Obese Child? They'll be taken away!

Chantelle160

Any of you ever been through the foster system or know people who have been? Before we start taking kids away from their parents and putting them in foster care they should fix the foster system.

How is taking a depressed kid away from their family helping?
Lots of medical conditions/food intolerances cause rapid weight gain, and doctors don't diagnose them correctly (I am an example of this) with my Celiac.

The government ruins enough things, it shouldn't take families apart. Why not blame McDonald's instead of the parents? Or the food industry in general?

Why not start with mandatory meetings/classes for these parents? Why start with ripping apart a family?

Agreed food and resteraunts are really to blame. Really you cant even get a healthy salad at a resteraunt. These parents are doing the best they can with what they have. I dont think taking kids away from their parents will help them.

LJSpady

I understand that part of the problem is learned behavior... but part of that is out of the parents hands. Looking back, I remember trying to eat as much food as my brother and my dad, who would eat huge portions 3-4 times a day. What I didn't understand as a child is that they're were both athletes and they NEEDED to eat 3,000+ calories a day, and that eating that much wasn't normal. Overeating wasn't necessarily taught to me, but I learned it through observation. Not my parents fault.

lsd007

OP: Do you have kids? I bet if you do, you have done something wrong at some point. If you don't, then don't worry..you will.

lcarter25

This is actually madness - I would of been considered obese by bmi standards should i have been put in care because i stole my siblings food and food from the pot and helped myself to food in the fridge at night.

I think its rash to say all children should be taken away from a potential loving family and placed in an overworked system where anything can happen to them think of the psychological effects because they will still be fat unless put on a diet (which technically could of been done when they were at home with their family!!)

vim_n_vigor

I guess I am looking at this with another point of view as well. According to the charts, my 5 year old is 95th percentile for height and stays between the 5th and 10th for weight. He eats a lot. Most of it very healthy and balanced, but, gasp, I do let him have fast food on occasion and treats that include sweets. According to the charts he is underweight. I love him very much and I am not lazy. He has freshly prepared meals multiple times a day, to include snacks. Based solely on the charts though, if we are going to base only on numbers and not the reality, should he be removed?

What is causing a 2 year old to be over 100 pounds? What is the cause of the obesity? Do we take a child away because they were molested/raped outside the home and never told their parents and they eat to comfor themselves? Will removing that child from their home really improve the quality of their life? I do feel horrible every time I see an overly chubby child. I know that they have increased risk for disease, and that they are likely to be bullied and treated horribly by other children AND adults. The one comfort these children have is their family.

nerdyandilikeit

I think growing up on a farm would be very nice.

Maybe for some, but I grew up with hayfever and asthma. I dislike being out in nature for too long, allergy meds or no allergy meds. Where should I have grown up, Heather?

We will have special indoor farms for the kids with allergies. We will call them...factories. You can assemble cars and such. :happy:

How could I have NOT thought of this?! Brilliant.

lsd007

So, should we take kids away from parents who are skinny but not healthily fed? Should all kids that eat McD get taken away? How obese is too obese? Sure, some of these kids probably would benefit, but so would some skinny kids. There are homes with very obese kids and very skinny ones - all in the same family. Do you take only the obese child away?

^^Good point made here. My step-sister feeds her child ONLY fast food/microwave meals/frozen pizza. The kid is normal height/weight for her age even though she only eats junk. How is this any better??

FitJoani

agreed. I hgate people that try to defend a fat kid....i ate fruits veggies and healthy stuff as a kid...i was a skinnnnyyyy one. i also moved alot. video games were a treat

LJSpady

SOOOO everyone seems judgemental, simply answer this.

Would you rather have your child (Sibling, grandchild, etc) go through some trama early in life, or increase the chance GREATLY that they die young with health problems?

I think thats the core of whether they should be taken away.

Um. No trauma please. Why not help them AND their families learn healthy habits?

jjgirl76

Government has not shown any more capacity to raise mentally OR physically healthy children. Worked with kids in the foster care system. Deplorable suggestion. I have seen kids so severely traumatized by being removed from abusive homes where they are barely fed. (there is intense loyalty and love even in that messed up relationship) And you have audacity to remove them because of obesity???

I'm sorry that we all struggle with weight, but trust me... the foster care system is much damaging that obesity.

catcrazy

I used to see a woman with 2 very young kids, 18 months old and 3 years old, both were obese, very obese. The 18 month old couldn't walk because of his size, his pushchair was one designed for an older child with mobility problems. the 3 year old couldn't walk 50 yards without puffing and panting like an aged smoker and I'd see her bribing him with sweets to walk a bit extra before giving in and standing him on the pushchair foot plate to be pushed to nursery. Everyday I used to see the mum standing outside the local shops smoking & talking to her mates for an hour or so and sending the 3 year old into greggs (bakery) and the newsagents for endless sweets and pastries so she could chat unhindered, a kid stuffing thei face with crap can't whinge about being bored can it. I heard people tell her to stop being cruel by feeding them endless crap and her reply was "my kids, i'm not abusing them am I!" I last saw these kids a few weeks ago, the baby is now 3, they don't walk, they barely even waddle, their eyes are so squished by fat that they are little more than slits...maybe the threat of losing losing their kids could and would work for some but for this woman I doubt it. Chav born n bred. I don't think taking kids away is the answer but not sure what is for the likes of her

AlsDonkBoxSquat

Hum, so who shall we have decided what obese children get to be put in the home optimalization program (you know, snatched away from their parents) and who gets to stay, what those qualificaitons are, how do define that line so that there's no grey area (God forbid we leave a child behind, but then again that never happens in the foster care system), what type of obese qualifies and what type doesn't, how to ensure we capture all those unloving parents? Who's going to be the law, the judge, and the jury on this one? What's next in that slippery slope?

vim_n_vigor

I used to see a woman with 2 very young kids, 18 months old and 3 years old, both were obese, very obese. The 18 month old couldn't walk because of his size, his pushchair was one designed for an older child with mobility problems. the 3 year old couldn't walk 50 yards without puffing and panting like an aged smoker and I'd see her bribing him with sweets to walk a bit extra before giving in and standing him on the pushchair foot plate to be pushed to nursery. Everyday I used to see the mum standing outside the local shops smoking & talking to her mates for an hour or so and sending the 3 year old into greggs (bakery) and the newsagents for endless sweets and pastries so she could chat unhindered, a kid stuffing thei face with crap can't whinge about being bored can it. I heard people tell her to stop being cruel by feeding them endless crap and her reply was "my kids, i'm not abusing them am I!" I last saw these kids a few weeks ago, the baby is now 3, they don't walk, they barely even waddle, their eyes are so squished by fat that they are little more than slits...maybe the threat of losing losing their kids could and would work for some but for this woman I doubt it. Chav born n bred. I don't think taking kids away is the answer but not sure what is for the likes of her

The reason to remove these kids is not obesity. It is neglect.

lsd007

Taken away?? Do you have kids?

How about provide parenting classes, nutrition classes, stop charging $100s for school sports, etc. Keep parks safe, and available to the public. Set up the parents to succeed as parents, rather than destroy families, and create further burdens on an already taxed foster system.

^^This too!

lsd007

I used to see a woman with 2 very young kids, 18 months old and 3 years old, both were obese, very obese. The 18 month old couldn't walk because of his size, his pushchair was one designed for an older child with mobility problems. the 3 year old couldn't walk 50 yards without puffing and panting like an aged smoker and I'd see her bribing him with sweets to walk a bit extra before giving in and standing him on the pushchair foot plate to be pushed to nursery. Everyday I used to see the mum standing outside the local shops smoking & talking to her mates for an hour or so and sending the 3 year old into greggs (bakery) and the newsagents for endless sweets and pastries so she could chat unhindered, a kid stuffing thei face with crap can't whinge about being bored can it. I heard people tell her to stop being cruel by feeding them endless crap and her reply was "my kids, i'm not abusing them am I!" I last saw these kids a few weeks ago, the baby is now 3, they don't walk, they barely even waddle, their eyes are so squished by fat that they are little more than slits...maybe the threat of losing losing their kids could and would work for some but for this woman I doubt it. Chav born n bred. I don't think taking kids away is the answer but not sure what is for the likes of her

This would be a case of neglect, not McDonald's.

sunkisses

I'm considering fattening my kids up a bit.

belleandor

No, children should not be taken away. This is horribly biased and unfair. Let the government take them? The government has aided and abetted with the food industry in promoting cheap, fattening and unhealthy food choices because it makes alot of money. It is the poor who don't have the resources and knowledge to combat what is thrust on them. If we want government to intervene, we should insist that healthy food is made more available to those that don't have that choice. Instead, the government is slashing funding for WIC, one of the most successful food programs for pregnant mothers and yound children. No, do not take the children away. Support parents (and this is more than just lecturing them on the correct choices) in raising healthy children.

ilookthetype

I'm considering fattening my kids up a bit.

This is why we're friends.

kingkong123

I've only read a couple pages of comments, but my immediate reaction is, are you f***in kidding me? Have seen things like "blame McDonald's", "set up the parents to succeed", and "educate parents". The article is not talking about chubby, fat, overweight, or even obese children. It refers to "super obese" children. Kids that are almost at 100% chance of developing serious conditions and dying early because of their weight...isn't this the same thing as child abuse/neglect?

The first two references to cases are a 90 pound three year old and a 400 pound thirteen year old. That's disturbing. Clearly, the parents did not give a sh** about their child's health or future. And clearly these children wouldn't just be thrown into foster care. They would have to be monitored to lose weight at a healthy/safe pace. If you lack the education to feed your child without them being 400 pounds, then I am confident in saying you lack the education (and should lack the option) to have a child at all.

Schwiggity

No, children should not be taken away. This is horribly biased and unfair. Let the government take them? The government has aided and abetted with the food industry in promoting cheap, fattening and unhealthy food choices because it makes alot of money. It is the poor who don't have the resources and knowledge to combat what is thrust on them. If we want government to intervene, we should insist that healthy food is made more available to those that don't have that choice. Instead, the government is slashing funding for WIC, one of the most successful food programs for pregnant mothers and yound children. No, do not take the children away. Support parents (and this is more than just lecturing them on the correct choices) in raising healthy children.

9/10 times people with barely any posts annoy the hell out of me. This is the 10% exception. +1.