Is letting your child become obese child abuse?

I'm not a doctor, just stating my general thoughts, and be sure to watch the video. I don't think it's a form of direct abuse always, yet it is a form of abuse when it gets to a certain extent of weight gain for a child, and when your child is unhealthy as a direct result of the parent. It's important to realize, it's your child who eats, not you as the parent, and you can do your best to stop them from overeating, yet at times it's hard for the child, and taking away food from someone who eats, might have the reverse affect.

Sometimes it's very hard to get someone who likes to eat to stop eating, and punishing someone for overeating is not healthy for the child either. A child who eats too much, is like trying to get an alcoholic to stop drinking, someone who loves to consume food, it's hard to stop them from eating too much, as their mind is programmed to eat food. It's your responsibility as a parent to set limits, and only put a certain amount on their plate when you feed the child.

If you're overfeeding your child, to the point it's unhealthy for your child, that's when you're abusing your child, 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. A child who loves food, will find a way to overeat, just like an alcoholic will find a way to drink alcohol. 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.

I have been overweight for the biggest part of my life. As a child, I was molested and food became my emotional security blanket. My mother tried to control my eating, but I would hide food and eat when no one knew.As a teenager, I was raped which led to more emotional eating.

Although my parents tried to control my eating habits, they never tried to get me help for the emotional problems. I told my mother about the rape and she didn't believe me. 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, (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.

I think allowing your child to become obese is a form of child abuse and parents should be held accountable. 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.

It's bad parenting and bad living, but not child abuse. 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.

According to an article I found on medicalnewstoday.com, it can be. The article (http://medicalnewstoday.com/articles/137504. Php) discusses how there have been some cases where methods to help a child get to a healthy weight failed until child protective services were called.

The parents couldn't implement new rules or a new routine to save their child's life. That sounds like some kind of abuse to me. I also found an article from nydailynews.com about a SC court case involving charging a mother with neglect of her 555 pound 14 year old boy.

The article (http://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 (usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2009...) 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.

1. Yes it is. So long as you understand at what point being fat ends and obesity begins.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.

Assuming that the child does not have any pre-existing medical condition that would cause obesity, allowing children to become obese is child abuse. Parents are responsible for the health and safety of their children. Obesity exposes the child to unnecessary risk and is the is similar to allowing a child to play in a swimming pool unsupervised.

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!

I think there is a REALLY fine line there in deciding whether or not it's due to a genetic issue or something else, so whether letting your child become obese is child abuse; whether letting your child become grossly obese or die of it should be a crime are issues we as a society should be very, very careful about. 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!

I believe it is child abuse. 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..

I don't think people "let" their children become obese, the kids are heavy because mom and dad don't understand basic nutrition. Most Americans don't seem to grasp the concept of eating well, they seem to prefer fad diets and dieting.

YES. 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.

In a way, having your kid become obese is hardly raising your child at all. Raising children requires some level of love and discipline. The love could be there some of the time, but the discipline?

Absolutely not. I think obesity is just one of the many problems that have stemmed from this generation's adoption of a lazy and apathetic nature. Obesity is hardly the outcome of a particular way of raising kids, but rather, one of the likely outcomes of a lack of parental guidance and proper raising.

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.

I was watching Jamie Oliver's talk on TED the other day: 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.

Based on the language of the questions: No. Obesity in the scope defined is a result of too many calories, and not enough exercise. What are they going to do - move the child's arms and legs to "force" them to exercise?

They can attempt to limit the amount of food they provide, but it would be impossible to know the child is getting just enough and no more food than they need and thus safer to err slightly on the side of providing too much. All the above is just setting the culpability of the parent in the child becoming obese and having obesity related complications, I will look at the abuse issue next. It should be noted however, that the parents of the children you see on TV make no attempt to limit what they provide which does perhaps increase their culpability somewhat.

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.

1,- Letting your child be obese is not a type of "child abuse" but it is "child neglect", so I do not believe that it would be classified under abuse. You as a parent MUST talk to your child, show them the consequences of obesity, the opportunities that they will miss in life, the rejection and bullying form peers 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.

I'm not sure about abuse but it sure is stupid! And you should be able to go to jail for doing certain stupid things like letting your kid get that fat.

Yes, it is abuse because of four possibilities: 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.

I do believe that it is child abuse. Children do not understand the medical part of this issue. I feel as parents we are the leaders, thats how we teach and thats how they learn.

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. flickr.com/photos/stefmar2007/2180839956.

Absolutely abusive. I realize that there is a great need for nutritional education, especialy among lower income families, though it is a problem in all income brackets. However, lower income families have less resorces , and typically need their dollars to go further.

Buying fresh produce can be quite costly, while starches and foods high in fat tend to be less costly. This creates a situation where it is feast or famine for many lower income families, including my own. These circumstances can be very disparaging to manage well, and many children inadvertanly fall victim to childhood obesity.

Although I find it abusive, I would love to see a government program that provides fresh produce for these families and offers tax incentives for people and organizations who grow and donate such provisions.

I'm not a doctor, just stating my general thoughts, and be sure to watch the video. I don't think it's a form of direct abuse always, yet it is a form of abuse when it gets to a certain extent of weight gain for a child, and when your child is unhealthy as a direct result of the parent. It's important to realize, it's your child who eats, not you as the parent, and you can do your best to stop them from overeating, yet at times it's hard for the child, and taking away food from someone who eats, might have the reverse affect.

Sometimes it's very hard to get someone who likes to eat to stop eating, and punishing someone for overeating is not healthy for the child either. A child who eats too much, is like trying to get an alcoholic to stop drinking, someone who loves to consume food, it's hard to stop them from eating too much, as their mind is programmed to eat food. It's your responsibility as a parent to set limits, and only put a certain amount on their plate when you feed the child.

If you're overfeeding your child, to the point it's unhealthy for your child, that's when you're abusing your child, 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. A child who loves food, will find a way to overeat, just like an alcoholic will find a way to drink alcohol. 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.

I have been overweight for the biggest part of my life. As a child, I was molested and food became my emotional security blanket. My mother tried to control my eating, but I would hide food and eat when no one knew.

As a teenager, I was raped which led to more emotional eating. Although my parents tried to control my eating habits, they never tried to get me help for the emotional problems. I told my mother about the rape and she didn't believe me.

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, (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.

1. Yes it is. So long as you understand at what point being fat ends and obesity begins.

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.

I think there is a REALLY fine line there in deciding whether or not it's due to a genetic issue or something else, so whether letting your child become obese is child abuse; whether letting your child become grossly obese or die of it should be a crime are issues we as a society should be very, very careful about. 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!

I believe it is child abuse. 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..

Abuse is a harsh word but I do feel that if you know it is ultimatly harming the well being of the child and going to have life altering consequences, then yes I do believe it is a form of abuse. Parents have an obligation to helping their children navigate through life. Setting good eating habits now, will stick as well as the bad habits will.

Let me put it straight and short. I believe that it is a form of child abuse because when the children are innocent and are not in an age to decide what is good and what is bad for them themselves, it becomes the sole duty and responsibility of their parents to do that for them. Now, when at this point of time, their parents are directly or indirectly providing them with junk food and lots of fats & sugar; not teaching them dignity and benefits of physical labour; buying them computer games to make them sit with them for hours and finally turning them into lumps of fat; just to be laughed at by others and face humiliating situations at every step in their life as they grow up; then it is certainly a child abuse.

They are ruining their children lives with their own hands. 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.

I was watching Jamie Oliver's talk on TED the other day: 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.

Yes, it is abuse because of four possibilities: 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.

Its not abusive, its just bad parenting. But, I REALLY don't want it to be marked as abusive either because I don't want the government (federal, state, or local) getting involved in parental food decisions. I can just imagine the food conglomerates throwing money at politicians.

Eat your trans fat! Corn Syrup in everything! Its (kinda, sorta) organic!

It is definetely child abuse letting your child become obese. Child obesity is nothing but neglect on the parents part. If the parents spend time with the child, teach them the right things to eat & ensure they receive the excersize they need, the child most likely would not have any problems.

Another reason it's abuse is the social abuse the child will receive for being overweight. As an overweight child, I've had body image issues my whole life resulting in therapy, anorexia, hospitalization for malnutrition, & years of fluctuating weight thats killing my body. The fault wasn't entirely my own.

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?

If your child doesn't have a medical reason why the weight is going on them then I believe the parents should be held responsible. Parents are there to teach the children what to eat, when to eat and how much to eat. It's important also to teach them about excersise and join in with them during the excercise plan and it will reinforce the teaching method.

It can be, if your child doesn't have a health issue.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.