Is childhood obesity a form of child abuse?

USA Today asks that exact question here, citing the recent case where the mother of a 555-pound teenager was charged with child neglect. There have been a handful of similar cases in other states. Though they haven't led to prison time, critics are worried about too much government involvement. And if a teenage girl was overly thin, could her parents be charged?

Comments

[Searching]

And if a teenage girl was overly thin, could her parents be charged? depends on WHY she was thin, and if it was mental illness.. or eating disorder, is she receiving proper medical attention?
Most of the parents of these obese kids, go on these shows and their big excuse is always, if he's hungry, I am going to feed him... fine, just dont feed him a bucket of KFC and a gallon of rocky road icecream you idiots .. oh, and tell your kid no once in awhile, exercise is known to help curb hunger.

[AJ]

I heart Searching! LOL!

[Wisdom]

At least make them get up and walk to the kitchen to get their food... LOL

[cac]

Allowing your kid to overeat is kind of like giving your kid a condom at 10 and saying don't get anyone pregnant.

The child does make the choice to overeat, but the parent provides the means. I still am unsure a parent should be punished though. Send them to a class for foodaholics or something - that seems to be the way things are handled these days. (NOT)

I agree that if there is a medical reason for the weight gain, then parents should not be responsible. But to just allow them to sit around and over eat is ridiculous, I admit.

I say next trip to the store buy a treadmill and not the treats! Or cut off the foodstamps if applicable.

[anarchanon]

Mmm ummm er... probably abuse. But I loathe seeing further gov't interventions over something that borderline. As long as it stays with the extreme cases already cited I guess.

[quixotic]

The kid should be seeing a doctor or some kind. Not seeking help when it's obviously warranted could be considered neglect.
There are probably some big issues involving family dynamics that need to be addressed here.

[Searching]

What if they overeat and overeat and overeat until they die?. Then is it abuse? murder? child endangerment? neglect?manslaughter?
Waiting until this point.. seems a little neglectful.

[Jellybean]

Everybody says that childhood obesity is a growing problem.
So why is it that every single kid oriented event is puncuated by pizza, ice cream, soda, candy, cup cakes, donuts, etc? We went to a school carnival and they had a ring-toss game where you win a 2 liter bottle of soda. WTH? What kid needs his/her own 2L of soda? My son has a learning disability and when he does well in his special reading class - they give him candy for a reward. HEY! Don't you know that the sugar raises his adreneline and makes it even HARDER to concentrate?
What kind of counter-productive bs is that?

They could use turkey sandwiches, applesauce, yogurt, granola, and fruit for some of these events. A more appropriate reward could be a cheap toy instead of candy.
It sure sends a mixed message when Mom keeps saying that Fruits, veggies, lean protein, and whole grains should be your main foods - with just a little sugar every now and then. But, everywhere else a kid goes, there's sugar, sugar, sugar, fat, and more sugar - and nothing else.

...Oops. Looks like I'm starting on a rant...

[anarchanon]

I particularly loathe the recent kook aid commercials which imply that feeding your kids gallongs of that flavored sugar water is okay. I'm supprised you can even imply such without being sued by some Food or Whatever Administration.

[Wisdom]

It is what the companies are putting in the food to make it convenient to cook and eat. All the additives are what is ruining diets.

Health issues besides obesity are a direct correlation to the food we eat because we want it more convenient and faster.

I think fast food is what America's enemies created to kill us off slowly....

[Chuck Rizzo]

anarchanon I think it has to do with the context, like it's better than soda or sunny d. I'm sure they are also talking about a serving and not a whole gallon, unless a serving is a gallon.

Exercise is really the best bet, my wife is a marathon runner she's 112lbs and eats cookies and brownie's all the time, she just runs 30-50 miles a week.

[kmw]

My stepson is an obese child and I feel he is a victim of his mother's lack of boundaries. I'm not sure it legally crosses the line into abuse, although I feel it does in that he is unable to climb a flight of stairs without getting winded, or fit into normal-size seats, participate in lots of kids' activities, etc. He is tall for his age, but also VERY overweight. When he comes to my house I feed him nutririously but that is only every other week or so.

[kmw]

To qualify my post above: I don't blame his mother for ALL of his health problems, he is almost 12 and could choose foods besides ranch and fries, but I do blame her for establishing in him the food/reward pattern from a very young age.

[Searching]

The pattern is the problem. What does mom eat? Is she overweight too?

[kmw]

Oh yeah and I agree with Jellybean about the ridiculous amounts of junk foods that are pumped into kids at every imaginiable school event. My kids get more candy in one week of school than I would get in an entire year as a kid. Our youngest daughter is a total candy addict. Anymore we have to confiscate the goodie bags that seem to come home with them from every birthday party/school party/Sunday school event. We also had to request that the teachers stop giving them candy for everything, which worked for awhile...it is a never-ending battle, which in part stems from the entitlement society we have created for our kids.

[Realist]

Is it abuse? It depends. Were they strapping the kid down and forcing gallons of gravy down his throat with a funnel? Clearly abuse. Otherwise, not so much.

Put it this way - how can it make sense to blame the parents for the kid's obesity if you're not also blaming them when the kid commits a crime? If they're responsible for the kid's behavior, shouldn't they be prosecuted when the kid breaks the law?

[Searching]

What you dont realize, realist ,is that I do blame the parents when a kid commits a crime. so, it's all fair.

[D-man]

take a good hard look at the crap we feed our kids, enriched grains, pasteurized processed this and that.

[AH]

Another thing to consider is that many of the overweight children have breathing problems that inhibit their getting exercise. If you feel like passing out when you do something it is hard to get the exercise you need.

Once a person develops metabolic syndrome it is almost impossible to lose any significant amount. There is really no test for the syndrome. But according to what I have read with the syndrome your bodies fat cells become larger then multiply. Some articles equate it with having a cancer of fat cells. There is a lot of controversy over these theories, similar to fibromyalgia, but much of it makes sense, at least to me. Do some checking on the syndrome.

[Jellybean]

kmw - I am glad to see that I am not the only parent with this peeve.
Ever see the movie Super-Size Me? In one part, they profile a special school for kids that were expelled from public schools due to behavior problems. At the new school, they serve healthy lunches and prohibit junk food of any sort. Guess what? The "troubled" kids are well-behaved and able to concentrate in class. Go figure.

[kybo61]

I'm really amazed to see the lack of understanding of (and lack of empathy for) the causes of obesity. Yes, one cause is regular eating of high-fat foods coupled with lack of exercise.

There are many other causes, one significant cause being genetic, another being psychological associations of food with emotional feelings of well-being. Some obese people, and I am one, lack production of an enzyme that allows us to recognize when we are satiated, or have had enough to eat. I had a gastric bypass in 2003 and lost 150 pounds. I still cannot tell when I am full until I am in physical pain. I have to measure my food and eat only that amount which is correct or I will become sick and in pain. I will have to do that for the rest of my life. I envy people who can sit back and say, "Oof, I can't eat any more," or "I'm full." I don't know what that's like.

I had a pre-teen stepson who became obese through no fault of mine. We ate healthy food and did not go to McDonald's etc. except rarely. He stole money and food from my home, other's homes and stole candy and food from stores. He bullied kids at school for their money and lunches. I would buy food for the family, for example, a three pound pack of pork chops, and come home to find he had cooked the whole pack after school and eaten it all, or made a pound of macaroni and cheese and eaten most of it. He would eat butter out of the container, plain. He would take his allowance and sneak out of the house at night, climbing out his window, and walk to the general store and buy Twinkies, soda pop and potato chips, which we NEVER had in the house. By the time he was 13 he was 5'2" and 215 pounds.

He eventually got expelled for behavior problems & went back to live with his mother. She confined him to the home and refused him any food except a bowl of cereal once a day, for six months or so, and he lost all his excess weight is what I heard. I don't agree with her methods but she succeeded where I was frustrated.

My best friend died when she was 29 from obesity-related causes. I will always have sympathy and caring for those who have trouble with their weight. It is NOT just not being able to put one's fork down, that's the message I really want people to get. There is much more to it.

[Jellybean]

kybo61- My eight year old daughter recently told me that she does not get "full". She told me this after wolfing down an entire pizza by herself that I had bought for the three of us. She said it in such a pathetic, apologetic way that I knew she was sharing a painful secret.
She's a little chunky now, but I've always figured that she would grow into it as I keep enforcing healthy habits in the house. Hearing her say that she doesn't get "full" concerns me. I had the same problem as a teen. My mom would ask if I was eating "again" and I would resond that No, I wasn't, I was STILL eating. The trite joke around the house was that I had a hollow leg where the food all went. What saved me from being an obese kid was cross-country running - and (ironically) that I took up smoking and had to go on lots and lots of long walks to avoid detection from my parents.

Is there a test for the enzyme production problem that you mention? Is it genetic? Is there any treatment available? I sure don't want her to become a fat teen girl. That would suck in so many ways.

[AH]

Something additional to look for Jellybean is stomach enzymes. Back in my younger days I would purchase a weeks worth of food on Fridays. I started being short of food before the next week. One weekend I went on a binge because I and my stomach felt like I was starving. Stomach was actually having what felt like hunger pains. I actually went to doctor to get pills to curb my hunger. He listened and did some tests. After the tests he stated that my stomach was digesting my food too quickly and gave me some pills to curb the enzymes. I still make to many but through the miracle for drugs I don't weight 600 pounds.

[Sarah]

Over 500 pounds! Unless she's force feeding him butter and cream then there's a medical condition.

[sly]

If his parents were rich white people in Beverly Hills instead of poor black people in South Carolina, I doubt this case would've been filed. Talk about gov't & prosecutorial overreaching. This is a travesty. This is judicial activism at its worse. As much as the kid is overweight, there's something even worse about a nanny state.

[JJ]

Yes it is. I have seen some babies that are overfed by their parents. 6 months old but wearing 2 year old clothes is child abuse.

[Joe A]

Yadda Yadda Yadda. Didn't you guys see the interview? The mother had to work 2-shifts and sometimes 3-shifts and sleep between shifts. It's easy to sit back and say, 'you should do this, you should do that'. Also, she said she cannot afford healthcare!!! Oh yeah, Republicans want to kill healthcare reform! Yadda Yadda Yadda

[BonnieBlue2A]

Nanny state! Questions like this seem to support the idea that all children are property of the state.

[anarchanon]

re: KYBO

I'm going to be a jerk for a moment. A parent has a duty to ensure kids don't do things that hurt themselves. That includes overeating. Even if they *do* have an enzyme problem. An adequate amount of discomfort inflicted by a parental figure will eventually overcome the discomfort of their perceived inadequate sustenance. They'll choose to eat less once it's more uncomfortable to eat more than to go without.

[Davey Smith]

Apparently you can beat a kid with a hammer and/or belt and get away with it, but if your kid is too you can go to jail. Is America f-ed up or what?

[Davey Smith]

too fat is what I meant.

[Jeremy Mowe]

Eating disorders are no joking matter. people do need to be accountable for what happens in their home. However, I feel programs need to be implemented to help direct, and provide resources, to people who need the education to help solve these seriously complex disorders.

You really have to offset your caloric intake to see a difference. Foods are now seriously calorie dense and offer hardly any nutritional benefit. EMPTY CALORIES wreak havoc on the human body. Especially when ingested via drinking (soda, fruit juices, etc). Serious education that leads to serious lifestyle changes may just be the best way to attack this epidemic.

Jeremy Mowe
BreakTheCycleFitness.com

[jo]

Someone bought him the food.

[fatrebel]

I personally cannot get enough of this. All you ever see is fat people everywhere, and it is DESTROYING everything! Something needs to be done.

I work at McDonalds, and every day I see some sort of blasphemy. I can't get out of having no excuse for justifying giving people what's bad for them, but that's not what this article is about.
I see kids with two chins. I cringe when people ask their toddlers if they "want a shake with theirs." There's people in electric chairs too fat and handicapped to walk, yet they come to McDs.

It makes me sick, sad, and angry. I think it's child abuse, and they even said they weren't acting on a child's "weight alone" in the article.
It's only irony that the parents are fat lards, too. They deserve what they get.