Parents at fault for overweight children?

I agree that parents play a big role. I used to work at a fast food place and I remember we had quite a few regulars. One woman and her two daughters I will never forget. I'm sure this may surprise some ppl (then again, maybe it won't) but that woman brought her kids in everyday, usually twice a day. The oldest girl couldn't have been older than 13 and the youngest maybe 7 or 8. Their mother was a very overweight woman, yet she always ordered (no joke) and double quarter pounder w/ cheese and large fries. Plus the meals for her two girls. The oldest was overweight as well, easily by 50lbs. She always looked so sad. I felt so badly for her. Sometimes I wanted to shake that woman and yell "Can't you see what you're doing to your children? You're killing them slowly with your bad habits!!"
That was several yrs ago. I'd be curious to see where those girls are now and how their health is.

Apple 100% correct.... mother 100% wrong. Should be classed as child abuse in cases like that.

I detest how flippantly some people use the word abuse. :explode:

I see both sides, yes the child was asking for a healthy snack however, as PP's have said, perhaps that child had eaten a ton of fruit already and the mother wanted her to have some carbs and protein. My middle child would snack all day (on fruit) and not eat a proper meal which I don't think is a healthy eating habit so I would also tell her not she can't have fruit if dinner is due soon, mostly that dinner is healthy but sometimes it's pizza, after she's eaten that she can eat fruit and yogurt to her heart's content.

My youngest would live on fruit and veg and it's a struggle to get any carbs or protein in to her so again, she'd be denied fruit close to dinner time too.

You can't judge this one situation from the snippet you saw.

Having said that, I do agree that if children are overweight at an age where they don't have access to money and the ability to buy their own food it is the parents' fault, I may be overweight but my children certainly aren't, I have made a huge effort to not pass my bad relationship with food onto them.

Also, chubbiness is sometimes a sign of a growth spurt on the way. I'm taking the mom's side here; we don't have any information on what the child ate the rest of the day, or how she would eat if left in complete control of her diet.

By the way, hamburgers aren't all that unhealthy by themselves. They become unhealthy if you cover them in cheese, fried onions, and bacon and serve them with fries and a soda.

Hmm, a bit of both. It's clear that some parents do encourage unhealthy food choices and they are to blame. But I don't think any parent intentionally gives their child a weight problem, they just do the best they can with the resources available to them, and sometimes those resources are lacking a little. Not enough knowledge about food, not enough money, not enough time, etc. I was fat even as a small child, so obviously it wasn't just my own fault, but neither of my parents were fat, most of my family were very thin so clearly their eating habits worked for them. Also I grew up in the era of the F plan, my mother thought she was doing the right thing stuffing me full of carbs and limiting what she was told was fatty meat and dairy. We were very poor and potatoes were a lot cheaper than expensive cuts of meat. It's easy to see the problems in hindsight but like any parent she did the best with what she had at the time. I don't think it's fair to 'blame' parents who are trying their best. I think sometimes life just hands you a bum card and you have to work around it. Yes I have a weight problem, but I also have a love of reading and education. What you get from your parents is always going to be a mixed bag, I don't think it's fair to put too much emphasis on what they get wrong, they are only human after all.