Childhood Obesity= CHILD ABUSE

likitisplit

How many kids do you have exactly?

Irrelevant. And a fallacious non-argument.

Right. Because experience is irrelevant.

"Have you ever done this job before?" "Irrelevant. And a fallacious non-argument."


Try that at your next job interview.

Also a fallacious non argument.

This is not a topic where you need to be a parent to have a valid opinion, just as you don't need to be a boat owner to know that putting a hole in the bottom of a boat will cause it to sink.

This really is a common sense issue. That simple.

Depends on the construction of the boat.

k_nicole87

I work for juvenile court and closely with CSD. Let me tell you something....you don't know the first thing about child abuse.

DeltaZero

How many kids do you have exactly?

Irrelevant. And a fallacious non-argument.

Right. Because experience is irrelevant.

"Have you ever done this job before?" "Irrelevant. And a fallacious non-argument."


Try that at your next job interview.

Also a fallacious non argument.

This is not a topic where you need to be a parent to have a valid opinion, just as you don't need to be a boat owner to know that putting a hole in the bottom of a boat will cause it to sink.

This really is a common sense issue. That simple.

devil_in_a_blue_dress

Children have mind's of their own. Raising them is not nearly as easy as non-parents sometimes think it is. Especially when they are about 21 and lack life experience.

If they're 21 and still eating your food...better to think of them as annoying roommates than someone to be "raised". That ship has already sailed.

Definitely a non-parent.

I'm a parent, I agree with him. My job right now is to teach my kids the things I want them to remember when they are grown ups. Personal responsibility, hard work, kindness, integrity, passion. At 21, I was already who I was going to be, based on what my parents had already taught me. You can't reshape a human being that you've spent the past 21 years shaping. They will change, but it will be on their own time, in their own way. That's part of growing up.

Do you have the luxury of stay at home with your children? Yes, I know, you dabble with your non-profit, but if I remember correctly from its web page you either home school or hope to. I am not bringing that up to be a jerk, but that kind of thing is an opportunity that a lot of women don't have. Which is why you, of all the people here, should understand the reality that equal access is kind of a thing.

The 21 year old bit of my quote, which this person removed from its context was referring to the OP, not adult children.

SymphonynSonata

in

Jacwhite22

How many kids do you have exactly?

Irrelevant. And a fallacious non-argument.

I'll take that as 0 from you. I will assume the OP is the same...

silver_arrow3

OP, at least in other threads, you've been around to back up your ridiculous theories. This thread and the fact that you haven't made a single post in it since the OP makes me believe that you are purposely flamebaiting the community.

mommyrunning

I would like to see more done to help children not have to grow up at unhealthy weights. However, it is not a simple issue. Many parents are not lazy but simply don't understand proper nutrition themselves so they need to be taught. Also for many people food is a cultural issue. Growing up we always had big Sunday dinners. I was fortunate enough to be a very active child. Foster care is often not a good place for children and while I believe in protecting children putting them in a situation that is potentially physically or emotionally abusive is worse (in my opinion) than leaving them with parents who love them but aren't good at managing their weight.

I now have 2 children of my own and at my 5 year old's recent doctor's appointment they told me my daughter was overweight based off her BMI. However, if you look at her she is thin and muscular. She has quite a toned stomach and is very active. So the statistic of "one in three American children were profiled as overweight or obese" may be a bit misleading.

k8blujay2

Children have mind's of their own. Raising them is not nearly as easy as non-parents sometimes think it is. Especially when they are about 21 and lack life experience.

If they're 21 and still eating your food...better to think of them as annoying roommates than someone to be "raised". That ship has already sailed.

She meant that the non-parent in this case is 21 and lacks life experience

She meant that the non-parent in this case is 21 and lacks life experience

Ahh, my bad.

You don't need a lot of life experience to read a simple book on nutrition and how to cook wholesome and inexpensive food, however. Its an extremely basic skill to learn, not something to be ignorant of because of whatever age. Read a book.

God we need to stop making excuses for not being bothered to learn how to FEED OURSELVES properly! Its not like it requires a massive school curriculum, or even a class. Just google and some common sense and a basic desire to take better care of oneself and family.

Read? Who has time to read when there are kids to shuttle around, a job to go to and a house to clean (which the mess is magnified by 10, sometimes more depending on the number of kids or if there is construction going on in the house)... that's not to even mention the other obligations... there are not enough hours in the day to read (for the record on a normal day, I am up at 5:30am and down by 10pm all of those hours are moving)... I haven't even finished the first book in the Song of Ice and Fire series because




In any respect, I learned how to cook from my momma... I learned about nutrition in health class at school and in college...
Yeah, I'll get to readin' when there are more hours in the day... but for now... I'll just be working the tricks I know and being on top of my game in one area... and if that involves some convience food, then so be it...

Iron_Feline

I work for juvenile court and closely with CSD. Let me tell you something....you don't know the first thing about child abuse.

And you don't think feeding a 5 year old so much food that they weight 140lbs is abuse?

QueenBishOTUniverse

Wait a second? I'm to blame for my fat cat? What do you think I do, hold her down and shove kibble in her mouth?

You know when she got fat? When I took her in, spayed her and forced her into a sedentary indoor lifestyle. Lack of activity kills, but there is no way I could replicate the exercise she got outdoors.

Extremely simple solution. Feed the cat less food. If its fat, its overeating. As the one providing the food, yes, its absolutely on you.

Have you ever tried that with a cat? Do you know what happens? The cat sleeps more. You can feed them the most ridiculously small amounts of food and they will be damned if they lose any weight. They will eat the tomatoes on the counters first. They will poop in your bed.

The laws of thermodynamics apply to cats as well. Could be that the cat was off eating the neighbors cats food? Cats aren't...containable in my experience.

But admittedly no, haven't had this issue with a cat. Worked like a charm with a dog though. Dog was getting a bit fat, so we started weighing his food out and feeing him slightly less until we found a maintenance level. Doggy is much healthier now.

My cat is an indoor cat. If I let her outside, she'd be getting the exercise she needs. Do you think she's photosynthesizing when she lays in the sun?

Try switching your cat to a high protein low carb food. It can be dry food or wet food though it's usually easier to find high protein wet food. Cats are hyper carnivores, they actually DO require a low carb diet, and too much carbohydrate in their diet is usually the easiest fix for an overweight indoor cat.

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

I work for juvenile court and closely with CSD. Let me tell you something....you don't know the first thing about child abuse.

And you don't think feeding a 5 year old so much food that they weight 140lbs is abuse?

I will respond and quote my own post from a few minutes ago

I lied. I can't bite my tongue.

Does anyone have any idea what real abuse looks like? What social services actually has to see....what they have to witness every. single. day.

Children that are being raped and beaten. Neglected. Being told that they are worthless, ugly, stupid. The kids that are being exposed to drugs first hand, prostitution, domestic violence. Little ones that see things that most of us CAN'T EVEN IMAGINE.

Do I agree that all parents should do their best to teach their children about fitness and nutrition? Absolutely. But as another individual pointed out, often the parents that aren't doing this is NOT because they are being "abusive". Education, environment, culture...all play a part. And to insinuate that those parents deserve the same treatment as a parent that is raping or beating or insert any of the other things I mentioned above to their kid/s is just ignorance at it's finest.

ETA....If I knew how to use the bold feature, rest assured that IGNORANCE would be in bold.

amwbox

And time. And energy.

Yep. Very minimal. Less than a single TV show. People just have to spend a little time on the health of their family.

Such a stunning and unusual sacrifice, I know.

Let me just quote the comment below yours:

Now, on the other side of that, I work with you and in my line of work, most of my clients are on SNAP and TANF and have funds for foods. The problem comes in when mom has to work 3 jobs to make ends meet and it is much easier to throw a microwave dinner in to feed the kids versus plan meals and cook. Perhaps the problem isn't in access to foods, but within the society we live in. Until there is equality in wages and access to education and jobs, we are going to continually face this problem.

Exactly. Its EASIER to throw some crap in the microwave and then feed children crap.

This is NOT an excuse, however, its just noise. Do something BETTER instead of EASIER.

Yes. It would have taken a whole 15 minutes to chop up a potato, some carrots, a cheap piece of meat, and toss it all into a crockpot so theres a healthy, nutritious meal read for dinner that evening, like my mother used to before she took off working her 16 hour days my entire childhood.

I grew up in a poor, single parent household, and I was not fed crap. My mother cooked on the weekends so she could heat things up for us on demand. She couldn't give us everything we wanted, but she damn well made sure we had what we needed...and what we needed wasn't a boxed dinner that really isn't much faster and definitely wasn't cheaper than real food, and that was only going to destroy our health.

DebbieLyn63

It's not always the parents' fault... My daughter is 9 and loves to eat. She's been putting weight on over the last 6 months or so and is overweight. When we go shopping, I try to educate her about food and give her healthy alternatives to sweets and 'junk' food. I ensure she has fresh fruit and vegetables to snack on and encourage her to think about why she's eating (for instance, she'll say "I'm bored, can I have an ice cream?"). I tell her how the body works, that food is energy and if we don't use all the energy our bodies keep it as fat for another time. I don't restrict her from having treats, but they are just that, treats; not an everyday occurrence. However, she'll trade lunches with kids at school and will come home with chocolate wrappers in her pockets or if she has pocket money she'll go to the shops with her brothers and spend it all on crisps, fizzy drinks, sweets... I do my best to ensure that she gets a healthy, varied diet but I feel like she is sabotaging my efforts and ultimately herself. I don't want to make such a big deal of it that she develops an eating disorder or a dysfunctional relationship with food but I feel I can't just leave her to her own devices. I was a chubby teen and I was miserable. I believe I set a good example now with my eating habits and I get plenty of exercise and encourage her to do the same but I'm acutely aware that there's a fine line between encouraging someone to be healthy and forcing them into doing something they don't want and potentially causing a bigger problem further down the line.

I'm pretty stumped as to what to do...

P.S. My daughter may only be 9 1/2 but she is very forward and switched on, for those that may think she's unable to understand what I'm trying to teach her. She has started going through puberty already so I'm sure this is a contributing factor to her weight gain.

9 1/2 is too early to go thru puberty. High body fat % is a CAUSE of early puberty, not a result.
If she has just started to gain weight rapidly over the past 6 months, I would look at what has changed in her world in that period of time. Divorce? Move? change in friends? Has she seemed more anxious or depressed the last 6 months? There most likely is an underlying problem that you may or may not be aware of. Seek outside help if needed.

My kids never had pocket money at that age. There was no need for them to have money, as I was always with them to pay for anything they needed. Is she left without adult supervision very often?

likitisplit

Wait a second? I'm to blame for my fat cat? What do you think I do, hold her down and shove kibble in her mouth?

You know when she got fat? When I took her in, spayed her and forced her into a sedentary indoor lifestyle. Lack of activity kills, but there is no way I could replicate the exercise she got outdoors.

Extremely simple solution. Feed the cat less food. If its fat, its overeating. As the one providing the food, yes, its absolutely on you.

Have you ever tried that with a cat? Do you know what happens? The cat sleeps more. You can feed them the most ridiculously small amounts of food and they will be damned if they lose any weight. They will eat the tomatoes on the counters first. They will poop in your bed.

The laws of thermodynamics apply to cats as well. Could be that the cat was off eating the neighbors cats food? Cats aren't...containable in my experience.

But admittedly no, haven't had this issue with a cat. Worked like a charm with a dog though. Dog was getting a bit fat, so we started weighing his food out and feeing him slightly less until we found a maintenance level. Doggy is much healthier now.

My cat is an indoor cat. If I let her outside, she'd be getting the exercise she needs. Do you think she's photosynthesizing when she lays in the sun?

Try switching your cat to a high protein low carb food. It can be dry food or wet food though it's usually easier to find high protein wet food. Cats are hyper carnivores, they actually DO require a low carb diet, and too much carbohydrate in their diet is usually the easiest fix for an overweight indoor cat.

I had her on a vet-prescribed food.

Koldnomore

I think we should start licensing pregnancy, so only the people who can afford children and who are physically fit can reproduce.

I totally agree! Please don't forget the IQ test too. Good grounds for child rearing IMHO. Reasonably intelligent, capable of providing necessities and able to teach proper nutrition and physical fitness. People who breed with no consideration to their financial capabilities, physical/emotional and intellectual state need to stop. Every consecutive generation is getting dumber, fatter and unhealthier than the last, and yet people keep breeding..

Once people have kids it's too late. You can't just take them away because there's no where to put them and also 90% of the time these kids are going to be better with the family. Steps need to be taken though. Unfortunately no one is going to want to pay to teach parents how to take care of the offspring they create - Which is why you should have a license to have them in the first place. Prevention is 10000% better than trying to fix it after.

k_nicole87

I work for juvenile court and closely with CSD. Let me tell you something....you don't know the first thing about child abuse.

And you don't think feeding a 5 year old so much food that they weight 140lbs is abuse?

You are reaching with the 140lbs comment. What is the age and height of said child you are speaking of? My child is five and underweight for her age, yet tall and healthy. So as she is technically underweight, I must starve her correct? Which is legitimate abuse. You are reaching for a line in the sand as to at which weight it stops being irresponsible and is something more morbid. Would you like to see what child abuse looks like? I have a case load a mile long with stories it you'd like. Irresponsible parenting is a far cry from abuse.

kethry70

How many kids do you have exactly?

Irrelevant. And a fallacious non-argument.

Right. Because experience is irrelevant.

"Have you ever done this job before?" "Irrelevant. And a fallacious non-argument."


Try that at your next job interview.

Also a fallacious non argument.

This is not a topic where you need to be a parent to have a valid opinion, just as you don't need to be a boat owner to know that putting a hole in the bottom of a boat will cause it to sink.

This really is a common sense issue. That simple.

It is not a fallaciious argument. Yes, a non-parent may in fact know a lot about parenting either thru experience as daycare, nanny, sibling, babysitter or due to education and career. But, in most cases (not all), 21 year old single adults with no kids do NOT have a ton of life experience to draw on and my recollection fo being in my early 20s was that I gained a lot of wisdom over that period of time but spent a lot of time thinking I knew everything when I was actually quite naive.
I am not in any way suggesting that a 21 y.o. can not be wise and experienced. But, based on the OPs posting history, I'm going go with judgmental idealist who thinks she knows it all and has it all figured out. At 25 or so, she'll probably look back at her current self and shake her own head

RekindledRose

The OP and others who are saying that obese children is ALWAYS a factor of the parent being 'abusive' or ignorant are generalizing and do now know what they are talking about. It's easy to point fingers or to blame others. In this case, saying that your parents are responsible for you having been a fat kid.

I have 6 children, all born healthy and nursed an appropriate amount of time. All the children were given age/size appropriate foods, healthy foods, for meals and snacks. One child of mine was fat fat fat from the get-go. He wasn't the heaviest child at birth, but within a few months he was so chubby that you could tell that he was smiling from behind! I'm not kidding. But he was being healthily nursed and he had no health problems!

My pediatrician said that some kids are just genetically prone to be that way. It's not thyroid or any other 'medical problem'. Even now, at age 9, he gets appropriate portions of foods and healthy snacks, his calories are reasonable, and he is still a husky boy. All 5 of my other children are slimmer and at what would be considered a 'healthy' weight. Some are even considered skinny even though they eat more than my husky boy! The kids play outside and run around all the time! They are active children.

Anyone who would look at a 'fat' kid and say that is the sole reason that they should be taken away from parents who love him or her is, in my opinion, an EVIL person.

And anyone who is still blaming their parents for their own problems, whether it's obesity or some other hang up, hasn't grown up yet.

likitisplit

It's not always the parents' fault... My daughter is 9 and loves to eat. She's been putting weight on over the last 6 months or so and is overweight. When we go shopping, I try to educate her about food and give her healthy alternatives to sweets and 'junk' food. I ensure she has fresh fruit and vegetables to snack on and encourage her to think about why she's eating (for instance, she'll say "I'm bored, can I have an ice cream?"). I tell her how the body works, that food is energy and if we don't use all the energy our bodies keep it as fat for another time. I don't restrict her from having treats, but they are just that, treats; not an everyday occurrence. However, she'll trade lunches with kids at school and will come home with chocolate wrappers in her pockets or if she has pocket money she'll go to the shops with her brothers and spend it all on crisps, fizzy drinks, sweets... I do my best to ensure that she gets a healthy, varied diet but I feel like she is sabotaging my efforts and ultimately herself. I don't want to make such a big deal of it that she develops an eating disorder or a dysfunctional relationship with food but I feel I can't just leave her to her own devices. I was a chubby teen and I was miserable. I believe I set a good example now with my eating habits and I get plenty of exercise and encourage her to do the same but I'm acutely aware that there's a fine line between encouraging someone to be healthy and forcing them into doing something they don't want and potentially causing a bigger problem further down the line.

I'm pretty stumped as to what to do...

P.S. My daughter may only be 9 1/2 but she is very forward and switched on, for those that may think she's unable to understand what I'm trying to teach her. She has started going through puberty already so I'm sure this is a contributing factor to her weight gain.

9 1/2 is too early to go thru puberty. High body fat % is a CAUSE of early puberty, not a result.
If she has just started to gain weight rapidly over the past 6 months, I would look at what has changed in her world in that period of time. Divorce? Move? change in friends? Has she seemed more anxious or depressed the last 6 months? There most likely is an underlying problem that you may or may not be aware of. Seek outside help if needed.

My kids never had pocket money at that age. There was no need for them to have money, as I was always with them to pay for anything they needed. Is she left without adult supervision very often?

It's actually not too early to start going through puberty. 7-13 in girls. A friend of mine has a quite-thin daughter who is 9 1/2 and who has started getting breasts.

http://kidshealth.org/teen/sexual_health/changing_body/puberty.html