Is Child Obesity Child Abuse?

I think the whole debate is so sad, that we would think about charging parents with abuse/neglect because of weight. Wow. Like the article said, half of the parents in the U.S. would be in trouble. I feel sorry for the child in the article, and the mother obviously has some issues.

For me, it comes back to the grassroots effort that really needs to sweep the country. The government can't mandate our food choices. We as parents and citizens need to start working one family at a time on educating families about healthy food, and how to make good choices.

At the point the excess weight is morbid obesity or causing significant health problems WITHOUT the parent taking corrective action, it is certainly child neglect.

Loving your kids does not mean you're a good parent. It takes more. Part of being a good parent is ensuring their good health. You don't let a child smoke, and you don't let a child eschew physical activity and become obese. Oh, it's not easy? Suck it up and be a parent.

I was a little softer on this before I WAS parent.

This is absolutely child abuse. No one is saying the government should spell out exactly how you have to parent, but you should parent in a way that keeps your child healthy. Feed them whatever you want, but in moderation. Encourage them to get exercise, in whatever form you (or they) choose. This isn't that hard. Not to mention the psychological toll this will take on these morbidly obese children. If you want your children to be happy and healthy, you won't let them get to this point.

It's entirely possible, though not likely, that the boy suffers from a genetic disorder that causes him to gain weight uncontrollably. Before people go after the parents they should at least get him examined by competent physicians.

I don't know if it's abuse, but the parent, as the caretaker of the child, has an obligation to be accountable for the controllable health issues of their children. Obesity is a controllable, preventable condition, and if the parent is enabling it by failing to establish boundaries and limits with regard to the child's eating habits, they are complicit in the condition.

Only in this secularized, wealthy country would this even be an issue. Aren't we the only country in the world where our poor have TOO MUCH FOOD!?! This woman needs to be released from these charges. The person who was in charge of overstepping their boundaries of government intervention needs to be fired. And this child needs to see a caring professional who can guide them into making wise choices. Is this what government run health care will look like?

I think you'd have to almost go on a case-by-case basis on something like this. Parents that see their child getting morbidly obese (to the point where the quality of life of the child is suffering) have a duty as a parent to take action. Get the kid to the doctor to find out if there is indeed something wrong with the child. If it's not something genetic like Prader-Willi syndrome or something like that, parents need to address the issue at hand: stop buying crap and get your kids up and playing.

BTW, I think a large portion of the parents that have obese children are overweight/obese themselves and keep junk food on hand for THEMSELVES to eat and then whine about it when "Junior eats all the ice cream out of the freezer when I'm at work" or "Little Maggie eats all the cookies out of the cookie jar". I'm pretty sure if you kept apples or granola bars or fresh veggies for snacks instead of cookies and chips, Junior and Little Maggie wouldn't be driving out to the store for a candy fix. The whole family is probably much better off if the junk just isn't there to tempt anyone.

I'm a high school teacher in the city of Chicago and I see a lot of my students having flaming hot Cheetos and a Mountain Dew for breakfast. I think some of this is because parents don't provide food for their children (at least in an urban place like Chicago -- our school provides breakfast and lunch since most of our kids don't get it at home. Although the schools' meals are pathetic and NOT nutritious either)

Another thought to consider: If you go to Aldis you can get a bag of chips for under a dollar. They have limited fruits and vegetables at Aldis. If you cut coupons out of the newspaper, they are always for processed foods and not fruits and veggies. Unless the government is able to do something about the prices of food, I don't think they will be able to do any type of regulating of obesity.

I would be interested to see a study on the effect of social-economic standing and obesity.

Parents have 100% control into what goes into their childs mouth & are responsible for raising them in a healthy environment. There is ALOT of stupid or ignorant people that may need more help in what is good/bad, but a government can only do so much and it is always the parents at blame. I think parents of obese children should be singled out and have a service available to them, to try to improve the childs health, and if the parents are unwilling, then action should be taken. Feeding your child to an unhealthy weight is one of the only forms of child abuse being overlooked, it does great physical & mental damage and sets your child up for an unhappy life and early death. Not to mention we'll end up paying all their health bills..

Over-feeding our children is a form of neglect, just as under-feeding them would be seen as neglect. Both have negative outcomes for the child, the parents, and society. It will be our tax dollars at work that will ultimately pay for the barrage of health problems this child will face. Let's force some accountability on people for their health and the health of their children when the problems are self-inflicted.
In that regard, why are we not prosecuting parents for exposing their children to second-hand smoke or extreme violence? Don't these environmental factors result in just as bad(or worse)outcomes for the child and society?

Seriously, unless the mother was actively forcing the food down her son's throat, she should not be jailed for abuse. No parent can actively control everything their child eats or drinks and it's insane to expect that they can. School, clubs, friend's houses... at any one of these places that boy could have gotten anything he'd like to eat and his mother would have no way of controlling that.

While I think that everyone should be educated about the benefits of eating healthy and exercising, I don't think it should be a crime in any way to be obese. And I really don't want to have government involvement in this issue; what I eat is my business and what my kids eat is my business too. Not the governments.

Not having money is not an excuse to buy mostly or only processed food. I was poor growing up, but I can't remember a single day that there wasn't fruit and veggies in the house. I also can't remember a single day there was a bag of chips or store bought cookies in the house. Healthy eating can be done on any budget if it's a priority. There is no excuse. And allowing your child to become obese is neglect, plain and simple, just as allowing your child to become malnourished is.

Everyone here keeps talking about "feeding" the children. It's not like parents of all overweight children are sitting there force feeding their children and making them fat. When kids get older, it's difficult to regulate how much food your child gets for themselves and eats without your knowledge. Some people may be wondering how that could be, but some of these children just seem to be addicted to food, eating constantly, and they sneak it when you're not looking. I have two other children, so it's not like I can have a vending machine in my kitchen that only spits out healthy snacks every 3 hours in a single serving. Some children are very compulsive eaters and if you don't have one of these children, I think it's very hard for someone to understand. You can't live your life policing the pantry. Don't assume that all parents of fat kids are fat themselves. My 9 year old daughter only weighs 20 pounds less than me. I can have only healthy snacks in my house, but they will find the junk food somewhere, and even healthy snacks aren't going to help them lose weight if they are consumed in huge volumes. Parents are a huge part of helping these children, but we need to realize that there's something else going on here besides just poor food choices.