do you think parents should be held responsible for their overweight children???

Answer 1

YES!!!! they are the parents, they control the child's portions, and choices of food. I know that some children have a diesease where it makes them gain weight like crazy, but yet it again the " parents" need to get them the medical attention they so need.

Answer 2

I do think a parent is responsible for their overweight child. Even in a Child's teenage years a parent is responsible for what their child eats. It disgusts me to see all the overweight children today. It is so sad that their parents can not feed them healthy foods with healthy portions. Parents are only setting their child up for more medical problems in the future by doing this. Even if a child has a medical condition were it is easy for them to gain weight the doctor can put them on a low calorie diet. If you look at most overweight children, most the time the parents are overweight also. This big thing about getting recess and PE back in schools is not going to help one bit in my opinion, if the parents are not going to try to set a good diet and exercise program up at the home.

Answer 3

Well yes in a way. If a child has mental problems or medication that causes weight gain then it is hard for the parents though. Some children overeat because of a mental problem and the parents should get them help but not nag the child about his/her eating habits. I gained a lot of weight from medication (over 20 lbs.); I am an adult and was trying very hard not to. I eventually was able to find another medication that worked that did not cause weight gain but it was hard and the new stuff does not work nearly as well.

But generally, yes, the parents should get this under control and help the child in a kind way.

Answer 4

Yes if the child is infant, weighing 100-200 pounds like I see on some shows and then show where the parents feed them pancakes, waffles, cereal, donuts, and all this other junk food for breakfast alone. I really think those parents should be held for child abuse, endangering of life, and unable to take care of child and their safety.

But if it is a teenager, the parents should try and do something; but the adolescent should already know better of what are good foods and what is junk food. So if they want to live fat, obese slob lives then so be it. But for the 2-5 year olds I see sometimes on news and shows, I find that to be child abuse in many ways and forms.

Answer 5

Yes and no. Apart from taking the child away from the parent and putting them in foster homes, what are we going to do? And our state systems are pretty full already. Also, it's hard to judge why a child is overweight. A parent can teach a child healthy eating, and the child can choose to ignore it when they're away from their parents. I also remember seeing a news story on CNN about a boy who was drastically overweight, and had been since we was a toddler, whose mom fed him carefully regimented diets, and made him exercise, and packed his lunches for him, and worked very hard to try to get him to lose weight, and he wasn't. She was doing everything she could and her son wasn't losing weight. So in some instances the parents aren't at fault and it's hard to look into every situation with overweight children and determine why they're overweight. Parents should be responsible for their children's health and wellbeing, but at the same time, it's their choice how they raise their children, and unless they are endangering the wellbeing of the child or are abusive, the state really doesn't have a right to step in and dictate how parents should raise their children.

Answer 6

It depends on the situation. A parent is responsible if they are letting the child have whatever they want, when they want it. If a parent is not buying junk food putting it in the home then the child will not have it in access. Now, the parent who has an overweight child that has genetic problems, then they can't control the childs weight, but they can avoid giving the child junk food also.

Answer 7

It all depends on the situation.I have a slightly overweight child.The first time I took her to a doctor for this they said she was fine.Then I took her to a different doctor who ran test and found she had very high cholesterol.We met with a nutritionist and changed her diet for the most part.She still did not lose any weight but her cholesterol is back to normal.Sometimes a child being overweight is just something to do with the child.Some parents do nat try to help there children and these parents are at fault but I feel in my situation I have done eveything I could now we just have to weight for her to grow out of it.

Answer 8

Of course. I don't care if they have a medical problem--it's their responsibility to take weight into consideration. There are kids who are put on steroids [like my cousin] the moment they are born. While that does make them gain weight and obsessing over it shouldn't be an option I DO think they should provide healthy meals.

Every parent OWES it to their kids to PROVIDE everything for them. From clothes and a roof over head to healthy meals. Period.

Doodlestuff--Give me a break! You don't have to give your kids a DIME to buy school lunch. It's called being a PARENT. You provide a healthy MEAL for your child to bring to school. Don't put blame where blame doesn't belong. Why not go to the school an petition to have better lunches? It's happening ALL across the US. How about just sending your child to school with a good whole-wheat sandwich, a bag of baked chips, a bottle of water, and some baby carrots? Sure, that's not what they want to eat but it sure beats the 'junk' the school feeds them.

....and NO you don't need a nutritionist to know what is right to eat. You just go to the library [or in home computer] and type in 'child nutrition' on Google and there's your nutritionist. You meal plan and make sure you pick up healthy things from the store. That's it! It's THAT easy.

Answer 9

In most cases yes, but there are a small few that have medical reasons for being over weight. As a parent it is your job to monitor what your children eat and how much. If your child has a tendency to gain weight then you shouldn't be buying chips and fatty snacks for the rest of the family. If it's in the house it will be eaten so just don't buy it...sometimes we have to sacrifice for our children and if that means dad can't sit and pig out on chips and ice cream then dad just can't .....

This is for the guy "yes I am here" Parents are sometimes responsible for ignorance and arrogance

Answer 10

How can you make parents responsible for their overweight children when the schools are feeding them nothing but crap? Why is soda pop even available for children at ANY TIME during the school day? I've seen the lunch menus. Most of today's parents grew up with the same crap.

I was an overweight child when it was rare for there to be overweight children. I was a sick child and didn't get the level of exercise I needed. However, we also ate pretty healthy in comparison to the average family today. I go into the houses of normal weight friends and it's packed with chips, dip, soda, and instant food for when they are too lazy or poor to go out to McDonald's or the latest restaurant. Just because they are not overweight, doesn't mean that their children are any healthier. Last year, a fellow scrapbooker's husband dropped dead. He had a heart attack at 32 and the autopsy showed that it was due to poor diet, not some kind of birth anomaly.

Would intervention help? Yeah, but how do you sustain it when there is no support? Folks who go to Weight Watchers can tell you just how hard it is to maintain weight loss without support. That's why free lifetime support is offered once you reach your goal. Can you afford the higher taxes to provide nutritionists and guidance for these folks? Certainly, those very young children that are like 100 pounds overweight need intervention. Totally out of control parents created that situation!

Answer 11

There are several medical reasons why a child may be overweight. However, if none of those instances applies, and the parent is feeding the child unhealthy foods and indulging to their every whim, then yes, the parents need to be held accountable.