Poll: Should parents of extremely obese children lose custody for not controlling their kids' weight?

[Sixties Spidey]

There was a time when I was fucking huge. Like, during elementary school, I was being called tubby and I had a large problem with self-confidence and physical activity as a whole. I was constantly out of breath, I made piss-poor eating choices, I ate out of depression, yadda yadda yadda. But you know what helped me the most? It wasn't fat camp, and it sure as fuck wasn't the name-calling. I recognized I had a problem and I found ways to fix it. What was the first word of advice given to me by my family?

[HEADING=1]Stop eating so much.[/HEADING]

Vague as the advice was, it gave me a place to start. It allowed me to practice things within moderation and gave me a better sense of what I should eat, how I should exercise and how to keep active. But see how that sentence helped me to figure out what I needed to do? Do you see how the advice of your family can help you greatly?

So, no. I don't think that taking the custody away from parents of morbidly obese children doesn't do anything. I personally think it's up to the kid to decide whether or not he wants to stay healthy or end up with Type-2 Diabetes when he's young through his actions and his habits. If his habits change for the better, great. The household that kid's in changes for the better as well. If not, well then we should find a way to instill the will to change within the kid.

To me, it's a matter of instilling the motivation to change within a child. That's just my two cents. What do you think?

 

[crudus]

Yes, but only in severe cases. Working in the service industry, I have seen some messed up crap when it comes to obesity. I saw a family of 7-8 people come in who all together probably weighed a ton. Some intervention should probably happen there since the children's ages ranged from 8 to 15. Like other people have said, the foster care is crazy and overloaded enough as it is.

Of coarse not. Some kids just don't have good matablims. (If any one could help me out with the spelling of that I would much appreciate it.)What if they are a late bloomer and grow tall and most of their fat just transfers and equals out? Besides kids need to be taken from more dangerous parents. Like oh the one who can't get into the military because their mental state is fucking messed up yet they can have a kid...or a racist.

A. Metabolism
2. Metabolism has nothing to do with weight gain. In fact, heavier person probably has a faster metabolism than a skinnier person. The former needs more energy faster because it takes more energy to move a heavier body around. There is a very simple formula that tells you you are going to gain weight. First, take the amount of kilocalories you are eating. Second, subtract the amount of kilocalories you are using. If the number is positive you will gain weight. If the number is negative, you will lose weight.

 

[poppabaggins]

It depends on the case, mostly i would assume it would not be the best option.

this should be added in as another type of child abuse.

"Are you serious?" image

What's not abusive about destroying your kid's body and setting him up for a lifetime of health issues and premature death? Seems pretty fucked up to me.

 

[spartan231490]

The full article can be found here: http://news.yahoo.com/parents-lose-custody-super-obese-kids-200342454.html

Yes! If the parents are the problem then the child should be removed from the household. I know this would add even more problems to an already underfunded and ineffective system but this should be added in as another type of child abuse.

OT: I enjoy how both sides of the argument in the article both state that they arent blaming the parents. Instead we should blame "advertising, marketing, peer pressure and bullying." If I remember correctly from my childhood, I believe my parents bought the food and controlled what we ate.

Only with morbidly obese children in the most extreme of circumstances. In most cases, no. Only if it's actually a threat to the child's life, or capable of causing permanent damage. Very little is so extreme that it warrants taking a child away from their parents.

 

[chinangel]

You ARE joking right?

The only way I see th is idea beinmg good is if the kids are being strapped to the chair and force-fed through a funnel.

No..just..no!

God no.

Have I said no yet? NO!

Taking away someone's kids because the child is obese is frankly, STUPID! It infringes on rights simply because the child isn't 'nice to look at'.

Yes there are health issues involved, but largely it seems to boil down to physical attraction. And no before anyone says it, I'm NOT overwheight myself. actually i Only recenty gained enough weight to b considered healthy, I was on the opposite end of the spectrum for a while.

Back on topic.

Children and parents choose what they eat. Parents don't start with the goal of making their kids morbidly obese, they usually start with the goal of keeping their child's tummy full. Just so happens that some of those tummy's are really really big. So what? It's their body and their decision. Youre going to do more damage than good by ripping kids away from their parents.

okay...rant over. -_-

 

[jthm]

No.

I was raised by fat parents, I'm still on the chubby side (25 now). I was about 300lbs, with a BMI of 33.5% fat (morbidly obese, but you'd think I was just overweight to look at me back then). I got old enough to want to get laid and buy my own food. Magically, I lost weight. No, not magically. I got my diet under control, went to the gym and stopped eating when I'm not hungry. Children or not, they need to take the initiative to lose the weight, because no one else is going to do it for them.

 

[Zantos]

I don't think it's as black and white as the poll makes out. If the parents are just too lazy to bring the kids up properly so just fast food them to the point they're getting serious health problems then, well, probably.

However, if the parents are trying but struggling then it's hardly right. Maybe a little support to help the kids in way of local sports for them to get into would help the problem a lot more than taking someone who's already struggling and stressing them out.

 

[qeinar]

This is super obese kids, not just some overweight kid, so i'm going with yes.

so it's a yes for the cases where the kids are just getting insanely fat due to their parents bad eating habits.

 

[enzilewulf]

Yes, but only in severe cases. Working in the service industry, I have seen some messed up crap when it comes to obesity. I saw a family of 7-8 people come in who all together probably weighed a ton. Some intervention should probably happen there since the children's ages ranged from 8 to 15. Like other people have said, the foster care is crazy and overloaded enough as it is.

Of coarse not. Some kids just don't have good matablims. (If any one could help me out with the spelling of that I would much appreciate it.)What if they are a late bloomer and grow tall and most of their fat just transfers and equals out? Besides kids need to be taken from more dangerous parents. Like oh the one who can't get into the military because their mental state is fucking messed up yet they can have a kid...or a racist.

A. Metabolism
2. Metabolism has nothing to do with weight gain. In fact, heavier person probably has a faster metabolism than a skinnier person. The former needs more energy faster because it takes more energy to move a heavier body around. There is a very simple formula that tells you you are going to gain weight. First, take the amount of kilocalories you are eating. Second, subtract the amount of kilocalories you are using. If the number is positive you will gain weight. If the number is negative, you will lose weight.

A. Thanks!
B. Wait... I can basically eat everything I want and only gain about 2 pounds and I can be lazy for a whole week and not really gain anything... yet my cousin if he does that puts on ten pounds. So whats the reason behind that?

 

[Blueruler182]

No. In fact, I find it stupid to suggest it. It might threaten the child's life, but a parent's drinking threaten's the child's life much much more. Hell, the parent being around threaten's the child's life more. There is no reason a parent should be held responsible because their kid is fat. I'm not saying it's advertising or anything else, what I am saying is that it's not the government's right to take away a child who isn't in immediate danger.

Go down this road and we run into a few other things. Being in a car is dangerous, is the parent driving their child? School is dangerous, what with all those shootings, is the parent forcing the child to go? Those shootings are caused by video games, do the parents let the kids play them? Electricity is dangerous, do the parents let the child use anything dependant on it?

Yes, obesity is a problem, but it's not the government's problem, they shouldn't be involved, especially not like this. Another point, I'm 6'2" and 240 pouds, I've been over 200 pounds since I was in the eith grade and 6' tall. I am considered obese. Guess what? My mom's been trying to get me eat healthy for years. Should I have been taken away from her?

 

[Tdc2182]

I don't think I've ever been closer to slapping someone over the internet.

Not no... but HELL NO!

Jesus Christ, it's just a kid being fat. I know plenty of fat kids with amazing parents.

 

[Scytail]

-snip-

This goes way beyond children being "nice to look at." If you actually read the article instead of just ranting off hand many of these children suffer from type 2 diabetes, not to mention breathing problems and liver problems that will kill them before the age of 30.

 

[synobal]

We should ship all the fat kids to Africa and adopt some of the starving Africa kids I see on TV all the time. That way everyone wins, Lions get a new food source and we don't have to look at ugly fat kids.


/sarcasm

 

[emeraldrafael]

Mmmm... I think they are to blame. There is certainly an amount that you can put on advertising. and an amount on the parents. and on the child itself for not knowing control.

 

[Scytail]

I don't think I've ever been closer to slapping someone over the internet.

Not no... but HELL NO!

Jesus Christ, it's just a kid being fat. I know plenty of fat kids with amazing parents.

Its not about your normal "fat kids" its about children who are obese and in life threating situations. Read the fuckin article or hell, even read the title of the discussion Should parents of EXTREMELY OBESE CHILDREN lose custody for not controlling their kids' weight?

 

[Gasaraki]

I rather doubt that the people screaming 'THINK OF THE CHILDREN!' are actually thinking of the children. The last thing most kids want is to be separated from their parents, and letting your kids be obese really isn't that terrible.

 

[frizzlebyte]

My lord. I hope to gosh these guys never make public policy. Heh, those NWO nutjobs might be a bit more credible than we give them credit for.

Man, before you know it, it'll be like sci-fi and our kids will all be wards of the state "for their protection." I can't believe these people actually advocate this.

I rather doubt that the people screaming 'THINK OF THE CHILDREN!' are actually thinking of the children. The last thing most kids want is to be separated from their parents, and letting your kids be obese really isn't that terrible.

Yeah. I used to be a proponent of government-run healthcare, but not after realizing that just puts a price on everyone's life, and the government then a vested interest in controlling you so that you don't get sick and they don't have to pay for your diseases.

Insurance might be a problem, but the government telling me what to do is worse.

 

[SillyBear]

snip

You aren't thinking clearly at all on the issue.

Yes, I agree, parents who do nothing to encourage healthy eating and instill things like diabetes in their children through over feeding are in a way, abusing their child. However there can be other factors at work in obesity. It isn't always the parent's fault, and even if it is the parent's fault - a lot of the time it is done innocently or through a lack of education.

However, do you understand just how damaging and complicated the process of taking someone's child away is? In most cases the child doesn't want to go, the parent's don't want to lose them and depression, anger and self destructive behaviour runs rampant. My aunty runs a foster home and I can tell you being over weight is far less harmful than being taken from your family.

The solution you are suggesting is a greater injustice and is far more dangerous than the actual problem is.