12 years old and 272 pounds!!!

ninerbuff

That's sad but there might be much more as to why this child got that way. Can't blame anyone until you have all the information.

Exactly. My niece was 190 at about the same age (she's in her late 20's now) because of a thyroid condition. She ballooned up to 300lbs because of hormonal issues. Finally got bariatric surgery and is now down to 180, but still working on it.

Esquie

I look at it this way, if it were the opposite and the child was emaciated, CPS would be at the front door. At 12 years old, a parent may not be able to control what is eaten outside of the house, but a parent can certainly control what is eaten in the house and how much is eaten.

Soulbird81

She is 12.....its the mom. She sure doesn't buy her own groceries or McDonalds!

spaztastic13

Wow...its the parents fault for shoving food in her face. I hope someone helps this child!!!

darsh11

I wish this was a unique case, but I am seeing more and more kids that are obese. It is scary to think where many of the kids I see will be in 10 years time. I do think the parents have to take responsibility for their kids health. but I also think the schools really need to step up and teach healthy habits as well. I hope this family will find the solution to the problem instead of letting this poor girl suffer any longer. I once weighed 269 lbs and everyday life was so hard. I can only imagine what her little body is going through.

boomboom011

Poor kid.
Im sure the great medical debate will be here soon, I put the blame on the parents. Im struggling with un-doing 11 years of bad eating habits with my daughter but if i dont buy junk she doesnt have it to eat. I take full responsibility for her health and fitness. We are both on the road to a better way of living.

This really makes me sad and its EVERYWHERE! My cousins son is 7 and he is about 110 lbs and mom and dad are fat too. I read her posts about what she has cooked for dinner and not once has she ever cooked a grilled anything. Fried everything covered in cream cravy dipped in bread. Dont get me wrong I wish i could eat that everyday but we have to set examples for our kids.

Are the parents out of control too? Im curious to know that one.

cruiseking

I would say that #1- its the parents fault. This is child abuse. #2 - It's societies fault for being so P.C.. The parents should feel the critisism from the public at large. It's just not PC to tell someone that their kid is simply a huge fatty. On the contrary, fattness has become acceptable in our society. They are predicting that by 2030, 50% of Americans will be obese; not over weight, but OBESE. What we need is a little more shame, and personal responsibility. Today the fittest state (Colorado), would have been the fattest state 11 years ago. Think about that.

Rikki444

Both.... the Mom and the child. At 12 you can't watch what they eat every minute of every day, but it is the habits that are passed down and taught....then again, the child may be depressed and is self-medicating with food. This little person needs help!

nccolli9

Its def the parents fault. Its not like the child just gained all that weight by themselves. They have to eat the food the parents are buying for them and allowing them to eat. My neice is 10 years old and weighs 160 pounds. She has horrible eating habits but it is because my sister hasn't taught her good habits. She lets her eat whatever she wants whenever she wants. If there were fruits and vegetables in the house rather than chips, crackers and cookies she wouldn't have a choice. It's totally unacceptable. I took her school clothes shopping and had to buy her a 12 in womens. Pretty sad when shes shorter and heavier than I am and I got the same pants in a size 8 and I am dieting.

McKayMachina

I don't think you should judge until you know the facts . It is wrong to judge with knowledge

You're right. I take back what I said. Good call.

coatsie79

For me over feeding your child is just another form of child abuse.

looking4au

Aznladie - your statement is absolutely correct!

quichebradford

Poor kid.
Im sure the great medical debate will be here soon, I put the blame on the parents. Im struggling with un-doing 11 years of bad eating habits with my daughter but if i dont buy junk she doesnt have it to eat. I take full responsibility for her health and fitness. We are both on the road to a better way of living.

This really makes me sad and its EVERYWHERE! My cousins son is 7 and he is about 110 lbs and mom and dad are fat too. I read her posts about what she has cooked for dinner and not once has she ever cooked a grilled anything. Fried everything covered in cream cravy dipped in bread. Dont get me wrong I wish i could eat that everyday but we have to set examples for our kids.

Are the parents out of control too? Im curious to know that one.

Don't know about the dad, but the mom is overweight too. She actually was recently admitted to the hospital because her feet have swollen so badly. It's pretty sad. From what I understand, the child doesn't have any type of medical issues, just poor eating habits. There are no limits on what or how much is eaten.

macpatti

Poor kid.
Im sure the great medical debate will be here soon, I put the blame on the parents. Im struggling with un-doing 11 years of bad eating habits with my daughter but if i dont buy junk she doesnt have it to eat. I take full responsibility for her health and fitness. We are both on the road to a better way of living.

This really makes me sad and its EVERYWHERE! My cousins son is 7 and he is about 110 lbs and mom and dad are fat too. I read her posts about what she has cooked for dinner and not once has she ever cooked a grilled anything. Fried everything covered in cream cravy dipped in bread. Dont get me wrong I wish i could eat that everyday but we have to set examples for our kids.

Are the parents out of control too? Im curious to know that one.

Don't know about the dad, but the mom is overweight too. She actually was recently admitted to the hospital because her feet have swollen so badly. It's pretty sad. From what I understand, the child doesn't have any type of medical issues, just poor eating habits. There are no limits on what or how much is eaten.

Given this information, it's definitely the parents' fault. Poor eating habits, probably no exercise, and a very poor example. Poor thing.

boomboom011

Poor kid.
Im sure the great medical debate will be here soon, I put the blame on the parents. Im struggling with un-doing 11 years of bad eating habits with my daughter but if i dont buy junk she doesnt have it to eat. I take full responsibility for her health and fitness. We are both on the road to a better way of living.

This really makes me sad and its EVERYWHERE! My cousins son is 7 and he is about 110 lbs and mom and dad are fat too. I read her posts about what she has cooked for dinner and not once has she ever cooked a grilled anything. Fried everything covered in cream cravy dipped in bread. Dont get me wrong I wish i could eat that everyday but we have to set examples for our kids.

Are the parents out of control too? Im curious to know that one.

Don't know about the dad, but the mom is overweight too. She actually was recently admitted to the hospital because her feet have swollen so badly. It's pretty sad. From what I understand, the child doesn't have any type of medical issues, just poor eating habits. There are no limits on what or how much is eaten.

Given this information, it's definitely the parents' fault. Poor eating habits, probably no exercise, and a very poor example. Poor thing.

i say we spank mom!

JoAnn73

Oh, I am so sorry but this is the parents fault. Having four kids of my own which includes a set of boy girl twins, I am responsible for them until the are 18.My twin girl who will be 14 on Christmas Eve is alot like me, but there is no way in hell I would let her go though what I went though as a kid! NO WAY! SMDH!!! :sad:

Happy0326

I have a MFP pal who is 14 & 225....I'm so proud of him he is on here to make a CHANGE! I hope that lil girl does too. It's not good for her it's dangerous. Poor baby. Somebody has to care enough to say something. Encourage her, I'm sure her parents don't know how to eat properly either. When your raised on "junk" & "cheap" food just to get through you get caught up. I'm praying for everybody in America young & old. You can get all kind of junk for a dollar these days. People are dieing of heart attacks, diabetes, cancer....simply NOT taking care of themselves. Because the IMPORTANCE of EATING RIGHT is NOT advertised as much as the dollar menu at McDonalds is.

proctorgirl07

That's sad but there might be much more as to why this child got that way. Can't blame anyone until you have all the information.

Totally agree facts first and who are we to judge others

totally agree!!

ninerbuff

Don't know about the dad, but the mom is overweight too. She actually was recently admitted to the hospital because her feet have swollen so badly. It's pretty sad. From what I understand, the child doesn't have any type of medical issues, just poor eating habits. There are no limits on what or how much is eaten.

If no medical issues then it's DEFINITELY on the parent. What I don't get is HOW IN THE WORLD a parent doen't realize their kid is overweight?

JoLeeFA

I think that one can't really judge until the child has not only had a full medical screening, but also emotional.

My weight ballooned from abuse and not knowing how to deal with it. My mother wasn't aware of my abuse. She couldn't fix my problem, because she didn't know what was fueling it.

If you are on this site, you know how expensive eating healthy can be, esp if the mom is feeding a larger family. So there are just too many factors to determine "fault" if any is there.

Of course we are all aware of the debate, is it abuse? Well I don't believe that putting these children into the "system" is the answer. The foster care system is BROKE in this country. I think educationing parents is the answer. I can't imagine a parent WANTING her child to be this overweight. Maybe mom is just overwhelmed.

JoLeeFA

I wish this was a unique case, but I am seeing more and more kids that are obese. It is scary to think where many of the kids I see will be in 10 years time. I do think the parents have to take responsibility for their kids health. but I also think the schools really need to step up and teach healthy habits as well. I hope this family will find the solution to the problem instead of letting this poor girl suffer any longer. I once weighed 269 lbs and everyday life was so hard. I can only imagine what her little body is going through.

My daughter is in 1st grade. Her school is a "healthy food zone" When I send her daily snack, it has to be a healthy snack. YET there is fried food 3 out of 5 days in her cafeteria. One day a week is pizza - that is literally floating in greese (I've been there on Pizza day, it made me sick)

My daughter takes alot of grilled cheese or peanut butter sandwiches because SHE hates the fried food!

Behavior_Modification

A few words from someone who knows how this kid feels....

Why so quick to place blame on mother or child? What about the father? Maybe he has a part in this. Those who pass judgement are often ignorant about the entire situation, and not necessarily by their own fault. I am just now in the past few years opening up about my experiences that led me to be an obese child. No one in my life knew the whole story and all of its components. Sometimes bad things happen in a child's life and the combination of those factors make it impossible for anyone to maintain control.

My older (and skinny at that time) sister and I would visit our father every other weekend. At age 8 he started weighing us right when we got there on Friday night after school. I weighed 120lbs. It didn't matter what my sister weighed because she was thin. My father always weighed in over 300lbs. He decided he and I needed to diet and should weigh less the next weigh in. He always did and I almost never did. I would try so hard to restrict my food intake so I could lose weight because that was all I knew about dieting. It didn't matter how unhealthy my behavior was, all that mattered was losing those pounds. And when I was with him those weekends he did the restricting for me, while he and my sister ate treats. My retaliation led me to develop an eating disorder. I believe the reason I have binge eating disorder and not a different ED is because of my home life at Mom's. Her 3rd husband was a total pervert and I believe now that my weight gain was a defense mechanism against the unwanted attention. That marriage caused my mother a lot of stress and led her to an extreme weight gain also. Our home was filled with unhealthy foods. I know I gained at least 100 lbs over the next 5 years of my life. 13yrs old and well over 220lbs.

So who is to blame? Me? My father? My mother? My stepfather? My sister who went out of her way back then to make my life miserable? What I'm getting at is there are so many factors. Please open your minds to the possibility that this child may be going through a similar situation.

I am finally after 20 years of repeating the binge/restriction cycle learning how to eat like a healthy human being and have a good relationship with food. Reversing the mental and physical damage has been an ongoing struggle. The good news is that I can learn a different way and now I have the resources to guide me.

The best thing for this child will be to teach them how to be healthy and not how to lose weight.

goron59

There may be some specific medical reason for it, but otherwise, it's always the responsibility of the parent or guardian to look after the welfare of the child. At least it is in the US.

Genem30

My 11 year old freaks out because he's around 160lbs, but he's also edging pretty close to 5'10" at this point, and if he's anything like me, he's only going to get taller. During the summer he was playing la cross, and actually went from needing to wear XL shirts down to being able to wear some of his large t-shirts, so he was thrilled about that.

You definitely have to kind of point your kids in the right direction when it comes to food choices sometime tho, and 272lbs at 12 is pretty sad. I know I could do a better job, and feel like I have been since I've started working on improving my diet. I think my son just sees that I'm making a change, and he wants to make those same changes, which is awesome.

Kristhin

Behavior Modification, I agree, its not just the mother, its the FAMILY. Both parents are responsible for the child, and any other adults living in the household.

koosdel

Definatly the mom. I am in control of what my 11 y/o son eat.

Exactly! Just because junior stops his feet and demands more chicken nuggets doesn't mean he gets them. I mean, come on! What an idiot.

koosdel

There may be some specific medical reason for it, but otherwise, it's always the responsibility of the parent or guardian to look after the welfare of the child. At least it is in the US.

I believe food addiction is real, so yeah.. you could be right.

brittanyjeanxo

Well, I'm usually really big on taking the blame for your own weight, but at age 12? It's a case of the parents not teaching her good eating habits. That's not to say they're bad parents; I don't know the people, obviously. My mother never taught me proper eating habits, but at the same time, she's a wonderful mother and by age 14 I was perfectly capable of making my own choices. And also, since I don't know the situation, I don't know if the girl has medical issues like hypothyroidism, PCOS, liver problems, etc.

SLaw4215

This topic and people's responses made me really sad and to say I'm disappointed in some of you is an understatement.

I am the mother of a 12 year old girl who was very close to this weight. She has had a weight issue since she was 3 1/2 years old and she's been checked out by her pediatrician, nutritionist, endocrynologist and she was tested for thryroid and diabetes, etc and all of her results were normal. My daughter had been throwing up several times a week without explaination and yet she would gain 10 -15 pounds every couple of month. Eventually she had her tonsils and adenoides removed and suddently the spontaneous vomitting problem went away. Unfortunately, the weight gain did not.

While her weight is what outsiders see, my daughter spent all of 5th grade with 2 completely different sized feet... one foot was a 7 1/2 and the other foot was a size 9. In 6th grade her feet almost evened out and from Augst to December her feet grew from a size 9 to a 11 1/2. I have gone to great lengths to "un-do" bad habits and work together with my daugther to make healthy choices. I'm of the logic that if I don't buy it (snacks) she won't be able to eat it. I've done the research and have found out that the typical public school lunch program packs 850 - 1000 calories into one meal. Many of us on MFP are on a 1200 calorie a day plan and if the kids are getting 800+ calories in ONE MEAL, it doesn't take a lot to push the kids over the top in calories for the day. Is it child abuse for me to feed her supper if she's eaten public lunch? Have any of you been watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution??

I am not saying that some of her problem isn't from poor eating. We all could stand to live a healthier lifestyle.

My child is not sitting around eating a whole frozen pizza for breakfast and Big Macs for dinner like you see on the extreme TV shows. Actually, she has an account with MFP and often eats less than the 1600 calories she is allowed (per the nutritionist) and she has had some success...she has lost 29 pounds since January. Most of you reading this are probably thinking..see Mom! if she just stops eating junk food she'll lose weight...but guess what? A substitute pediatrician did her annual physical this year and immediately sent us back to the endocrynologist BECAUSE of her overall growth.

I don't know what is happening with my daughter. She is 5ft 6 1/2 in tall, wears size 11 1/2 wide sneakers, and has a ton of dark body hair... hormones? genetic problem? diabetes? thyroid? All I know is that I've been involved and on top of this for years and if the only thing PARENTS can see when they look at my daughter is her weight...then what chance does she ever have of making and keeping friends? I work my *kitten* off to make sure my daughter has good self esteem because she does care what people think and I don't want her doing extreme things to her body just to lose a few pounds.

Sasssy69

I have two girls 3rd and 1st grade. Both teachers require healthy snacks. But the cafeteria food? You've got to be kidding me. I do not allow my children to eat that garbage.

As for those who are posting that it may be a medical reason, or an underlying reason: I wonder: at what point in time is it the parents' responsibility to take their child to the doctor to find out what's wrong? If either of my children were gaining weight on the healthy foods I feed them, I'd get them into the doctor ASAP to find out WHAT was going on. To let one's child reach almost 300 pounds is clearly neglect. If one's child developed a high fever and severe cough, one would take that child to the doctor, correct? How is this any different?