+353
Letting your child become overweight should be considered a form of abuse. By constantly feeding them junk food and allowing them to sit in front of a television for hours a day, you're putting their health at risk. When it all comes down to it, it IS a form of child abuse. amirite?
I'd see too much gray area for this to work. Especially for low income families, these types of behaviours are encouraged: McDonalds is cheap, if both parents work then they probably don't have time to cook, and no money for sports + not wanting their kids to be playing unsupervised can lead to more time in front of the TV. And of course, obese, understandable; just overweight, no.
If the parents are crazy (like forcing the kids to eat junk food when they have other options) or neglectful, sure, but only if dietitians/pediatricians decide. Jailing good parents because their kid fails the beep test or saying kids are alright if they get enough "vegetables" are generally things we should avoid.
lol only in America can you be more likely to be fat if you're poor.
Actually it's becoming more of a worldwide thing in wealthy cities because of all the convenience food.
Subway is just as cheap, only it's not as bad for you. Vegetables cost close to nothing at the grocery store, yet are healthy.
Sports don't cost money: grab a ball and go play outside. Go running, walk around the neighborhood. There's countless physical activities that a child could do for free.
TV is more expensive than physical activities because you actually have to pay for a TV.
A lot of food doesn't need cooking, make salad on weekdays. Make the whole week's worth of dinner and leave it in the fridge for them to heat it up in the microwave.
There's a lot of things a person can do to prevent their children of being overweight.
But you do see the gray area the anon is talking about. It could also lead to other things being declared child abuse. In extreme cases, it does make sense.
They both make valid points though... LET'S SQUISH THEM TOGETHER.
You seem to have broken your Billy Mays key.
Noo... That's my gir voice button! :D
This anon reminds me of ilikefurrywolves.
THIS Anon is not ilikefurrywolves
Is ..?
This anon is earthwormjim.
Or is it..?
I'm confused.
Good.
Anonymous anon is anonymous.
It's probably ilikefurrywolves, though.
It's not me you turdball
And someone has been hard at work downvoting everything.
It's not you, it's me!
(he wants me to reveal myself sexually)
It's not though.
Then reveal thyself.
Sexually?
Whatever floats your boat.
Water...
Vegetables don't cost next to nothing. Food is extremely expensive and many people can't afford it at all. The difference between a $1 meal and a $5 meal may seem like nothing to some of us, but when you are feeding two kids on $7.25/hour, $4 it's a lot.
Also, not everyone has access to grocery stores. Many grocery stores don't operate in low income areas because there aren't enough customers willing to spend a lot of money. Even cheaper lower-grade food stores like 7-11 have a hard time staying open because they are robbed so often. This means that if you want vegetables, you must have a car and enough money for gas to drive to the nearest grocery store in the next town and buy them. Even if you did manage to get your hands on vegetables they would be of the less nutritious frozen variety because fresh perishable foods are way more expensive.
I do believe that the low income area you are referring to is, where I'm from, called "farmin' country."
And guess what grows on farms..?
I don't know anything about "farmin' Country, but I guess it would affect the urban poor more than the rural poor.
No.
If you are in an urban environment, you are not necessarily within walking distance of a grocery store. Grocery stores do not operate in poor areas where there aren't enough people buying high priced food item to keep the store in business. I'm not making this up. It's is a widely accepted reason for the correlation between income and obesity.
Growing your own food is not cheaper. To farm your own food you need seeds, land, supplies, fertilizer, farm equipment, and most importantly, a bunch of time to spend watering, weeding, and harvesting your plants.
A meal at McDonalds is around $3+ a person, if you have a family of 4, this comes out to $12. You can buy a loaf of french bread, a can on beef broth, a bag of swiss cheese, and 3 or 4 onions and make onion soup for a whole family for around 6 dollars, with leftovers. You can buy an 18 piece bag of chicken for around $6. A bag of cheetos cost more than an apple. Junk food is not cheaper.
Tell that to the New York times.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2...-healthy-food/
Based on his findings, a 2,000-calorie diet would cost just $3.52 a day if it consisted of junk food, compared with $36.32 a day for a diet of low-energy dense foods
If you have $3 to feed yourself, your choices gravitate toward foods which give you the most calories per dollar,’’ said Dr. Drewnowski. “Not only are the empty calories cheaper, but the healthy foods are becoming more and more expensive. Vegetables and fruits are rapidly becoming luxury goods.”
Yeah, that's because you would eat one meal a day of junk food if we're going on a 2,000 calorie diet. It is NOT 36.32 a day, I can eat off that for almost a week.
Exactly. It really bothers me that people assume parents only have overweight children due to a low income.
It costs a lot less and is just as easy (if not easier) to make a pb&j sandwich and open a cup of yogurt as it is to go through a fast food drive-through.
A kickball costs less than a monthly cable bill, and there's no charge to go to a public playground. YMCAs have basketball courts, gymnasiums and pools where kids can play - and they usually have scholarships for people who can't afford memberships.
Teaching children healthy behavior is not expensive, nor is it complicated.
A meal at McDonalds is around $3+ a person, if you have a family of 4, this comes out to $12. You can buy a loaf of french bread, a can on beef broth, a bag of swiss cheese, and 3 or 4 onions and make onion soup for a whole family for around 6 dollars, with leftovers. You can buy an 18 piece bag of chicken for around $6. A bag of cheetos cost more than an apple. Junk food is not cheaper.
I agree that, to some extent, a parent is responsible for their child's healthiness. However, especially with older and more independent children, it is hard to exercise the kind of control you seem to have in mind.
On the food subject, buying less junk food will definitely help, but a kid could always go to a friend's house and eat food there, or, if they get an allowance, go buy unhealthy things from a store or vending machine. Furthermore, if a child buys lunch, school lunches aren't very healthy. Even if a parent packed a lunch for their kid, the kid could not eat the healthy stuff and just bum food off of their friends.
With exercise, many kids would refuse to go outside. Even if they did, they might just walk around and talk to their friends instead of participating in any vigorous activity.
Parents can help children be healthy, but ultimately, the kid is going to be the one who decides what to eat and when to exercise. It shouldn't be considered abuse if a child is overweight despite their parents' efforts.
If a kid is buying unhealthy food after their parents tell them not too, the parents should punish them.
all these behaviors are influenced by their parents though
That is one thing I thought of after posting this.
Once a child hits (about) 12 or so, and they're off with friends and have more of their own money, they probably will be buying a fair share of junk, and they might not always care about physical activity... At that age, no, there isn't always much a parent can do about it. However, if it's a younger child, the parents need to set a good example by regulating what and how much they eat, and encouraging physical activity.
It is hard to know where exactly to draw the line on what factors should or should make it abusive.
I think stuffing pills for ADHD down your child's throat should also be considered abuse.
Not always. Some people actually need it, but a lot of people don't. There is a true difference between having ADD/ADHD and not paying attention.
Well I mean it's a characteristic for almost every kid: to have the attention span of a gold fish.
ADD is more than just not being able to pay attention when you're bored. Some kids with ADD cannot actually ignore noises like coughs, pencil sharpening, pen clicking, and rustling when they're working. It would be like trying to read while someone is shooting at you. Other times, ADD kids just completely ignore everything and forget that they are even supposed to be taking a test.
ADD is also not just found in children. You can have ADD at any age.
That's the thing. Only some people need it. The ones who need it aren't even usually the ones taking the meds.If a parent sees that their kid is getting poor grades in school they would rather jump to the conclusion that they have ADD/ADHD rather than admitting that maybe their child isn't motivated to do well. It is so easy to be diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. All you have to do is complain about having a hard time focusing and the doctor will write you a script. That seems abusive to me.
They should probably reform whatever system you need to get ADD meds. I had to got through about 6 hours of IQ testing on two separate occasions but I really don't think every person has to go though that.
I think different doctors use different tests. My doctor doesn't even test. ADD is a legitimate mental illness, but it's too easy to make people believe you have it.
If they don't need the pills it is. But there are real clinical signs of ADD that most people don't consider. Parts of their brain are wired differently, causing the problem and that people with ADD/ADHD response to uppers (like caffeine, etc) as if they were downers.
That's interesting. I have ADD and I've always reacted to caffeine just like everyone else. Many it's because I don't have any problems with hyper activity. I just have attention and executive functioning issues.
Hmm... I read it in a textbook, and it didn't go into many different types of attention disorders, so there are probably a ton that I have no idea about.
and it could lead to physical and verbal abuse by their peers
i wouldn't consider it child abuse if they were a little chubby, but if they are morbidly obese, then its a bit different
This is pretty ridiculous. No parent is perfect. Most parents allow their children to become involved in some type of behavior that is probably not best for them. Besides, parents only have that much control over their kids up to a certain point. When kids get older, they're going to have a lot more control over what they eat and do. Besides, this is an unfair expectation when we live in such an unhealthy society. People need to stop being so judgmental of parents who are trying their hardest, especially people who aren't even parents themselves. I'm not a parent, so I would never criticize how someone raises their kids (unless they're outright abusive) because I have no idea how difficult it is.
If the child is young enough for their parents to still have control over their eating habits and the child obese I understand how it can be seen as abuse. The price of food has nothing to do with it. Canned vegetables are better than no vegetables.
You should have used the word "obese" instead of "overweight."
There was an episode of Maury where parents were crying about their 200lb 4 YEAR OLD. Talking about how they have to chain and padlock their fridge and shit, yet they give the kid a BUCKET of fried chicken (and lots of other crap) for one meal, then the parents cry about their kids' health problems... I think that kinda shit should be considered child abuse.
& its way cheaper to eat healthy rather than fast food. I'm diabetic so I have a pretty strict diet (not just no sugar like most people think) but I spend $100-150 a week with 5 people in the house and its more than plenty for 3 healthy meals a day 7 days a week.
It's actually under "maltreatment," which one can be prosecuted for in court, but with someone so non-dramatic as obesity compared to most maltreatment cases that are brought to court, it's kinda hard to care.
So would it be considered child abuse to drive them somewhere? There's a health risk of dying from auto collisions too.
To get fat it takes a long time, The paarents may start to see a diffrence and intervene a car accident is unexpected and no one supports car crashes
The point is there comes a point when you have to take responsibility for your own problems, nothing is stopping the child from exercising. It's not like the parent has strapped them to a chair in front of the tv and force fed them twinkies.