Poll: Should parents of extremely obese children lose custody for not controlling their kids' weight?

[Scytail]

Point is, some people are just different, and you shouldn't make kids LEAVE THEIR PARENTS because they parents can't afford to put out a huge spread of healthy food for dinner.

Are you saying that parents don't have a responsibility to care for their children's health?

 

[Niflhel]

*edited*

 

[mikey7339]

It depends on the case, mostly i would assume it would not be the best option.

this should be added in as another type of child abuse.

Either deliberately or through complacency having your child grow up to have uncontrollable health problems including but not limited to: diabetes, heart disease, many gastrointestinal illnesses as well as mental issues from bullying at school. What's not serious about that?

If a child's parent can't be brought to give them vegetables and a lean chicken breast for dinner instead of a big mac then that should constitute abuse. No one would think twice about prosecuting a parent for allowing or enabling their child to smoke, why is this any different? They are both formed habits with long term detrimental health risks that can be controlled early on.

 

[omega 616]

Im going to come out and say it. Its hard trying ti feed your kids 3 square meals that are healthy and fast to make. Especially if your a single parent who wakes early. Sometimes mcdonalds is a lifesaver for them. It not exactly there fault. Its the systems fault.

That's totally wrong, buy a steamer (I got one for £12), buy a packet of mixed veg from the shops (which I do), buy a 4 packet of chicken breast and slap them in the bottom, veg in the middle and cook for 15 mins.

Family of 4 fed for less than a tenner and in 15 minutes, no preparation needed. Simple as opening a packet, pouring water and turning a timer AKA no more complicated than a microwave.

To be honest it is the same as a microwave but a lot healthier.

On topic. I am not sure about take them away but at least educate the kids and parents at the same time. Don't be saying "in 50 years you will be dead" kids don't care, 50 years is a billion miles away, tell them they will stop being bullied and more immediate effects.

If a kid is all "I don't like carrots/whatever" don't feed it anything else, lets see how long the hunger strike lasts. Granted if there eating all the veg except carrots, don't force them to eat them 'cos they genuinely don't like them.

Broccoli and cauliflower taste of nothing but water, everybody should be eating them. Things like sprouts though do have a taste so I would let them off not eating them (I loves them though).

 

[OtherSideofSky]

Certainly not as the system currently exists.

Before I say anything else, I'd like to remind everyone that "obese" and "fat" are two very different things.

Parents should absolutely be blamed for obesity in small children, but I would say that it represents parental negligence rather than abuse. Attempting to shift the lions share of the blame away from the parents is definitely a problem, however, and I would say that it actually represents a more serious problem in our culture than obese children. Parents are absolutely accountable for this and they should definitely feel bad about it. "advertising, marketing, peer pressure and bullying" won't do jack if the parents have the balls to say "no" to their children.

I would suggest an ad campaign to help inform parents and promote healthier practices in feeding children as a much better first step. Of course, it would have to be designed by someone other than the crowd of incompetents who make all the other ad campaigns like that.

 

[Burs]

Im going to come out and say it. Its hard trying ti feed your kids 3 square meals that are healthy and fast to make. Especially if your a single parent who wakes early. Sometimes mcdonalds is a lifesaver for them. It not exactly there fault. Its the systems fault.

then wont cereal or toast do the trick for breakfast? Also there are plenty of healthy recipes out there that can be done cheaply, quickly and most importantly taste nice.
I mangage to cook for 5 grown adults (including myself) food that can either be done in half an hour or be left in a pot for a day on a budget that I worked out to be around the £5 mark every day for five people. To get takeaways or go to McDonny's every night It'll probebly be £5 per head especialy when you consider that my roomies and I aren't fastidious about our foods

 

[Burs]

Most of the time it's not out of greed, but a sign of emotional distress or a genuine problem with their body. Genetics also play a large factor in somebodies build. A propensity for putting on weight can actually be a trigger for the emotional instability that causes excessive overeating to the point of morbid obesity. If you're a little fat and feel self conscious, a lot of the time people comfort eat. It's not a rational thing, and usually starts before people are smart enough to know better.

It really isn't as simple an issue as 'eat less, fatty'.

*facepalm*

The Genetics involved in predisposing weight gain CAN ALWAYS BE CONTROLLED; the reason those genes are there is to help fuel muscle mass (I know i've had blood tests done and im desposed to gain weight).
As to the Psychology behind the matter, its the mind, a mind can move.. Im working towards a Sports Science degree and im using some of the things I do at a youth club as basic core studies, and when you have a kid who is Unmotivated, has a bad attitude, bullys other kids and not only "gave up" on a perscribed fitness course after the first 4 weeks but had the stupid-mindeness to go to Burger King afterwards, it makes you want to scream in frustration; There are 6 out of 23 kids in this club who are overweight, they are encouraged to do all sorts of boaty wonderful stuff and the 4 who are motivated to do the things our club has to offer are slowly losing weight and Im so proud for them and makes my volunteering feel worthwhile, however the remaining two do whatever it takes to NOT do anything and as I said its frustrating but I grin and bear it nontheless.

 

[2733]

all right let's get to this, remember I only hurt you because I love you. This is simple thing if your children are ill because of your inability to take care of them, you will lose them, no fucking around. This is not chubby kids with a few extra pounds, I mean 12 year old girls that weigh 400 pounds and have developed diabetes. you don't want to lose them then next time your little spawn drag you to the golden arches get them a meal that is smaller then they are. I don't care if little Timmy wants a triple cheeseburger, a bucket of fries, and a 70 once Coke. he gets a small burger, apples, and a milk. I don't care if he whines.

also check out this documentary called Fathead, it is free on hulu and covers much of this.

 

[Bedewyr]

Most of the time it's not out of greed, but a sign of emotional distress or a genuine problem with their body. Genetics also play a large factor in somebodies build. A propensity for putting on weight can actually be a trigger for the emotional instability that causes excessive overeating to the point of morbid obesity. If you're a little fat and feel self conscious, a lot of the time people comfort eat. It's not a rational thing, and usually starts before people are smart enough to know better.

It really isn't as simple an issue as 'eat less, fatty'.

*facepalm*

The Genetics involved in predisposing weight gain CAN ALWAYS BE CONTROLLED; the reason those genes are there is to help fuel muscle mass (I know i've had blood tests done and im desposed to gain weight).
As to the Psychology behind the matter, its the mind, a mind can move.. Im working towards a Sports Science degree and im using some of the things I do at a youth club as basic core studies, and when you have a kid who is Unmotivated, has a bad attitude, bullys other kids and not only "gave up" on a perscribed fitness course after the first 4 weeks but had the stupid-mindeness to go to Burger King afterwards, it makes you want to scream in frustration; There are 6 out of 23 kids in this club who are overweight, they are encouraged to do all sorts of boaty wonderful stuff and the 4 who are motivated to do the things our club has to offer are slowly losing weight and Im so proud for them and makes my volunteering feel worthwhile, however the remaining two do whatever it takes to NOT do anything and as I said its frustrating but I grin and bear it nontheless.

*facepalm right back*

You didn't actually read everything did you? I can only assume you didn't, because you certainly didn't take it all in.

I didn't say it couldn't be controlled. I said that most people don't realise that they pack on more than your average bear until there is already a problem. And that can lead to emotional distress that causes a full blow eating disorder.

Now go away and think about how you read what you wanted to, not what was there.

And for the record. There are a lot of people to whom a normal diet and exercise serves little to no purpose.

Sometimes eating normal foods and going for a 30 minute run every morning simply isn't enough.

I'm a heavy set guy, I run 2 miles every morning, spend a good thirty minutes every morning on the punchbag with a bit of anaerobics and until recently I went a martial arts club twice a week for 2 hours a session, (currently looking to find a good Muay Thai club). I'm not ridiculously over weight and I am pretty fit really. But I'm still a big guy.

And I have a perfectly normal diet. I eat the occasional shitty foods but generally try to have pretty decent meals.

Now for any normal person doing what I do, they'd have a pretty decent looking body. Wheras I'm still a big guy but I'm pretty healthy.

Now I could set myself a ridiculous diet and drop the anaerobics for some hardcore aerobics. Devoting all of my free time to having a knock out bod... but I'd rather not. Why should I put all the extra effort in to achieve something others already have for doing less than I currently do? I have other more important things to be doing.

Edit: point of that story was, that if I did what normal people do, I'd be a very big guy. I'd be full blown fat. I have to do extra, just to stay slightly above weight. And that puts a lot of people in the same situation off exercise and healthy living altogether.

It might actually benefit you greatly to sit down and examine what you actually do eat and how many calories are in it.

People who say they generally "Eat Well" do not in fact eat well.

They suck back Soda and Fruit Juice because "fruit juice is healthy." and they severely underestimate the amount of calories they intake on a daily basis.

These are also the people who slather their chicken in barbeque sauce, have a mountain of mashed potatoes with a gravy lake around it and some broccoli smothered in cheese sauce who think they are eating healthy because hey.. it's broccoli and chicken.

What is "occasionally" eating shitty foods? What are shitty food to you? Do you mean fast foods? is occasionally 1 or 2 maybe even 3 times a week?

You seem to do a pretty decent amount of exercise so I can really only conclude that you are underestimating the amount of calories you're in-taking. Simply put as a larger individual to move your body and do the exercise you do you require more calories to do so than an individual smaller than yourself.

Of course this is barring that said individual is unusually muscular (muscle burns more calories than fat due to it's denseness.)

You should be easily maintaining your weight if not losing weight to the balancing point of your caloric intake.

This is coming from a guy who got depressed, ate whatever I felt like and gained close to 20 pounds before I looked at myself and was thoroughly disgusted with what I had become. I was a person who played Soccer, Hockey, Baseball, Swam and would be outside from breakfast to dinner when I was younger. I turned into a Video Game playing slob who loved to sit around all day playing games. I was angry at myself.

Did I blame it on a "slow metabolism" or being "predisposed to gain weight"? No, because I had really only myself to blame. I was always a heavier guy but, I was old enough to get my shit under control and do the right thing.

I immediately started up Muay Thai (ironically) due to the intense body conditioning. I started to eat the stuff I really enjoyed and not the stuff that just gave me a hug when I was feeling depressed. I stopped putting so much Soda and other sugars and salts into my body and was training 3-4 times a week for 1-2 hour sessions.

It was brutal and some days I hated it with a god damned passion but, I forced myself to go because when I was there I loved it and when I came home I loved how I felt.

Fast forward less than 3 months and my shoulders have gotten bigger, my arms are more muscular, I've dropped 30 pounds (more in fat and put on muscle) and I've lost over 2 inches on my waistline.

It's not about that for everyone and no not every single person in the world is at fault for their robust stature but, you can see from reading the news, walking outside, and even flicking on your TV that there are loads of people in the world who are obese or overweight simply because they are lazy, overeat, and do not exercise.

It's a strain on the healthcare systems and on the family members surrounding these issues as well as the children involved. Those parents are neglectful of their children's health. They are endangering their health as well as their lives. They don't necessarily deserve to have their kids taken away but, they sure as hell deserve to be taught how to cook, and how to exercise.

If I can be turned away from the bar because I'm too drunk even thought I'm not driving or at risk of hurting anyone but myself, the other people sure as hell should be able to be turned away from McDonald's because they are 400+ lbs and shouldn't be shoving another Double Big Mac down their theoats.

 

[Biodeamon]

Oh god, yes. i'm so sick and tired of seeing a fat kid every hundred blocks. the only exception if their obesity was genetic, but it isn't that haul the kid to a orphange.

 

[Biodeamon]

We should ship all the fat kids to Africa and adopt some of the starving Africa kids I see on TV all the time. That way everyone wins, Lions get a new food source and we don't have to look at ugly fat kids.


/sarcasm

why the sarcasm? seems like a good idea...
but then all the adopted kids might get fat....hmmm, now there's the problem

 

[JoshGod]

It depends on the case, mostly i would assume it would not be the best option.

this should be added in as another type of child abuse.

Either deliberately or through complacency having your child grow up to have uncontrollable health problems including but not limited to: diabetes, heart disease, many gastrointestinal illnesses as well as mental issues from bullying at school. What's not serious about that?

If a child's parent can't be brought to give them vegetables and a lean chicken breast for dinner instead of a big mac then that should constitute abuse. No one would think twice about prosecuting a parent for allowing or enabling their child to smoke, why is this any different? They are both formed habits with long term detrimental health risks that can be controlled early on.

(copy and pasted from previous quote)
I don't think that overfeeding on the parents part can be considered abuse unless the parent ties there children down and force feeds them, otherwise they just don't realise how much they should feed there child, or don't want to deal with their child demanding more. It may make them bad parents but that does not mean they are abusing their children.
(not copy and pasted)
Also I don't think you can compare eating to smoking, how many children demand cigarettes and how many parents would give in, but a little more food to end a tantrum after a hard days work it's not that bad and i can't handle more problems i'll just give them a little more.

 

[Bedewyr]

Snip

Then you're not talking about eating well and exercising. You're taking about eating poorly and exercising.

"Normal" in term of diet means nothing and never will. Normal for one person is not normal for another. However eating Healthy and eating Poorly will always be definable.

Drinking excess alcohol, indulging in crappy foods, and eating takeaway are not healthy eating. Your normal diet yes but, not normal in the sense of being common, run of the mill, or everyday.

I eat pretty much solely Whole Grain Pasta and Breads for my grains not because they are "Healthier" but, because I find them tastier. IF they were unhealthy I'd probably still eat them because I find they taste better but by no means do this make my diet normal.

Saying you eat what "normal" people eat is specious at best and an outright lie at worst. Everyone eats differently so there is no such a thing as a normal diet. A balanced diet yes, A healthy diet yes, and an unhealthy one yes but, normal, no.

You said yourself, you're slightly overweight but not morbidly obese. That's not the question at hand anyways. The discussion is about morbidly obese to the point of having health issues due to it. In that sense it is a form of neglect for your child's well being and should be viewed as such. It's disgusting how some of these so called parents choose to endangers the lives of the children they are suppose to love and care for.

 

[Bedewyr]

Snip

Then you're not talking about eating well and exercising. You're taking about eating poorly and exercising.

"Normal" in term of diet means nothing and never will. Normal for one person is not normal for another. However eating Healthy and eating Poorly will always be definable.

Drinking excess alcohol, indulging in crappy foods, and eating takeaway are not healthy eating. Your normal diet yes but, not normal in the sense of being common, run of the mill, or everyday.

I eat pretty much solely Whole Grain Pasta and Breads for my grains not because they are "Healthier" but, because I find them tastier. IF they were unhealthy I'd probably still eat them because I find they taste better but by no means do this make my diet normal.

Saying you eat what "normal" people eat is specious at best and an outright lie at worst. Everyone eats differently so there is no such a thing as a normal diet. A balanced diet yes, A healthy diet yes, and an unhealthy one yes but, normal, no.

You said yourself, you're slightly overweight but not morbidly obese. That's not the question at hand anyways. The discussion is about morbidly obese to the point of having health issues due to it. In that sense it is a form of neglect for your child's well being and should be viewed as such. It's disgusting how some of these so called parents choose to endangers the lives of the children they are suppose to love and care for.

I never said eating healthy, you said that.

I said I eat a normal... okay 'average' diet.

When I say occasional takeout, I don't mean weekly, or even bi weekly. I mean every now and than.

I do also eat a lot of healthy food too. Most people have this kind of diet. Most people don't have a set diet, they just eat what they feel like eating. If you want to have a set diet, then that's your prerogative. A person who doesn't need to set a diet eats what they feel like eating, barring someone who is trying to be very healthy.

And what my initial point about this was, is that putting on weight for having the same eating habits as your peers (this is usually in lower education) can have a negative psychological effect.

You can't blame the parents. Most of the time, they aren't responsible for it. Children find ways to eat crap behind the parents back. And if they refuse to exercise because they're unhappy. The parent has little that they can do. Especially without feeling like a horrible person for depriving their child of what their friends are allowed. That also compounds the childs eating disorder. Because they feel as though they're being deprived of what everyone else is having.

You seem to have some major hangups about weight and you're judging everyone by the same yard stick. That's seldom how anything works. Let alone our bodies and our minds.

This is the same "they aren't responsible" shtick people talk about when they say violent video games and the like are responsible for children acting violently and not shite parenting. The same crap about kids having teenaged sex "Well it's the school's fault for teaching them about sex in the first place!" instead of "hey maybe I shouldn't let me 15 year old Daughter be downstairs all alone with her 17 year old boyfriend for 4-5 hours a night."

Maybe get your children involved into sports or other things they enjoy that are physical when they're young? Don't let them sit on their ass in front of the TV or gaming stem ad nauseum for hours upon hours a day?

It's the same blame someone other than myself bullshit sprout over and over again. Take some responsibility and own up to it.

I have a hangup about this because I'm a teacher and it pains me to see kids whose parents clearly take no interest or time in their children's health when it comes to food.

Seeing a kid walk in with 5 Oreo's and hearing him say "it's my breakfast" is sickening. And no where I live (Canada) it's not the norm for kids to be shoveling junk food out of their lunchboxes.

Most kids are eating balanced diets. Water or Fruit Juice, a snack, Veggies or Fruit + a Sandwich/ Soup/ leftovers(chicken,beef,lamb,w/e)

Then you see the kids walk in who are overweight or outright obese. Their lunches normally consist of more cookies in addition to that Oreo breakfast, chips, pop, and a massive sandwich or money which they use to buy Pizza or Fries. It's disgusting that these parents ignore their children's health.

And this isn't the majority.. it's more like ~10% or less I'd say. And this is coming from someone who sees hundreds of kids on a daily basis and is in the lunchroom doing lunch duty once or twice a week.