Is letting your child become obese child abuse?
2. What about letting your child become grossly obese?
3. If your child dies from obesity-related diseases should you be held responsible?
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M$25 Answers
What's important is:
1. Educating the child about food and eating
2. Focusing on the child's activities, and not treating eating as an activity
3. Emphasizing a high fiber and low in sugar diet (yes, fruits and veggies are good for children)
I believe education is most important, and teaching the child about the food groups is important, and foods that are low in sugar and high in fiber. It's your responsibility as a parent to teach your child good eating habits to prevent this from happening. Sometimes children can't help it, their metabolisms aren't fast, or they have a tendency to eat too many sweets, as they like to indulge in different foods at a very young age. I believe it's important to educate your child, and your child will eventually come to senses when they read about obesity. Many children grow up with too much baby fat, and will grow out of this as they grow older. If you educate them at a young age, teach them to exercise, then you're doing the best you can do as a parent. What's important is that your child is healthy, not that your child gets a little overweight. There are many worse problems, which are the opposite, such as your child does not eat enough healthy food, or not enough food at all. Some children go to other's homes and eat, and overeat. I do think it's important as a parent to try to set limits for your child, yet it's not a form of abuse if your child becomes overweight. If it gets to the point where your child's health is impacted, then it can be a form of abuse, and I believe as a parent you should go for help, in order to help your child with their overeating. Teaching a child to keep active (ie. with a sport, hobby, music, activity) is very important, as the more they are active, the less time they will spend eating.
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M$
I believe that parents are responsible to a certain extent for their child's obesity. But many times there are underlying issues that cause a child to overeat. More parents need to find out the reason for the weight problem.
You can't always control what your child eats, but if there is another issue you can help the child get the help they need to resolve the issue and move forward. This can help help eliminate the eating problems and help the child become physically and emotionally healthier.
Children eat the way that their parents do. So if there are no emotional issues, then I do believe that the parents are responsible. I don't think that it is straight out child abuse, but I do believe that it is parental neglect.
My 5 year old is overweight and as a family we have been working on becoming healthier. A few simple changes can make a big difference in the life of a child!
I wrote a How-to article on How to Prevent Childhood Obesity, (http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-prevent-childhood-obesity) and the research that I did for this page helped me in many ways. Parents need to know that a few changes can help their entire family have a healthier lifestyle.
personal experience
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M$
IMO Stacey the 2-minute doc-in-a-box medical system creates these problems.
I also think its neglectful not to consider emotional issues causing the over-eating.
So the advice would be, if you think your child has an emotional reason for over-eating, get them some help.
Thank you for sharing your story and advice.
While it is tougher and more expensive to ensure your child eats healthy, it is our responsibility as parents. Don't take the easy way out and stop for fast food. Don't let them drink so much soda and sugary juices.
The pediatricians must get involved if they notice a problem. Warn the parents about the dangers and put the child on a diet plan.
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M$
Completely agree, @davesplace! Aside from ilnesses that cause unnatural weight gain, it is a parent's job to make sure kids are getting the right foods to eat and plenty of exercise--even if it's inconvenient or pricey. It's unreal that parents feed their kids as much junk as they do (and I'm the junk food queen!).
Here's a page that I think might be helpful to a lot of people: How to Prevent Childhood Obesity.
If this was child abuse, then almost all restaurants and food manufacturers should be charged with it. Similarly, every adult should be charged with "attempted suicide" (a crime still in some states) every time they are diagnosed with obesity-related high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, or any other potentially life threatening health condition stemming from obesity.
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M$
Yeah, but McDonald's specifically targets children in their advertisements. Most children recognize McDonald's signs before they can even read (1). If children recognize the Golden Arches by the time they're three, love McDonald's food because it's made to be addictive and taste good, and love to play at Playplaces, how much do you think they're going to bother their parents to go to McDonalds every chance they get?
These tactics are very much like Big Tobacco's earlier marketing campaigns, which used cartoons and other tactics to appeal to younger smokers. Get them hooked while they're young and don't know any better. By the time they're older, it's too late for them to think themselves out of doing it.
It's exactly like tobacco.
If the parents weren't exposed to such things early on as a child and "hooked" and if their kids weren't constantly bugging them to begin with, they would be more likely to make better choices as parents and prohibit their kids from beginning fast food habits to begin with.
While the parents have a responsibility to make the right choice, they too were victims of the food manufacturer's early on, which makes it hard if not impossible for them to make the right choice.
For this reason, the unhealthy food manufacturers should be held more accountable, and specifically more accountable when they aim unhealthy food campaigns towards children.
(1) DeRusha, J., "How Many Brands Do Young Children Recognize?", www.wcco.com, 5/14/07.
I disagree that food chains should be charged with it. The parents bring the children to those places too often. The parents give the children money to eat their. Essentially it boils back down to the parents.
I also found an article from www.nydailynews.com about a SC court case involving charging a mother with neglect of her 555 pound 14 year old boy. The article (http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2009/07/22/2009-07-22_is_obesity_child_abuse_court_to_decide_if_sc_mom_jerri_gray_neglected_555pound_1.html) discusses that all states which have faced a case like this one have expanded their definition of medical neglect to include morbid obesity. As of last summer, when this article was written, none of the parents had been sentenced to jail time for the medical neglect. A USAToday article (http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2009-07-20-obesityboy_N.htm) discussing the same case goes back and forth on the possibility of these court rulings causing a slippery slope.
I think that it does depend on the situation. The older a child is, the less control her or her parents have over monitoring what he or she eats. However, it should be about more than just what a child is eating at school. I had many vending machine breakfasts of chili cheese Fritos and Mountain Dew when I was in high school, but my mom made sure I was getting a healthy dinner and wasn't sitting on my butt all the time when I was home. If a child's weight has reached a level of obesity, it is not immediately time to declare it medical neglect. A plan needs to be created and implemented to help that child be healthy. If the parents fail to implement such a plan, then, yes, I believe they are neglecting the medical needs of their child. A medical issue developed, and now the parents are failing to give their child the proper treatment. That is neglect. If a child dies as a result of medical neglect at this point, then yes, it is the parents' fault. They knew of the medical issue and failed to solve it, and it had tragic results. Even so, no matter how cut and dry I make it sound, there will always be outlying factors that affect what is happening so that it may not be the parents' fault. It's really a case-by-case issue.
I found this news segment from a Canadian news program, and it offers some interesting information and perspectives.
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M$2. Yes to that as well.
3. Yes, but I don't know how you would handle punishment.
All though I answered yes to all three there is a part of me thy says no. It says no because a part of me believes that no one should tell you how to raise your child.
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M$
From my observation I have noticed that obese parents tend to raise obese children. Parents provide the unhealthy food and fail to promote a healthy lifestyle. It is not the child's fault that their parents have failed them.
Children need to be taught personal responsibility and moderation. There is nothing wrong with having desert if a child is otherwise healthy. I often reward my children with a trip to the ice cream shop in order to celebrate accomplishments.
Great question Jason!
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M$
Compare this to brittle bone disease. Many parents have been accused of child abuse, when the child was not abused but had an undiagnosed disease.
Or consider that many kids gain a little weight just before growing. My own son did this: last year, despite spending 2-5 hours a day in a heavy duty pre-professional ballet strength training program that involved doing Army calisthenics with a real live drill sergeant (recently retired), he started looking overweight. Then he grew six inches. Had he already been overweight, he might have gone over the edge into obesity. And had there been some kind of law in place, I could have been charged with neglect.
IF it can be proved beyond all shadow of a doubt that the child has no inherent problems, and is not going through a growth spurt, than I do think the parents should at some point be able to be charged with neglect.
The case in your video: why is his mom bringing him food? My 5-year-old can make her own sandwiches. And the supplies in my house are things like organic sprouted grain bread; organic nut butters; organic cheeses. When my 10-year-old was 6, she started learning to cook real food. Same for my 13-year-old. They all are at various stages of knowing how to cook; they eat adventurously because of it.
If the bulk of what is available to kids is healthy, they will mostly make healthy choices. That might not be the case at school (another reason to pick individualized 21st century education over mass education). And some kids do sneak out or find ways to get things they're addicted to. Lawmakers would also have to factor that in. There are some mental diseases that involve hoarding behavior.
So yes:
1. If it can be proven that there is no disease of any kind involved, whether mental, emotional or genetic, it's abuse to only get your child fast food; fill up the pantry with flour paste processed products with little nutritional value; to never teach them to cook, garden, or grocery shop.
2. I wonder how many grossly obese kids actually do have metabolic syndrome? It's a disease that can be acquired by eating high-glycemic and continually challenging insulin levels. Another fine line; however if the child is never given a choice and the parent is continually supplying high-glycemic foods and too much of them, then the parent is at fault, depending on the child's age. The younger the child, the worse the parent is at fault.
3. If the child dies and there is a medical history of the doctor continually warning the parent, it's a crime. But I always wonder about charging parents when the death wasn't intentional. I can hardly think of a worse punishment than losing a child you love.
Parents need to teach, and parents need to say no. My 5-year-old will ask to go to McDonald's whenever we pass one, but the answer about 99 times out of 100 or more is "no". It's rare that we're in such a time crunch and I've failed to plan ahead that we would need to stop. My 10-year-old loves Marshmallow Fluff. She spends hours weekly in the ballet studio, so she's a bit of a muscular stick, but I still tell her no (she might get some for a birthday). My 13-year-old used to ask for things like these all the time, but he's old enough now to know that there are some things we just don't do in our family. They all love summertime, when their snacks are growing in the garden!
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M$
I have a 3 year old great niece who weights 73 pounds. She is 10 pounds heavier than my 5 1/2 year old grand daughter/ I blame my niece for not being a good parent, I guess she thinks since food made her own body feel better it will not hurt her daughter. My niece shoves food to her daughter to keep her quiet and happy. I have seen this portly little girl eat a regular sized dinner plate that an adult would eat. UNREAL.. and yes it is child abuse. This little girl can barely walk, needs a special car seat cuz a regular one is simply to small.....the car seat is at the expense of everyone who pays taxes.. This child is of normal intelligence and has no medical reason why she is heavy.
Anyone who pays taxes just paid for my niece to have her weight decreased... did it work NOPE.. she still uses a shovel.
I am not tiny but man some folk just teach their kids food is their friend..
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M$
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M$
As defined by the Wikipedia, child abuse has four main types:
*physical
*sexual
*psychological
*neglect
So, letting your child become obese when, in fact, you know that it's bad for his health falls under 'neglect' and is sure a form of child abuse. The same goes with making your child undernourished. Check this video:
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M$
It isn't child abuse in the sense of physical striking a child, but it's abuse from the standpoint of neglect. There's really no excuse for a parent to allow a child to become obese. A parent has to take an active role - not a parial one or a part-time one - in the development and well-beining of a child, otherwise that person forfeits the right to be a challenge.
Also, in regards to how much a child eats vs. their likelihood of becoming obese...
If kids grew up eating whole foods, and less fast food or oily, deep-fried food, a child could just about eat as much as they want, and not run the risk of becoming obese. How many people get large over eating triple servings of green vegetables?
The point is, its about what kids eat, not always about how much.
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M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
If somebody cannot even help giving his/her child a decent and healthy life, then what is he/she a parent for? He/she does not deserve to be one.
Now coming to your questions, one by one;
Ans.1: Yes! I firmly believe that letting the child grow obese is a form of child abuse.
Ans.2: No way! I would try my level best to keep my child fit so that he/she lives longer and healthier.
Ans.3: If the disease is not genetic or hormonal, then yes. I must be held responsible. Otherwise, no.
I will never forgive myself if my child dies of obesity due to my faults or overlooking.
Opinions may differ, however.
May all the children in the world stay fit and get sincere parents. They are so innocent and unaware.
Thanks
Personal opinion
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M$
Jamie Oliver’s Wish
“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”
After spending time in one of our most obese states and trying to work with the school lunch ladies, parents and the kids themselves to learn how to eat real food and wean them off fast foods and frozen foods, it was a powerful message that I think is so important for all parents, teachers and people who care about the future of America to think about.
Is it child abuse? No. It is ignorance plain and simple.
Come on, we don't punish people for doing bad things for ignorance even in the case where they really should know better (for ex: Guantanimo detention torture and abuse). In fact, we reward people who even say they were ignorant (whether we believe it or not) for ex: the Twinkie defense for the murder of Harvey Milk or the pay out to Liebeck burning himself with coffee that was too hot.
So, why should we punish 3rd generation junk-food raised mothers and fathers who simply have never been taught (no nutrition advice being taught in school) or seen anyone set good dietary examples for them.
That would be unfair.
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M$Abuse requires an act to deprive the child of something or the omission of providing it. It does not and cannot require the child to take advantage of what is provided. The two issues we must consider are does the quantity of food provided constitute abuse, does the lack of exercise constitute abuse. For the quantity of food to be considered abuse, the adult in question must actually deny the child the opportunity to stop eating. Similarly with regard to the lack of exercise, for it to be abuse the adult must forbid the child from exercising, by not providing opportunities or telling the child not to exercise.
I understand the emotions behind the question and the issues, but in reality the only problem is a lack of discipline on the part of the parents, and a lack of instilling discipline in the children so that it will become self-discipline.
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M$
2.- I believe that is a very bad parenting, and because you MUST guide your child until they become independent, if you don't do this in the early years they will become "used to be" obese and then they will in the future unconsciously think that this is normal and form a family and then a generation of obese. Going to an extreme I would consider this a crime
3.-you and only you
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M$
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M$1) The parents have an eating disorder that is projected and transferred to the kid.
2) The parents let the kid eat considerably more than what is appropriate.
3) They neglect to spend time with the kid, leading to excessive non-physical activities like playing the XBox, A Wii console involves more physical play and would be an easy improvement.
4) The child has a medical condition that is ignored by parents, instead of taken to the doctor for appropriate treatment. A metabolic disorder, or a hormonal imbalance can make kids fat very easily.
Furthermore, Blood sugar regulation disorders, although not "typical diabetes" can result in weight gains or excess eating.
The typical doctor doesn't seem to understand this - primary care has turned into a 2-minute drive-through version of medicine. And people wonder why our health system is screwed up.
@ Jason - I am working on a start-up to address some of the problems with the healthcare system.
Note: I'm an EEG Tech NOT a medical doctor.
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M$Providing a healthy meal for your child can be simple enough that they could prepare it with little or nor supervision. Avoid fast foods by far is also a big factor in the obesity that we are seeing in our children. It is not recommended that you eat fast foods not even once a month. Which to me says NEVER !!
This is totally uncalled for.
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M$
Eat your trans fat! Corn Syrup in everything! Its (kinda, sorta) organic!
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M$
Parents should be held accountable for weight related death!! If they're trying to lead a healthier life & it isn't soon enough, then it should be noted they tried. If they just let it go & neglect the child, in some way wouldn't that be indirect murder?
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M$
My own oppinion
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M$
When you said
"yet if the child is sneaking into the cupboard late at night and getting cookies, candies, cakes, etc. then the parents are also to blame, yet it's also the child who needs to learn."
I'm not sure how that's the parent's fault. Should they have anticipated the cookie burglar and installed an alarm system? ;)
Yes and no, the parents have planted the cookies there for the child. It's a tough call, and I wouldn't call the child the cookie burglar. It's just they need to have the discipline. My uncle has written a fabulous book on this, just released called "Feed Your Head" and I recommend any parent read "Feed Your Head" and then teach their child with this book. Shameless plug: