What do you think...abuse?

Question

Do you think that the parents of excessively obese children should be held accountable in some way? Do you think they are neglecting or even abusing their kids?

Why do you think yes or no?

Tyrus...you must be one of those obese kids...lol! Or either one of the bad parents!

Answer 1

Yes- when a parent allows a child to become obese s/he is causing physical and psychological damage to that child. Sounds like abuse to me. I'm disgusted by any parent who's willing to take 20 years off their child's life and doom her to "fat-girl" taunts just because burgers are yummy, cheap and easy.

That said, if it WAS viewed as abuse by the powers that be it would be impossible to enforce. Kids come in so many shapes and sizes and sometimes it doesn't mean anything. A child who is fed nothing but cheetos can be quite svelte due to a quick metabolism or active lifestyle. By the same token there can be children like my sister and I. We were born two years apart to hippie parents. We were both fed organic salads, whole wheat bread and never any refined sugars. Our parents were extra careful with our diets- and yet at the ages fo 10 and 8 respectively, I was thin and she was fat. Now that we're adults we have similar, healthy figures, but she just held on to her "baby fat" longer than most.

So yeah- it is abuse but it would be too hard to enforce it as such since kids are so variable.

Answer 2

I think that if the child is excessively obese because the parents are not feeding them nutritious food and encouraging some sort of outdoor activity, then they should be held accountable. The child is reliant on their parents for their basic needs, and it is up to the parents to make sure they are getting a healthy diet.
Some forms of obesity can be caused by a genetic defect... there are diseases where the body does not have an "off switch", so to speak, and the sufferer basically eats themselves to death.
I think it is too easy in this day and age to count on convenience foods, rather than home-cooked meals.
I usually cook enough to freeze in containers for times I am too busy or tired to spend time slaving in the kitchen.

Answer 3

unless the parents are force feeding their children, which does not include finishing their vegetables, then no......people should not be punished for what the government is doing to them, people are sent the message to buy more food and eat more food...watch TV for ten minutes and you will see every 2 minutes is a series of commercials which tell people to do these things, the government is responsible for this one. unfortunately we do not live in a free country so no one person or group will ever be prosecuted for this. what people need to do is take their health into their own hands and stay away from a commercial lifestyle. Parents should not be jailed or worse for something they do not even realize is bad, they should be taught the correct portion sizes or good organic foods. no preservatives, no hormones, no chemicals. I think everyone could use this, not just parents with obese children, it effects every ones health, skinny children get just as sick as fat children.

Answer 4

I do.
If you see your 10 year old child weighs as much as his 16 year old cousin it should be sending up some red flags. The boy is eating too much and as a parent you should be controlling what they eat! When they reach adult hood(if they reach it) they will have been set on a course for obesity for their entire lives!
Parents should be taught how to monitor their child's food consumption and be held accountable for it. I agree with you! If you don't take your chi9ld to the doctors for his shots then your neglecting his health, so is letting your 12 year old eat a Big Mac Meal large sized 5 days a week!

Answer 5

Well it's hard not to think that the parents are mainly at fault. Unless it's due to a medical condition, usually I would think that childhood obesity stems from parents who feed their kids (or allow their kids to eat) junk food and too much of it.Since this can result in medical injury to the child, then yes, I guess it could be taken as a form of abuse - not one that is recognized by "society" though. I mean it's not one you could call child services for, if that's what you're getting at.

Answer 6

No, you cannot call it abuse. Abuse is if you take advantage or do things in your own interest.

When children become obese, probably they do because of family lifestyle. This must be lack of knowledge or care. It has not to do with abuse.

It is very sad, however, to see obese children - and grownups for that matter. If they dont take a grip for own health maybe our system should have a mean of helping out or assisting someway.

Answer 7

i think it would be difficult to put an overweight 2 year old on a diet, the whole family would have to diet too (that may not be hard for some of us, but i am sure there are lots of cases that would make it difficult)

have you looked at the price of food lately? the more affordable foods are full of saturated fats while organic veggies and lean meats and even a gallon of milk is through the roof!

Yes, it may be some form of neglect....and neglect is abuse, but as long as we live in a society that makes Cheese Puffs cheaper than Whole Wheat we can't in good conscience do anything about it!

Answer 8

Perhaps we should start with the big businesses and supermarkets that peddle the crap in the first place and sell chemical ridden food with high salt, sugar and fat content. We all know part of the answer, but have any western governments done anything about it yet? I don't see any MacDonalds having a government health warning written in big letters over the doors or Coca Cola with a tooth rotting, weight exploding, cancer causing warnin'.

Answer 9

No... I mean, letting your child eat too much isn't really abuse. Most times, it's the kid who's got problems and can't stop eating; the parents wanna make them happy, so they keep shoveling out the food. No surprise it gets out of control eventually... Come on, the same thing can be said for parents of overly skinny kids. Why aren't parents making them eat more so they gain weight?

Answer 10

Possibly. But I've seen people with non-obese kids do far worse. Too bad God didn't require an approved application for conceiving.