[Fom]

What are your opinions on this:

When a parent lets their children be Obese and don't force their kids to be healthy or to excercise. Is this a form of child abuse?

If so what punishment should the parent receive? Prison? Losing their kids? Lessons in how to raise children? or maybe even helpers coming to help feed their children?

Discuss

[bigbr0ther]

Oh, sure, blame the parents as usual.

[Fom]

Originally posted by bigbr0ther
Oh, sure, blame the parents as usual.

Well it is the parents responsibility to raise the children healthy and responsibly, I mean kids from about 5 - 10 not teenagers. I personally believe if a child is obese and is too young to have its own responsibilities its down to the parents to make sure they have a correct diet and exercise correctly.

[Rory]

I'm on both sides to this.

The basis of the kid's obesity could be the fact that it's genetic (low metabolism, etc.), however I do think that it's the parent's fault for not seeing a doctor and understanding their health, then developing a diet around it.

[Billy]

There are plenty of reasons for a child being obese, being on medication is one?
Parents cant force their children to exercise, that's just as much abuse tbh

[Princess]

If the child is obese and reasonably young,then it is the parent's fault. They control what their child eats and it is up to them to make sure they have a proper nutritiuos diet. If a parent is allowing their child to eat junk food,they are not only letting them become obese but facing them with severe health issues from the lack of fibre,protein,vitamins and minerals which are essential for their body to function and grow

If a child is old enough to know better,than it is blame for both parties.

[Nurse57]

"Oh, sure, blame the parents as usual."

You see a 6 yo fat kid stuffing his face on burger, chips and coke. Who can you blame but the parents? The child is 6. We can't blame him. Do we blame the state for allowing burgers to be sold? Or do we blame the people who buy the food to put in their children's belly?

[Marc]

My response is short but I really really believe that its the parents fault on all grounds! unless the child has a medical problem (low metabolism). Just take the recent example the the papers, the 15 yr old who was 30stone!! I mean jesus christ! It said she could die any day now! you think the child wants to die? no! they don't understand the problems of eating too much. the parent's lack of control over their children and purely disgusting 'parental' skills are sending some of the youth of today into an early.. much wider grave. It angers me that people are seeking help on the NHS for their children's weight problems, when its all their fault.. you foot the bills you DISGUSTING PEOPLE!

[Sam!]

I think its both their faults. I mean how do you let yourself get so fat? I don't understand it. If I got that heavy and fat then I know my parents and me 100% would think woah theres sumin wrong here. And im sure most sane people would aswell. 30 stone at 15. If I was 30 stone I'd know what to do about it, not just get fatter. Cause 30 stone at any age is huge.

[Matt10k]

If the child is young when they become obese and there is no health problem causing that obesity, then I’d probably blame the parents, but that is an extreme case.

Most people don’t become obese until they are older and it can be difficult to get kids to eat healthily. Anyone with kids will know- it’s not just as easy as saying; “eat that”, some kids are awkward about what they eat, and if you couple that with the fact most parents have been at work all day and are tired, you can see why some are just happy their kids are eating something!, even if it’s not strictly the healthiest option.

[Fom]

Originally posted by Billy21
There are plenty of reasons for a child being obese, being on medication is one?
Parents cant force their children to exercise, that's just as much abuse tbh

Excercise meaning going to the park and playing on the swings or something? Or playing football, or going to karate. I dont mean making the kids do marathons, but if a child wants to play on a video game feeding on chips, getting fat when he could be playing outside and burning off the chips. Its only natural, everyone excercises as a kid!
Also I have had a low metaboism all my life and I only ever got chubby... withy puppy fat, i was never massive. Also the kid could have an over active Thiroid which would mean they would have excessive fat.

But im not talking about those kids, there are genuinly mums and dads out there that dont care their children are large and think its perfectly fine, even if its making the child ill and could lead it to possible depression.

Plus you cannot get fat off just eating healthy, its when people go excessive that you begin to become fat, if you have an unhealthy diet you might get a bit of a belly, but large bellies and obese people only come across when they binge eat.

[pinkmichk]

obese kids are definatly a reason to blame the parents as its them who buy the food cook it and serve it up and i do think parents should be punished as personally i think its a form of child abuse/neglect cos what effect is it gonna have on the kids short and long term it opens up all sorts from bullying to health problems like diabetes and heart trouble personally i wouldnt want to wish that kind of life on my daughter
sadly its just going to get worse with the gaming culture there is nowadays where kids are given computers younger and younger
i agree about the excercise part not meaning go do a marathon or similar half hour run around the park is good
when i take my daughter to the park its more often than not pretty much empty what a sad state of things when i was a kid the park used to be full after school and at weekends

[kerri]

if a child an by that i do mean little children still being raised and reared becomes obese just through food alone and no medical reasons, its the parents fault and they should be brought to book, its disgusting allowing that to happen and theres nobody else responsible but that childs parents it sickens me

[Scarlett.]

If one of the parents is very ill and cannot leave the house, and the other parent is busy working to keep food in the families mouth, whats supposed to happen then? The kid wants to be with its mother and wants to go on days out, but cant, because of the illness, whats supposed to happen then?
(and yes I was "the kid")

[Conor]

It's without a doubt the parents fault, but once the child hits a certain age, it becomes their responsibility. I was always brought up to a healthy life style, with proper food and plenty of exercise without even realising lol I'm only 14, and I've already taken my diet into my own hands, giving my mum my own list for shopping and making sure I stay healthy excersise wise as well, so why can't any other normal 14 year old be the same. There aren't may reasonable excuses tbh...

Proud to say I've never had a microwave dinner or Turkey Twizzler in my life

[GhettoSuperstar]

Maybe it's educations fault? To a low extent maybe, but shouldn't kids be taught about the dangers of eating too much (or too little) at a younger age so they don't become too fat or too thin?
I'd say there wasn't one factor to blame but many; child's greedyness, parents, education or Mac D's.

[Fom]

Originally posted by Chewy
If one of the parents is very ill and cannot leave the house, and the other parent is busy working to keep food in the families mouth, whats supposed to happen then? The kid wants to be with its mother and wants to go on days out, but cant, because of the illness, whats supposed to happen then?
(and yes I was "the kid")

There are organizations that can help with this, suprised you didn't know about it but when I was young I looked after my mum and I was approached by a company called 'Young carers' who take children who cant go out with their parents to fun places like zoo's and adventure events. But if both parents are busy Im sure they can plan that the kid can go play out with their friends and their parents.
Or just getting the kid to play football/wallie in the back garden. There isn't really an excuse for not letting a kid out into the fresh air, i have been in the situation, my dad always working and my mother being ill. But I went to friends houses all the time, went out to the local park/field and just ran around. We just played imaginary games like having our own den in a tree then having pretend wars. It gets up up and about.

[Scarlett.]

I was going through a hard time, my mum was dying and I was hardly into the double figures, I wanted to spend all the time I could with my mum before, well the day came, she did try and set me up in these things, but I hated going to them and so did my brother


In my early years I was always out playing though

[bananarama]

Assuming there are no medical reasons including pshychological reasons for obesity then the parents have to take full on blame for not having diciplined eating habits for their children.....

Parents should be educated and advised how to avoid obesity in children and only punished if they refuse to co-operate and implement such advice.....

[Locke.]

Kids fault. They shouldn't eat/sit/whatever else causes it as much as they do.

[Fom]

Originally posted by Chewy
I was going through a hard time, my mum was dying and I was hardly into the double figures, I wanted to spend all the time I could with my mum before, well the day came, she did try and set me up in these things, but I hated going to them and so did my brother


In my early years I was always out playing though

Oh yeh thats perfectly fine, i mean thats under a major circumstance just as if a kid with an illness... there isnt much you can do about it, and you reacted normally. I didn't know that so I just assumed she was ill in general.
Sorry about your mum btw.

[Scarlett.]

Originally posted by Fom

Oh yeh thats perfectly fine, i mean thats under a major circumstance just as if a kid with an illness... there isnt much you can do about it, and you reacted normally. I didn't know that so I just assumed she was ill in general.
Sorry about your mum btw.

its np, after she died I lost 5 stone (in the following months)