Should Parents be charged with child abuse for allowing their children to be obese?

Answer 1

No - absolutely not! You don't give ANYONE that much control over how you raise your children.

MOST COLA MANUFACTURERS MAKES THEIR PRODUCT ADDICTIVE ON PURPOSE. There is no other reason to add caffeine and it is a KNOWN addictive substance. That should be criminal!

TRANS FATS ARE KNOWN TO BE HARMFUL! Yes companies are still allowed to use them? WTF???

HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP is a billion dollar business that is making us FAT. Studies are showing this and yet this awful CHEMICAL made from genetically modified crap is in EVERYTHING. We're stuffing our faces with it more than good old natural sugar and most people don't even know what the hell it is.

MOST PEOPLE KNOW LITTLE ABOUT NUTRITION! Who got any really thorough education on nutrition elementary and high school? We only have one body and our diets are the most important tool we have in keeping it healthy and yet there is very little effort put into educating children about good nutrition. sure, we teach them the five food groups, but come on. Let's get a little more in depth because what we're doing isn't working. I'd like to see four years of nutrition in high school and treated as a REAL subject in our elementary schools.

DO SOMETHING, HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS! Stop making it okay to be heavy. We've got all kinds of stigmas about being fat, but making fun of people or making them feel ugly isn't any help. we need real incentives. Give people a credit on thei medical insurance for being their proper BMI. People who are 50 pounds or more overweight should get free counseling and meal planning and even access to exercise equipment if we want to see any change - health industries make money off people being sick - they should be made to promote healthier living and be more proactive about wellness and this should be regulated through manadated wellness programs like I've juse mentioned. Doctors who see overweight kids should make more of an effort to educate parents about how unhealthy it is. Health care needs to be reformed, for sure.

Lastly the MEAT AND DAIRY INDUSTRIES should take some of the blame for making people so unhealthy. They know that their products make people fat yet they keep pushing them and will go so far as to lie to people to get themt o buy them (like telling people consuming a milk product every day will help them lose weight - the FDA made the dairy council pull those ads becauzse it was a big, fat lie!). Anyone who knows anything about nutrition knows that meat and dairy do little but clog the arteries and provide bad fat. All studies on nutrition and obesity say to eat more fruits and vegetables and reduce your intake of meat and cheese and creams and the like. Yet meat or dairy is in almost EVERYTHING we eat. The meat and dairy industries are SO powerful it's scary. As far as I'm concerned, when it comes to good nutrition, they are the enemy.

The End.

Answer 2

Yes they should, obesity, unlike other diseases such as asthma or diabetes is completely avoidable.
Eating the right foods and exercising regularly is the key.
If the child has some sort of genetic problem they should seek out advice from a doctor, it is the parents responsibility and not the childrens!
If there were parents being charged with child abuse for obese kids then it would make a lot of unresponsible parents see how serious the matter is.
So yes, parents should be charged with child abuse for allowing their children to be obese.

Answer 3

As a mother of 2 children I have unfortunately found myself in the middle of this debate. My son is 9 -140cm high and weighs 5 stone, underweight according to BMI charts. Weight at birth 6lb. My daughter is 8 -141 cm high and weighs 61/.2 stone overweight according to all the charts. Weight at birth 11lb. Both eat the same foods at home and snacks are limited, They do activities and watch TV. My point is that they are brought up practically identically but they are prediposed to their shape and size. However, I know that education helps. After the 5 a day lessons in school recently I could not buy enough fruit / veg to fill them. I honestly think that what is needed here is help and support which would cost significantly less than the Foster care . Would kids be taken away who are normal wieght but only eat chips/ crisps - there are plenty out there. ? Why should this one family be demonised and scorned when there are plenty others it could apply to ? I know of familes where a multipack of crisps and a night on the game console is what a child gets as a reward for doing something good. Is this not in itself a form of abuse, or is that ok in todays image conscious society.

Answer 4

I think it is more about educating the parents - they let the children have what they want - anything to keep them quiet - so the child soon learns - a lot of parents out there are children bringing up children - not all of them are bad - I am not saying that - I think if you look at the lifestyle of the obese children - and parents and the way they treat the children - maybe that is what needs addressing.

Answer 5

No I don't agree.I shall tell you why,my daughter was tiny when she was born. I brought her up as a vegetarian and she very rarely has sweet things.

However from 5 months onwards she has had a weight problem.My child takes dance,gymnastics lessons and swims every week. Her diet is healthy but she still seems prone to putting on weight. I love my child dearly and would never just ignore the fact she is overweight.As a parent what else can I do,I already give my daughter a very healthy diet and exercise is part of her daily routine.

I believe every child's circumstances of why they are over weight should be looked in to first before charging parents with child abuse.

In my daughters case I believe it her genetic makeup as on her dads side there are all prone to putting weight on.

Answer 6

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I think that parents who allow their children to constantly gorge themselves with high-fat, high-cholesterol, high-calorie foods are being neglectful in a way. That being said, though, I know that obesity is sometimes caused mainly by genetics and by other factors besides diet. If we started charging parents with neglect for letting their kids get fat, how would we be able to distinguish between the ones who let their kids eat junk food and the ones who have children whose obesity has been caused by factors other than diet?

Answer 7

obesity is sometimes a medical condition that some people have no control over. If the family has no health ins or access to good medical care the condition could be ignored and charging the parents would not do any good. Instead they need lessons on nutrition and good dieting

Answer 8

I happen to know a woman who just lost custody of her young son because of severe obesity. She literally fed him nothing but junk all day long, and he was actually malnourished. Spent a lot of the time at the hospital, etc. Although it's a sad case, I do think it was best for the child to be placed in a different home.

Answer 9

Shame on you! Obesity isn't always the fault of a parent or a child. Some people are born with very slow metabolism. In addition, obesity is an illness; not a crime.

I think you are lousy for even questioning this.

Answer 10

In some cases I would say yes, but I think every effort should be made to help teach the parent how to feed their children properly instead of cramming something in their mouths to shut them up. I know some parents who practically starve their kids, when the kids get to my house the first thing they do is ask for food. It's so sad.