Seriously?? Obesity and Child abuse questionable....

Lsmith7915

I think help could have been offered to the whole family, in a better way. The state is paying for the care of this child, and the prosecution of the family. That money would have been better spent getting them all the counselling they needed to see that this unhealthy lifestyle could be changed.

bry_all01

I read about the push for this on twitter over the summer. Arrested, I don't think so. That won't help anyone. Educated, most definitely.

I work with so many people trying to turn them onto a healthy lifestyle. Most times the parents are just ignorant and that leads to obesity. I mean, a freaking Happy Meal with just a burger and fries has almost 500 calories! Now what parent really sits to think about that. It sure doesn't seem that much from what you get. And don't get me started on the Lunchables and popsicles and fruit juices. They market themselves as being great for kids but are just loaded with artificial crap that our bodies can't process.

If they can spend money to arrest parents, they should be able to invest money on actually educating our society.

I agree with everything you said! Arrested, criminal charges? Really, I think that is rediculous!

so, it woudn't be an issue until say the kid died, then? Just curious, not trying to sway one way or the other....

sweetiepie31612

I read about the push for this on twitter over the summer. Arrested, I don't think so. That won't help anyone. Educated, most definitely.

I work with so many people trying to turn them onto a healthy lifestyle. Most times the parents are just ignorant and that leads to obesity. I mean, a freaking Happy Meal with just a burger and fries has almost 500 calories! Now what parent really sits to think about that. It sure doesn't seem that much from what you get. And don't get me started on the Lunchables and popsicles and fruit juices. They market themselves as being great for kids but are just loaded with artificial crap that our bodies can't process.

If they can spend money to arrest parents, they should be able to invest money on actually educating our society.

I agree with everything you said! Arrested, criminal charges? Really, I think that is rediculous!

so, it woudn't be an issue until say the kid died, then?

My thoughts exactly. What happens when the KID drops dead of a massive heart attack? We wouldn't arrest the mother? Why not? We'd arrest her if her son died from health problems due to not being fed.

The mother has had ample opportunity to fix this and have her son remain in her custody. She chose not to. She made a conscious decision to not get her child healthy. For that she needs to be punished.

denisegolden

there are so many circumstances that can sway my opinion one way or the other. first of all, was health education even offered to mom as an option to help this child? was the child experiencing health problems that mom was ignoring? was there other issues that may warrent taking this child out of the home and away from mom? how easily was the child able to drop the weight after his dimissle from mom? so many questions, but based soley on the information given, i would say it is justified...when it comes to my children and i have four boys, please always side with caution! My boys are my life and they come before all, their health and well being is of the upmost importance, and if the school, the government, etc. knows that i can be doing better by my child, and it is genuine, that please let me know, because that is what i want for my boys. three of my four boys have been or are overweight, due to my ignorance, in part. they are children and eatr what i provide for them, and entertain themselves with what i provide for them... i was not providing a heathy lifestyle. that has change! last year i was diagnosed diabetic, among other negative diagnosis, and decided i needed to educate myself on living heathier. in the process i have learned how to better take car of myself and my family...heathier food options as well as heathier entertainment options. i have lost over 130, my seventeen year old( who is 6 foot tall) has went from220+ to a healthier 175, my 14 year old has gained 2 1/2 inches in height and lost two pants sizes in width(he is now at a heathy weight), my 11 year old, we are still fighting with his obesity, but he has lost some weight, best of all he is getting more active, and building his self esteem by accoplishing physical tasks that he didnt even have a desire to do last summer. oddly enough, we fight to keep weight on my 6 year old, he surpasses all of our energy levels and that child has a non stop metabolism..all in all, i want the best for my boys, as i believe most parents do, and if that meant to take my child away, so they could get heathy, i guess i would have to agree with it.

ItsCasey

I do not think it was necessary! If that is the case I would have been taken from my parents. My parents love me and it was not their fault I was over weight. They should be taking away the children out there that are in abusive homes or homes where their parents are drug addicts and purposfully neglect and abuse them, not a child because he is overweight...give me a break!

Really? You weighed 400 lbs as a 13-year-old? Because that's what we're talking about here. We're not talking about a kid who is a little on the pudgy side. We're talking about a kid who passed "morbidly obese" 200 lbs ago. It's child abuse no matter how you slice it.

And I don't want to hear that maybe some parents just aren't educated enough. Maybe a lot of parents don't know which foods have which nutrients and how much of each their kids should be eating every day. But no adult is so freaking stupid that they don't understand that junk food combined with no exercise makes you fat. They're not so stupid that they can't look at their kids and what their kids are eating and put 2 and 2 together.

I was overweight as a child, too ... by 10 or 15 lbs, compared to most other girls my age. Not by 300 lbs. Huge difference.

lawtechie

My thoughts exactly. What happens when the KID drops dead of a massive heart attack? We wouldn't arrest the mother? Why not? We'd arrest her if her son died from health problems due to not being fed.

The mother has had ample opportunity to fix this and have her son remain in her custody. She chose not to. She made a conscious decision to not get her child healthy. For that she needs to be punished.

I'm not fully excusing the mom, but heres' something just as important to keep in mind. It sounds like she worked 2-3 jobs. I don't think that was for frivilous spending money. She's working that to keep a roof over their heads and food (albeit bad) in their bodies. In this economy, I wouldn't want to see someone lose their job because of multiple court dates. Employers would likely fire her, and then the consequences would tumble from there... lost job, lost home, lost boy, lost ??? Just lost everything.

It's too easy to be on the high horse and criticize, but until you've lived it -- what are you going to do? Is the goal for society to keep families together, or is the goal to tear them apart during hard times. // Just something to consider.

fteale

I think removing children from their parents should only ever be an absolute last straw after all other avenues have been exhausted, and then only if the child's life or wellbeing is in danger.

Saying that, I think it is disgusting that any parent would let their young child get to 400lbs.

ItsCasey

Is the goal for society to keep families together, or is the goal to tear them apart during hard times. // Just something to consider.

The goal is to keep kids away from people who put their health and well-being in danger.

Iwillshyne

What does the OP have to say about this? Why do so many people post such heated topics and not comment on them for theirself?

...keep reading booh!

Lol, I did, but you didn't respond until after I posted that. :flowerforyou:

I responded before I read your post, hun. Now that I have learned how the system works and that the mom did not comply, my feelings for the mother has changed, but I can't say that I in total agreeance with removing the kid. And maybe thats just the mommy in me.... My opinion may not be in your favor. Regardless, this is a sad situation on both ends. Could you imagine your kid being take from you?? Could you imagine as a kid being taken away from your mom? sad....

writtenINthestars

FYI: According to the story she was seeing the doctor/peds on a regular bases. And received very little help, but lots of criticism.

Criticism as in "stop feeding him all this food"? I don't know what was and wasn't said...but I think that statement is pretty open ended because what "help" are they suppose to give?

My friend who's daughter is 40 lbs overweight is told what and when to feed her kid...and herself...does she follow it? Nope and she has every excuse in the book for why...

sweetiepie31612

Is the goal for society to keep families together, or is the goal to tear them apart during hard times. // Just something to consider.

The goal is to keep kids away from people who put their health and well-being in danger.

Hear hear! If it comes down to losing my child (death) or losing my job...I'll take losing my job. I'm sure she's not well off, but people find ways to survive every day. Making a lunch and a lot healthier and a lot cheaper than getting fast food for lunch every day.

Cakepiebeer

Hmm.. lets see...

Removing a 400lb child from his family to help him

or letting a 400lb child die and permantly removing him...

Hmm..

There is nothing anyone can say to justify a parent letting their child become like that. Because once the kid starts huffing and puffing and strugglin to get out of bed in the morning there's a problem. I'm sure the kid even needed help wiping his own @ss being that obease.

And another thing..

There's a pretty signifigant differnce from being overwieght and being extremely obease. Some people just dont deserve the right to have kids. Especially the ones who ignore their childs health

bry_all01

What does the OP have to say about this? Why do so many people post such heated topics and not comment on them for theirself?

...keep reading booh!

Lol, I did, but you didn't respond until after I posted that. :flowerforyou:

I responded before I read your post, hun. Now that I have learned how the system works and that the mom did not comply, my feelings for the mother has changed, but I can't say that I in total agreeance with removing the kid. And maybe thats just the mommy in me.... My opinion may not be in your favor. Regardless, this is a sad situation on both ends. Could you imagine your kid being take from you?? Could you imagine as a kid being taken away from your mom? sad....

Why am I your booh and hun? I was just curious as to your opinion on this topic was all. I don't judge anyone for their thoughts or opinions on this matter at all. I do feel it is sad, and as a mother, I would do any and every single thing in my power not to allow that to happen to my children. I would think if I caused that to happen to them, I probably deserved to have them removed, even if just temporarily, until I could learn a valuable lesson. But, as I said, that is MY opinion and I am not forcing my opinion on anyone else.

bassettpig

Gotta tell ya, this is not as unusual as you seem to think it is. Better get started building those fat camps for all the kids we're going to be taking away from their "abusive" parents. What's the plan once the kids get to be 18, are released and gain weight back? B/c of course none of us ADULTS are overweight.....

I work as a medical transcriptionist, and I hardly ever hear a patient's weight dictated that starts with a "1." It is virtually ALWAYS over 200 and not terribly unusual to be over 300. Typed on a person today who weighed 308 lbs and was described by the doctor as "husky." The problem goes way deeper than this "daytime TV" thread seems to imagine, for the most part.

I would also like to mention that I have a slightly different view of what constitutes "child abuse", having seen some firsthand. A fat kid is not set up for a good life, physically or emotionally, and yes, it will endanger his life down the road, but I think only here in the US would we consider this actual "abuse."

SergeantSunshine_reused

What does the OP have to say about this? Why do so many people post such heated topics and not comment on them for theirself?

...keep reading booh!

Lol, I did, but you didn't respond until after I posted that. :flowerforyou:

I responded before I read your post, hun. Now that I have learned how the system works and that the mom did not comply, my feelings for the mother has changed, but I can't say that I in total agreeance with removing the kid. And maybe thats just the mommy in me.... My opinion may not be in your favor. Regardless, this is a sad situation on both ends. Could you imagine your kid being take from you?? Could you imagine as a kid being taken away from your mom? sad....

See this is sad. But not all parents care. I am a foster kid. My parents gladly gave me up for drugs. I am an A-B student in college now.

Some people would be completely heart broken to have their kids taken away. I have seen many and I mean MANY that do not care at all.

ItsCasey

FYI: According to the story she was seeing the doctor/peds on a regular bases. And received very little help, but lots of criticism.

Criticism as in "stop feeding him all this food"? I don't know what was and wasn't said...but I think that statement is pretty open ended because what "help" are they suppose to give?

Exactly. Many parents hear "You should be doing a better job of monitoring what your kid eats and making sure he gets plenty of exercise," and they say they're being "criticized." To them, the doctor isn't helping unless he blames it all on a medical condition and prescribes some kind of pill.

ckmama

THis was brought up when the article originally came out. I think it got either locked or deleted because the topic got heated.

bry_all01

THis was brought up when the article originally came out. I think it got either locked or deleted because the topic got heated.

I can't imagine why

Iwillshyne

What does the OP have to say about this? Why do so many people post such heated topics and not comment on them for theirself?

...keep reading booh!

Lol, I did, but you didn't respond until after I posted that. :flowerforyou:

I responded before I read your post, hun. Now that I have learned how the system works and that the mom did not comply, my feelings for the mother has changed, but I can't say that I in total agreeance with removing the kid. And maybe thats just the mommy in me.... My opinion may not be in your favor. Regardless, this is a sad situation on both ends. Could you imagine your kid being take from you?? Could you imagine as a kid being taken away from your mom? sad....

Why am I your booh and hun? I was just curious as to your opinion on this topic was all. I don't judge anyone for their thoughts or opinions on this matter at all. I do feel it is sad, and as a mother, I would do any and every single thing in my power not to allow that to happen to my children. I would think if I caused that to happen to them, I probably deserved to have them removed, even if just temporarily, until I could learn a valuable lesson. But, as I said, that is MY opinion and I am not forcing my opinion on anyone else.

Oh I'm sorry. Hope I didn't offend you with the booh and hun. It's just my "thing"...my bad. In the end the mom should have taken the help/advise of CPS... it's was worth it and she would avoid the whirl wind that followed. However, I can't say that what she did was child abuse. ANY abuse/neglect in my opinion is intentional. Can anyone say that this mom intentionally over feed her son?? IDK....

MrsFarrow

So I try not to respond to threads like this because they get really mean really quickly.

I didn't read a lot of the comments, only got to about page 2 because like I said, it just got really insulting.

My opinion however, is, if you aren't intelligent enough to know what's even relatively healthy for a child, you shouldn't have the right to raise one. My husband and I have been trying for years to have kids, and in my mind, if you have a child and neglect it to THAT extreme, let someone else who will actually take care of them take over.

But I don't think people who disagree with me are "dumb" or "stupid" by any means. We just have different opinions.

mcdonl

So I try not to respond to threads like this because they get really mean really quickly.

I didn't read a lot of the comments, only got to about page 2 because like I said, it just got really insulting.

My opinion however, is, if you aren't intelligent enough to know what's even relatively healthy for a child, you shouldn't have the right to raise one. My husband and I have been trying for years to have kids, and in my mind, if you have a child and neglect it to THAT extreme, let someone else who will actually take care of them take over.

But I don't think people who disagree with me are "dumb" or "stupid" by any means. We just have different opinions.

Should someone with a learning disability have kids?

killerqueen17

In my opinion, 400 pounds is very extreme for a 13-year-old, and in some cases yes it could indeed be child neglect-- the parent is neglecting the child's health.

I am assuming/hoping that the authorities followed appropriate protocol in making this decision, in which case the mother would have been well aware of what would happen if she didn't try to make some better decisions about her child's nutrition.

Hopefully they will be re-united someday and able to move forward making better choices than the ones that led to this point!

killerqueen17

So I try not to respond to threads like this because they get really mean really quickly.

I didn't read a lot of the comments, only got to about page 2 because like I said, it just got really insulting.

My opinion however, is, if you aren't intelligent enough to know what's even relatively healthy for a child, you shouldn't have the right to raise one. My husband and I have been trying for years to have kids, and in my mind, if you have a child and neglect it to THAT extreme, let someone else who will actually take care of them take over.

But I don't think people who disagree with me are "dumb" or "stupid" by any means. We just have different opinions.

Should someone with a learning disability have kids?

Of course, if they can adequately care for the child. If they are not capable of caring for the child, then the child should be placed into a better environment, just like any other case of abuse or neglect.

I don't think this is what the other poster meant, however.

As a side note-- The label "learning disability" does not, in any way, make me think that someone would be an incompetent parent-- and I am confused as to why you think it would, actually. Learning disabilities are separate from intelligence-- someone who is extremely intelligent can have a learning disability. Are you confising "learning disabled" with "profoundly mentally disabled," perhaps?

rockylucas

Folks, please keep this in mind and consider this.... I havent seen anyone else yet bring this up...

For every ONE of these children who is removed from the home, COUNTLESS others are able to remain in the home due to the efforts of social services to educate the parents and provide the necessary resources so that the child(ren) can lose weight and improve their overall health.

We ALL agree that children should not be removed from their parents home unless absolutely necessary. Therefore social services, and society in general, does what it can to provide tools to these parents to assist them in making healthy choices to ensure that does not happen.

However, we also ALL agree that if the parent cannot or will not care for their child's needs, despite this assistance and resources, then the health and wellbeing of the child must come first, and the child must be placed someplace where they can be healthy and safe.

There, I solved the argument

mcdonl

So I try not to respond to threads like this because they get really mean really quickly.

I didn't read a lot of the comments, only got to about page 2 because like I said, it just got really insulting.

My opinion however, is, if you aren't intelligent enough to know what's even relatively healthy for a child, you shouldn't have the right to raise one. My husband and I have been trying for years to have kids, and in my mind, if you have a child and neglect it to THAT extreme, let someone else who will actually take care of them take over.

But I don't think people who disagree with me are "dumb" or "stupid" by any means. We just have different opinions.

Should someone with a learning disability have kids?

Of course, if they can adequately care for the child. If they are not capable of caring for the child, then the child should be placed into a better environment, just like any other case of abuse or neglect.

I don't think this is what the other poster meant, however.

As a side note-- The label "learning disability" does not, in any way, make me think that someone would be an incompetent parent-- and I am confused as to why you think it would, actually.

Because, I have higher education and it took me 35+ years to figure out healthy eating. Indicating that someone has a lower intelligence if they do not understand proper nutrition and reaks of elitism to me. I am out of this conversation.

Lift_hard_eat_big

Was this the child?

bry_all01

What does the OP have to say about this? Why do so many people post such heated topics and not comment on them for theirself?

...keep reading booh!

Lol, I did, but you didn't respond until after I posted that. :flowerforyou:

I responded before I read your post, hun. Now that I have learned how the system works and that the mom did not comply, my feelings for the mother has changed, but I can't say that I in total agreeance with removing the kid. And maybe thats just the mommy in me.... My opinion may not be in your favor. Regardless, this is a sad situation on both ends. Could you imagine your kid being take from you?? Could you imagine as a kid being taken away from your mom? sad....

Why am I your booh and hun? I was just curious as to your opinion on this topic was all. I don't judge anyone for their thoughts or opinions on this matter at all. I do feel it is sad, and as a mother, I would do any and every single thing in my power not to allow that to happen to my children. I would think if I caused that to happen to them, I probably deserved to have them removed, even if just temporarily, until I could learn a valuable lesson. But, as I said, that is MY opinion and I am not forcing my opinion on anyone else.

Oh I'm sorry. Hope I didn't offend you with the booh and hun. It's just my "thing"...my bad. In the end the mom should have taken the help/advise of CPS... it's was worth it and she would avoid the whirl wind that followed. However, I can't say that what she did was child abuse. ANY abuse/neglect in my opinion is intentional. Can anyone say that this mom intentionally over feed her son?? IDK....

No offense, lol. I was just wondering. Its ok, because I say y'all all the time. :happy: I would say if he was a few pounds overweight or even MAYBE 100 pounds, no, but 400 pounds? It just seems really deranged, scary and sad to me. It also seems to me she had the resources and opportunities for free and chose to ignore them and came up with excuse after excuse. Once she was rehabilitated and could PROVE she could take proper care of him, I am all for her getting custody back of her son.

Iamfit4life

Was this the child?

that's too sad to be funny

Lift_hard_eat_big

Was this the child?

that's too sad to be funny

I agree, these childrens parents should also be arrested or send to some adult school to get educated on nutrition and weight loss for their children at the very least.

bregalad5

This thread made me sad. That is all.

As for this:

As a side note-- The label "learning disability" does not, in any way, make me think that someone would be an incompetent parent-- and I am confused as to why you think it would, actually. Learning disabilities are separate from intelligence-- someone who is extremely intelligent can have a learning disability. Are you confising "learning disabled" with "profoundly mentally disabled," perhaps?

That statement is very, very true. I have an IQ of 145, and have a learning disability. I am a slow processor and retriever, but am incredibly intelligent, and once I process things, I have trouble forgetting them. It just takes me longer to get stuff in and spit it back out. In games where speed is of the essence, I look like a moron. It doesn't mean I don't know the answer, it just means that I can't answer the question as quickly as other people.