Parents at fault for overweight children?

I absolutely blame parents 100% for overweight children. Children rely on parents to teach them healthy eating habits - not unhealthy eating habits! This is a shame, and that lady should be embarrassed.

I wish my parents taught me proper eating habits maybe things would have been a lot different for me.

Yes, I think it's the parents fault up until a certain age, like junior high or high school when the kids earn their own cash and can buy food from school or while hanging out with friends. Parents should be restricting snacks and cooking healthy for their kids. There's really no excuse for them when it comes to their overweight kids.

Nothing annoys me more than going somewhere, the kids insisting on ordering food they are not hungry for, and then they waste it. They won't tell me they are too full for the food I am buying. My husband and I are obese and my children are not. Go figure.

I feel parents are at least 80% of the problem. Yes there are exceptions like health problems, other people feeding your kid crap, kid sneaks food etc. However A lot of people think kids don't like healthy foods or "adult" foods. There are ways to make good foods interesting and edible for kids. But also if every time you have a treat its ice cream oreos etc it is shown these are the yummiest and most desirable foods. If you treat fruit or healthy snacks as a treat so will your kids. Yes I do have a child btw.

My parents have 6 kids & none of us were overweight! They were/still are very firm believers in getting outdoors & playing! The only reason why I gained weight is because my life changed after I got married. Long story short I'm busting my butt daily & I have my Dad to thank for helping me lose 35lbs before my husband came home from this past year. He would come home from work & workout with me everyday of the week. He's in the Army as well as my husband so he didn't have to do that but he still cares for his child even though i'm 22. I blame parents 100%.....why on earth would you tell a child no you can't have an apple.

I see both sides...I want me kids to eat there dinner...even a healthy snack will ruin there apetites. But an apple is such a good choice... BUT in general we have a problem with our food supply. It is cheap food that is loaded with refined carbs and sugar. The food industry is killing us. Some people don't have access to healthy food. Please visit my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/WhyWereFat Have you see Dr Lustig's Sugar The Bitter Truth OR HBO's special? You can find the links on my page. I to am determined not to raise fat kids as I am battling it and have my whole life. But our Food industry must take some of the blame. They even put sugar on a "healthy" salad at McDonald's and Wendy's.

Today I was at the Chiropractor and a little girl told her mom "I want an apple!" they had them sitting out along with some other fruit for patients to eat. Her mom just ignored her. Once again she told her mom "Mom, I want to eat an apple!" The girl was about 4-5 years old at most. After a few times of telling her how badly she wanted an apple, her mom replied "You want an apple? Wouldn't you rather have a big juicy burger or a nice pizza?" The girl said "no, I want an apple". The mom actually told her "No, it might ruin your appetite, we're going to get burgers when we leave". REALLY? It made me so disappointed.

I'm not saying that EVERY child that is over weight should blame their parents choices. However, I think in cases like this- the mom should have allowed her daughter the dang apple. I was chubby as a kid, I don't blame my parents. I'm definitely not saying that every parent with a chubby child is to blame for that. Obviously there are tons of reasons as to why children are chubby...But if you're denying your child fruit and making them eat greasy pizza and burgers.. shame on you. Okay, off my soapbox.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Yes it's the parents fault. IMO childhood obesity is child abuse/ neglect. It is your job to provide your child with good health, as well as being able to take some time and teach them proper nutrition and exercise. No child should be suffering from preventable diseases like diabetes, respiratory problems etc.

Today I was at the Chiropractor and a little girl told her mom "I want an apple!" they had them sitting out along with some other fruit for patients to eat. Her mom just ignored her. Once again she told her mom "Mom, I want to eat an apple!" The girl was about 4-5 years old at most. After a few times of telling her how badly she wanted an apple, her mom replied "You want an apple? Wouldn't you rather have a big juicy burger or a nice pizza?" The girl said "no, I want an apple". The mom actually told her "No, it might ruin your appetite, we're going to get burgers when we leave". REALLY? It made me so disappointed.

I'm not saying that EVERY child that is over weight should blame their parents choices. However, I think in cases like this- the mom should have allowed her daughter the dang apple. I was chubby as a kid, I don't blame my parents. I'm definitely not saying that every parent with a chubby child is to blame for that. Obviously there are tons of reasons as to why children are chubby...But if you're denying your child fruit and making them eat greasy pizza and burgers.. shame on you. Okay, off my soapbox.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Yes it's the parents fault. IMO this is child abuse/ neglect. It is your job to provide your child with good health, as well as being able to take some time and teach them proper nutrition and exercise. No child should be suffering from preventable diseases like diabetes, respiratory problems etc.

Telling a kid they can't have an apple isn't child abuse. Good grief. Maybe the kid already at a ton of fruit that day.

Wow that is an incredible and sad story. The child was making a healthy choice and the parent was making a not so great choice. Very sad indeed.

It's absolutely a parent's fault when a child is overweight. Sometimes the budget is hard on families too if there are many kids, but this mom was horrendous. My daughter was thin. She never really wants soda, candy, cake or anything like that. I taught her what to eat even though I was far from perfect. I grew up with cakes and cookies and I fought with that my whole life. I didn't want her to do that. She's 18 in a couple of days and she's thin. I encouraged her to be active as well and now I can only hope she stays with those healthy habits.

I do notice too, when it's a special needs child, things can be different. Body types, ability to get them to understand exercise, certain things like that. They changed my niece's intake greatly as she was a chubby bubby and now she's a little too thin, but it's all her heart can handle (at 7 years old.)

Yes, yes, yes and yes. I have not read any comments. But in my RN opinion, and my own experience, my answer will always be yes. Feed your kids healthy at home. When they get older, they will have to make some decisions, and hopefully will make the right ones.

I remember talking about this at my pre-natal classes a few years back, supposedly the worst eating habit you can teach a child is to always finish everything on their plate.. So many parents do this so their child can't just be fussy and not eat their veges or whatever but supposedly this is why so many people have problems with portion control, because they are taught to finish everything on their plate whether they are full or not

For my daughter when getting her off of her grandma's kick of pizza and nuggets only and changing how she ate, she had to eat all veggies on her plate to get to the stuff she found desirable. Veggies were the only thing she had to eat before she could eat the rest and was able to stop and it was a reasonable portion. Kids do not need adult portions. Heck, I had issues too when my ex insisted on making plates for me then would guilt me into having to eat all of it. It was a horrible relationship. Now I'm losing weight, he's with a new wife and gaining.

I think parents have the power to teach their children healthy habits, and should do this. I can say that, yes I allow my children to have treats occasionally. I may let them each choose a candy bar at the grocery store. I however, usually only allow them to eat a fraction of it at one sitting. One candy bar may last my kids 4 days. I also like to put fresh fruit out where they can easily get to it. The candy gets put in a secret place, so I am in charge of when it gets eaten. I have a son who has juvenile diabetes. Let me make this clear, he did not get this due to weight. He is super skinny and always has been. Type one diabetes and Type two are completely different in some ways. It does mean that I do need to really watch and control what my kids eat. This should be every parents responsibility, regardless of the situation. I do like that an office had fruit out and not candy. I probably would have allowed the apple, but it would also depend on where my son's sugars were at, because an apple is one carb. choice, and if he was already on the high end, I probably would have said no, and a burger if not on a bun is 0 carbs., my son could have that, not saying that's exactly what I would do though.

Since kids don't have much say in what they eat-- they don't go to the store, buy their own food, or cook their own meals-- yeah I think it's the parents' fault in most cases. They're the ones making choices for their kids. Fat kids make me almost as sad as fat dogs and cats.

unless there is a medical problem with a kid, or they are reconvering form an injury and they can't get around, I do blame all aprents for overweight kids. Once they hit about 12 and up they have more access to food outside the home but I tihnk parents shoudl mainly pack school lunches and pick and chese what days kids can eat at school as a treat. I also think that parents should not keep junk in the house, if I want something i go out and get it that way it isn't in the house for my kids to eat all at once, we indulge as a familyonce in a while. I do reward my 3 yr old who is autistic with fruit snacks (like a fruit roll up) once every day ot two as it is one thing he really looks forward to and the reward system is eay for him to understand.

I made my own babyfood for my son, breastfed for over a year, and my son is the only 3 yr old I know who will ask for a salad and grilled chicken for dinner. I let him have dressing and stuff like that because he is not dieting, still growing but his meals are balanced and nutritious. If only i ate what he eats I would not have a problem but . . thats another story. My son is tall for his age and looks skinny but his weight is good, he is just built thin. He asks for apples for snacks, loves raw veggies 9not cooked) and fruit.

Now, with that being said, he does love Happy meals at Mc Donads. We let him have one every Thursday (when my husband and I are both off we do a family day and Jaiden gets to chose where we eat) he eats 2 nuggets, the apples and the fries (and the new happy meals have real small fried cuz they come with apples now too yay) so I am in no way trying to say my son wouldn't eat junk all the time if I let him, I am saying I buy the food, i cook the food so really adults are the ones who control the diet.

Kids being overweight is a sad subject for me. I grew up with a mom who battled depression so she was kinda lazy,she was overweight and in turn bought fast food litterally 2 times a day, and what food she did "prepare" was frozen food and chips/sweets. to this day she eats like that. My borther and I have both taken control of our own diets. I do like taco bell still and I work 12-14 hours a day so i don't get to cook for myself often. But the food in my home is healthy 100%. I don't blame the kids, i feel sorry that they are being raised with poor habits!