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This is kind of a slippery slope towards becoming a nanny state, isn't it? Let's assume that, for the moment, the government will only intervene when the health of the child has already crossed into the danger zone. But who controls the danger zone? Once they have the power, as they seem to already have, to determine parental neglect, what's not to stop them from continuously lowering the bar so that children currently categorized as overweight require intervention. Where does this stop? Vaccinations come to mind in recent events, some people feel strongly opposed, but if the state determines your child to be at risk then you comply or break the law. And, who influences public policy? We all know politicians are influenced by their campaign contributors and insurance companies spend millions to support candidates and to lobby for favorable legislation. At what point do we no longer have the right to raise our kids as we see fit? It may be easy to get on here and critisize the parents of these extreme cases as neglectful, but in reality I believe they really love their kids, they're not criminals.
Really hard thing this childhood obesity hitting us as a nation.
I am unsure what I think. I lean towards no don't take the kid. I think our whole society should be less geared toward punishment and more toward positive steps. Like instead of giving the parents with no car seat a ticket-give them a car seat. Keep them in the system and if they sell it-then give them a ticket. But maybe they will use the car seat and just needed one.
Likewise with this issue.
I had a friend who was obese-a good friend. I met her in the late 80's when we were both in our 20's. She was a big girl and would brag she had not been fat till high school. She had a kid in her twenties, no Dad in the picture he got her pregnant and went back to the north of the US where he was from. He was and is normal weight. She gave birth and had a cute kiddo. Kiddo turned 8 and started getting overweight. When the kid was 14 she was downright fat and I never wanted to make anyone mad had never mentioned weight at all in all these years even once. I had a few weeks where I did a sort of self talk the kind you do when you realize you sometimes have to **** someone off to help them. I decide to just one time leap in and have "the talk". I offer to pay and take the kid to a counselor and buy her a journal. I was able to do that then and decided I would.
Oh no my friend says she has that taken care and her kid is not the journaling kind. She has subscriptions to fat magazines so her kid knows it is ok to be fat. I get that for adults, but for a kid this was avoiding the responsibility and partial neglect. I never brought weight again. for years my friend insisted her weight caused her no extra problems and I was truly happy for her.
Now it all hit, the Diabetes, the extra huger weight gain, her kid is obese in her twenties now. So I dunno it is damn hard.
He actually gets 90 minutes of outdoor active play a day, plus one day of soccer (45 minutes). He does run and play almost all the time he is outside, unless its really hot. We get home at dinner time and once in a while he goes out to play more but usually its dark this time of year.
There is something not fully adding up and I am not sure what it is. But I am doing my best.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HighFlyingBird
No we are far off from CPS He is 9, and i think his weight bothers him but it seems to be playing into it and making a joke about it. He hasn't seem to have had a problem with the ladies yet He is really extroverted and some girl always has a crush on him. I dont think that will last, honestly. Chubby boys struggle in that area likely beginning 5th grade.
He gets 90 minutes a day outdoor play at school where he is usually being pretty active. He isn't coordinated like some of the other kids so he gets discouraged from sports. But he is doing soccer once a week.
He knows how to read nutrition labels, but we argue about serving size...alot. He wont touch almost any veggie (which sucks because he ate a ton until he was 5). He tells me he is always hungry...
I think I need to get him tested for insulin resistance and then maybe work with a nutritionist. He will listen to other people besides me. *sigh*
Although, they are rather rare there are several types of genetic disorders that cause a child/adult to have excessive appetite or to always be hungry and some are also combined with a significant difficulty in losing weight (ie. a smaller amount of calories to gain weight and/or having to significantly limit calories and significantly increase exercise to lose weight).
If you are really concerned you could visit a specialist to get a genetic evaluation for your child.
There's a heavy kid and then there's a morbidly obese kid. When they get to be morbidly obese, there needs to be an investigation into what's going on in the household and what possible health problems there might be.
But please consider that most of the parents on this board are very caring and devoted parents. You can start squawking about government overreach, but for a parent to be arrested over their child's weight (even in the UK), you can bet there were additional (and likely not publicly reported for legal reasons) circumstances.
Some 30 years ago, my mother - an elementary school guidance counselor - was dealing with a woman whose daughter was crazy-obese. We're talking being in elementary school and being 250 pounds or more. The kid's health problems were pretty intense if I recall correctly (joint problems, blood sugar issues), and my mom said to the kid's mother "Well, a good start would be removing anything unhealthy from your house, like the chips and the ice cream and the candy."
The mother's response? "The rest of the household shouldn't have to suffer because of her problem."
I'm not kidding. The child's mom thought going without junk food was too much of a sacrifice for the rest of the family to undertake to essentially save their child's life. I don't know the end result of the story, as I was just a kid myself, but I'm guessing it wasn't good.
Sometimes obesity is really just a result of neglect, and that really shouldn't be tolerated.
This is kind of a slippery slope towards becoming a nanny state, isn't it?
Becoming? A large portion of the country already IS a nanny state. For extreme examples, see New York - large soda ban, trans fat bans, etc, and California - home school ban, among many others across the country, such as smoking bans, absurd taxes on tobacco and alcohol, seat belt and helmet laws across the country, and the list goes on.
The common battle cry for all? "IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!!!!!!!"
There's a heavy kid and then there's a morbidly obese kid. When they get to be morbidly obese, there needs to be an investigation into what's going on in the household and what possible health problems there might be.
But please consider that most of the parents on this board are very caring and devoted parents. You can start squawking about government overreach, but for a parent to be arrested over their child's weight (even in the UK), you can bet there were additional (and likely not publicly reported for legal reasons) circumstances.
Some 30 years ago, my mother - an elementary school guidance counselor - was dealing with a woman whose daughter was crazy-obese. We're talking being in elementary school and being 250 pounds or more. The kid's health problems were pretty intense if I recall correctly (joint problems, blood sugar issues), and my mom said to the kid's mother "Well, a good start would be removing anything unhealthy from your house, like the chips and the ice cream and the candy."
The mother's response? "The rest of the household shouldn't have to suffer because of her problem."
I'm not kidding. The child's mom thought going without junk food was too much of a sacrifice for the rest of the family to undertake to essentially save their child's life. I don't know the end result of the story, as I was just a kid myself, but I'm guessing it wasn't good.
Sometimes obesity is really just a result of neglect, and that really shouldn't be tolerated.
I agree.
I bet that most people have never even seen a child as large as these articles are talking about. We are talking about elementary age children who need to have their clothes special made because even adult clothes will not fit them and have to have a special chair and table ordered from them to use in the classroom as children chairs and desks (which often will sustain the weight of an adult sitting on them) will break. Children who may need to use a wheelchair, not because of a disability but because they simply can not walk down the hallway to the library without collapsing. Most of these children have serious, life threatening diseases or illnesses.
The parents of an very obese child, in a different building in my district, was told by their doctor that their child would probably die before he was 16 or 18 unless he lost a lot of weight. (BTW, he did lose weight and lived).
These articles are talking about, what would be the same as a 450 pound or 500 pound or 600 pound or larger adult, not a child who is just a chubby, slightly overweight child.
It isn't an easy issue. I have one very thin child and one very chubby child (not near the point in these stories, but enough to worry me). I feed them the same, one just loves to eat...and eat...and eat. He gained even more after being put on a much needed medication that can cause weight gain. My other...is a twig and pretty much will only eat carbs off her plate but hates the feeling of being too full so she rarely over eats.
.
You know what's crazy, is it might reverse when they get older. Growing up I was really chubby while my sister was rail thin. When we hit our teenage years she ended up packing on weight whereas I hit a growth spurt, thinned out and never gained it back.
Perhaps some here are familiar with the story of Jahi McMath. That is the kind of situation that the people who decide to intervene on behalf of an obese child are trying to prevent.
I bet that most people have never even seen a child as large as these articles are talking about. We are talking about elementary age children who need to have their clothes special made because even adult clothes will not fit them and have to have a special chair and table ordered from them to use in the classroom as children chairs and desks (which often will sustain the weight of an adult sitting on them) will break. Children who may need to use a wheelchair, not because of a disability but because they simply can not walk down the hallway to the library without collapsing. Most of these children have serious, life threatening diseases or illnesses.
The parents of an very obese child, in a different building in my district, was told by their doctor that their child would probably die before he was 16 or 18 unless he lost a lot of weight. (BTW, he did lose weight and lived).
These articles are talking about, what would be the same as a 450 pound or 500 pound or 600 pound or larger adult, not a child who is just a chubby, slightly overweight child.
Actually, there was one such kid that lived near one of my aunties. She was wearing adult sized clothes at age 7.
Her grandmother, who was raising her, allowed her to put spoonfuls of sugar on her eggs every morning.
Ummm....
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He is 9, and i think his weight bothers him but it seems to be playing into it and making a joke about it. He hasn't seem to have had a problem with the ladies yet 
He is really extroverted and some girl always has a crush on him. I dont think that will last, honestly. Chubby boys struggle in that area likely beginning 5th grade.
