos – animals in all directions.

6. A teacher’s race where the teacher in charge of music chose to play the Benny Hill tune.

5. The whole school dancing and singing along to the locomotion song being played over the tannoy.

4. A very small reception child running right underneath the largest set of hurdles without seeing them!

3. Reception children stopping before the finish line.

2. The rope breaking during a parent versus staff tug of war.

1. One school lined up the reception age children for their sack race. They were told on “Go!” to get into the sack and go as fast as they can to the finish line. On “Go!” one child put the sack over her head, pulled it down and ran blindly up the track.

Photo by dullhunk

Yes? Then head over to www.surveymonkey.com/s/fiestacraftssurvey and answer some questions about how you and your kids cope with the summer hols.

The survey will run over the summer holidays and results will be published in time for the dreaded back-to-school routine.

Now, the created-by-mums company has announced the “Teeny Edition Club”.

Each month, an exclusive limited edition dress design will be created and publicised via the Bread & Jam mailing list, and it can only be purchased via a secret web page listed in the email.

The first Teeny Edition dress to be released will be the Birdhouse design on the 1st of September. This limited edition dress is perfect for Autumn/Winter and looks gorgeous layered on top of polo-necks. The dress is made of 100% cotton and features a large pocket with a colourful bird design, ideal for storing small treasures or bird seeds. £29

To be in on the action sign up now at www.ilovebreadandjam.com/contact/ to get your exclusive ‘Teeny Edition Club’ email on the first of each month.