Taking obese children from their parents???

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SemperAnticus1643
SemperAnticus1643 Posts: 703 Member
in Chit-Chat
I read an article...been reading them actually, about the state intervening and taking obese children away from their parents. One incident was because a mother worked 2 jobs so they didn't have to live in the ghetto and bought her child fast food. The state came in, took the boy and moved him to live with his aunt. He has now lost 200 pounds but wants so badly to go home to his mom.

Once the state intervenes, they will give the parents parenting classes, how to make healthier meals and an exercise plan.

Now as we all know, it is more expensive to buy the healthier foods. This may be harder on the families that make too much for state assistance but don't make enough to buy the "healthier" stuff. So what are your thoughts?
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Replies

  • ckmama
    ckmama Posts: 1,668 Member
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    let the government intervene and they won't stop at this. He might have lost the weight because he was depressed from missing his mom. It's a thought.

    I would guess this topic will get locked because it is political, maybe not.
  • Songbird146
    Songbird146 Posts: 46 Member
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    It may seem more expensive to buy the healthier stuff but in reality you get more bang for your buck buying the good stuff and cooking for yourself. Five dollars will get you one meal at a burger joint but think of how much produce you can get for that. And hello, farmers markets are super cheap and full of awesome good for you foods.
  • vickthedick
    vickthedick Posts: 136 Member
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    I think the state should intervene only in the most drastic circumstances, ie a 400 pound 11 year old, etc. At some point it goes from instilling poor habits to full on abuse
  • adamtwd88
    adamtwd88 Posts: 49
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    it has its good & bad points i think, obv good cause with his mam not feeding him fast food all the time so he's now lost weight etc. and can lead a healthy life without having the fear of heart problems. and all the other problems. etc

    but on the bad side. i dont think its right to take a child away from their parents, at the end of the day she is working 2 jobs to give them a good life, she's probably a great mother, and the only mistake made was that she kept feeding her kid fast food.

    who knows :z x
  • Seajolly
    Seajolly Posts: 1,435 Member
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    I hate how people say "it's more expensive eating healthy!". It's NOT TRUE!!! Fast food is actually a lot more expensive than buying fresh food, you just have to know where to shop...
  • skylar1907
    skylar1907 Posts: 156
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    BS. Its not more expensive to buy healthier food. You just have to buy SMART. Buying a medium meal at McD's is 6bucks+. For under six dollars a night, you can have chicken, veggies, brown rice, salad, and juice/milk to drink. That is a MUCH better choice than McD's for a parent to provide their kid.

    While I don't agree with children being taken for the hell of it - I do understand that when a child is in 6th grade and weighs 200lbs more than they should SOMEONE should save that child's life. They don't know any better and can't buy food for themselves.

    I spend less than $50 on average a week for groceries and I eat VERY well. Fresh fruit, veggies, meat EVERY day. Welfare provides enough money for those who can't make due from work to feed their kids well - the parents have to take the responsibility and the time and do so. Or support the schools providing 3 squares a day - but most of those same parents don't want to do that... public policy major here. Child obesity and poor nutrition among the poor is one of my areas of research.
  • sparadise
    sparadise Posts: 26 Member
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    bump
  • circusmom
    circusmom Posts: 662 Member
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    Wow, touchy subject!!!! I can see both sides....
  • BigDaddyRonnie
    BigDaddyRonnie Posts: 506 Member
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    Oh boy...this has Pandora's Box written all over. So many sociological, economic, personal, public, governmental factors make up your question that...wow...I can foresee the comments coming.

    Good question - ultimately though, what did come first, the chicken or the egg? :)

    Me - I don't have an opinion. Is obesity child abuse? That I do not know how to answer.
  • shesnotthere
    shesnotthere Posts: 117
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    Well they are generally talking about children who are 300 and 400 pounds and under 10, right? I almost feel like that is child abuse. It would be child abuse if the child was horribly underweight because of what the parents fed them, right? I just don't know that taking the kids away is the answer. I think the money would be better spent to educate the parents and the child.
  • Typhanee83
    Typhanee83 Posts: 313 Member
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    I feel bad for the parents who cannot afford healthy food for their kids to eat. I’m sure there are the lazy ones who would much rather buy fast food than cook a healthy meal for their children, but there are some that legitimately just do not have the money to feed their kids healthy meals. I completely agree that it is SO MUCH MORE expensive to buy healthier choices these days. A box of hamburger helper is what, 98 cents? But anything fresh or healthy, it so much more expensive. The 27% fat ground hamburger is twice as expensive as the 7% lean ground turkey! It’s absolutely outrageous! And I am one of those people that make a little too much for state assistance, but cannot afford healthy groceries. Luckily, I have loving parents who help out once in a while so we can afford to buy those healthier groceries for ourselves and our children. But some people aren’t so lucky.
  • Mommawarrior
    Mommawarrior Posts: 897 Member
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    The fact that eating healthy food is more expensive is really just not true. I buy healthy food and my food bill has actually dropped since we have stopped eating junk. The reason is that good protein, whole foods, fruit and veggies stay with you longer so you don't eat as much. Cheap crap is just that, crap and makes you crave more and more crap thus you buy more, never ending cycle. People can buy a 3 lb bag of apples and have 10-15 snacks for the same price they can buy Quaker granola bars (MOSTLY SUGAR) and "fruit snacks" (SUGAR AND NASTY CHEMICALS).
    I hate to hear how it is cheaper to eat crap. That is really just an excuse to eat crap.
    Fast Food is far more expensive, it costs the taxpayer in the area of healthcare costs. Eating healthy=less health issues=less medical expenses.
    I have rheumatoid arthritis pretty bad. I had gotten to the point that I could barely walk some days. I CHANGED MY DIET TO AS HEALTHY AS I POSSIBLE CAN EAT (MOST DAYS) AND I TAKE NO MEDICINE FOR THE RA and I don't visit the doctor either cause the healthy diet has totally kept me pain free. And I am training for a 1/2 marathon. Something the doctors said I would never be able to do. These are the same docs who wanted me to take chemo drugs. I would rather eat healthy!
  • ddroescher
    ddroescher Posts: 4
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    First of all, it's the parent's responsibility to make sure their kids are eating right and not so much in the way of things like burgers, fries, pizza and soda pop. I have also seen some of these overweight kids that also have overweight parents and my question is: "What kind of example are you setting for you kid(s)?". According to my dietitian and personal trainer, there is nothing wrong with having one free meal per week meaning that you pick a mealtime where you eat what you want for one day only per week and concentrate more on strength and cardio for the remainder. In short, these parents that are letting their kids eat whatever they want are putting their kids lives in jeopardy.
  • Mommawarrior
    Mommawarrior Posts: 897 Member
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    I feel bad for the parents who cannot afford healthy food for their kids to eat. I’m sure there are the lazy ones who would much rather buy fast food than cook a healthy meal for their children, but there are some that legitimately just do not have the money to feed their kids healthy meals. I completely agree that it is SO MUCH MORE expensive to buy healthier choices these days. A box of hamburger helper is what, 98 cents? But anything fresh or healthy, it so much more expensive. The 27% fat ground hamburger is twice as expensive as the 7% lean ground turkey! It’s absolutely outrageous! And I am one of those people that make a little too much for state assistance, but cannot afford healthy groceries. Luckily, I have loving parents who help out once in a while so we can afford to buy those healthier groceries for ourselves and our children. But some people aren’t so lucky.

    The thing is the majority of people who say they can't afford healthy food........again, a crock of crap, are the same ones who can afford cigarettes and alcohol. It is just not more expensive to eat healthy.
  • shesnotthere
    shesnotthere Posts: 117
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    Fast Food is far more expensive, it costs the taxpayer in the area of healthcare costs. Eating healthy=less health issues=less medical expenses.

    It also costs the taxpayer in terms of corn and soy subsidies. Maybe we should switch to subsidizing veggie growers instead :)
  • TTHdred
    TTHdred Posts: 380 Member
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    My only thought when I heard this this morning on the radio, was where do they intend to put these children? In the already clogged and overflowing foster care systems? Does physical health supersede mental health? As another poster mentioned, there are SO many layers to this …it’s not simply about whose responsibility it is to keep a child at a healthy weight.
  • Typhanee83
    Typhanee83 Posts: 313 Member
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    I don’t believe this is a “crock of crap.” I am a mother of 2 ½ year old twins, and I work full time. My husband lost his job 2 years ago and has been unable to find work. Unemployment has ran out, and I supposedly “make too much” for a family of 4 in my state to qualify for state assistance for food. We barely make it by. But we do it. I’m not saying that I don’t buy healthy food for my kids. That statement is not true. We do it because we know it’s important and we sacrifice other things so that we can all live a healthy lifestyle. I’m not talking about the people who go out and buy fast food for their kids, that is NOT cheaper than buying healthy groceries. But UNHEALTHY GROCERIES ARE CHEAPER, at least at my local grocery store. Kind of stereotypical that you say the ones who can’t afford the healthy groceries can afford cigarettes and alcohol. My husband and I DO NOT SMOKE or DRINK! I do agree that some parents out there would much rather get their nicotine or alcohol fix than buy healthy groceries. But I for one, am not one of those people.
  • SemperAnticus1643
    SemperAnticus1643 Posts: 703 Member
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    I feel bad for the parents who cannot afford healthy food for their kids to eat. I’m sure there are the lazy ones who would much rather buy fast food than cook a healthy meal for their children, but there are some that legitimately just do not have the money to feed their kids healthy meals. I completely agree that it is SO MUCH MORE expensive to buy healthier choices these days. A box of hamburger helper is what, 98 cents? But anything fresh or healthy, it so much more expensive. The 27% fat ground hamburger is twice as expensive as the 7% lean ground turkey! It’s absolutely outrageous! And I am one of those people that make a little too much for state assistance, but cannot afford healthy groceries. Luckily, I have loving parents who help out once in a while so we can afford to buy those healthier groceries for ourselves and our children. But some people aren’t so lucky.

    The thing is the majority of people who say they can't afford healthy food........again, a crock of crap, are the same ones who can afford cigarettes and alcohol. It is just not more expensive to eat healthy.

    I do know that in my household we go through a lot of food. My husband delivers furniture out in the Oklahoma heat. Now if you have seen the news lately, you know that its been very hot and that doesn't include the humidity that Oklahoma has. He burns EASILY burns over 2000 calories in a work day. He'll come home and make 2 hamburgers for lunch (and we're talking the 97/3 hamburger meat). That's just lunch. That doesn't include the huge breakfast he's had and the 2 plates of food he goes through in the evening. My children play sports and are outside for most of the evening. They eat 6 to 7 times a day. Its not all meals but snacks included. I buy smart one meals for lunch and breakfast and yogurt for snacks. Price wise, the cost for the hamburger meat that we buy is quite a bit more than the 80/20. My family can easily go through a bag of fruit a day. The smart ones I buy cost twice as much as a hungry man pulled pork sandwich with 800 calories. So it does indeed cost more to buy healthier. And if a household is as active as my household, you tend to go through food faster than a household that's not.

    And for the record, we do not smoke or drink.
  • Sarw27
    Sarw27 Posts: 68 Member
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    I read this same article as well, and it did say that the government is contemplating doing this in ONLY extreme circumstances where every other possible option has already been exhausted.

    Parents have a responsibility to provide for their children, and that doesn't just mean a roof over their heads but HEALTHY food in their stomach's as well.

    The majority of people who say it's expensive to eat healthy are making excuses (I can say that, because I was one of them, until I realized how to shop properly). People are uneducated, and that is where the government needs to start.

    You may as well raise your children in the ghetto, because you're killing them anyway with what you're feeding them.

    When I think about the crap my mom fed me as a child, I resent her. If she had been a responsible parent then I could have grown up knowing good habits and how to make healthy decisions... I wouldn't be struggling as an adult to learn it all now.
  • circusmom
    circusmom Posts: 662 Member
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    I feel bad for the parents who cannot afford healthy food for their kids to eat. I’m sure there are the lazy ones who would much rather buy fast food than cook a healthy meal for their children, but there are some that legitimately just do not have the money to feed their kids healthy meals. I completely agree that it is SO MUCH MORE expensive to buy healthier choices these days. A box of hamburger helper is what, 98 cents? But anything fresh or healthy, it so much more expensive. The 27% fat ground hamburger is twice as expensive as the 7% lean ground turkey! It’s absolutely outrageous! And I am one of those people that make a little too much for state assistance, but cannot afford healthy groceries. Luckily, I have loving parents who help out once in a while so we can afford to buy those healthier groceries for ourselves and our children. But some people aren’t so lucky.

    The thing is the majority of people who say they can't afford healthy food........again, a crock of crap, are the same ones who can afford cigarettes and alcohol. It is just not more expensive to eat healthy.

    Kinda harsh...

    Since my family has started buying more whole foods and less processed foods our grocery bill has gone up, and we don't smoke or drink.

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