To feel I have just witnessed child abuse?

[mrsrosieb]

Please note I have only used medical terms in this post and nothing I am writing is meant to be insulting towards obese people.

I have just witnessed a morbidly obese woman pushing a pram with 2 older children-one about 9 and one about 14. These children are dangerously obese from a medical point of view.

I felt so sorry for them. If mum wants to eat a diet that makes her obese that is her choice and I have no problem with that. What I have a real issue with is raising children that may go on to suffer heart disease and diabetes-plus getting a ragging from the school bullies.

I know the SS have removed children like this. Am I right in thinking this is child abuse?

This looks at passive parenting, and as a teacher much of it rings true for me with some children.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18335892

"It takes time, effort, and a conscious commitment to be counter-cultural"

• this is what this writer says about overcoming the pressures to eat junk habitually. This is very clear - even a writer who is pro-personal responsibility on an individual level identifies that healthy eating is counter-cultural, goes against the grain of society.

Logically, in any given culture, the majority cannot be counter-cultural. That is a nonsense. It is a logical impossibility to force upon populations.

Why is it so hard to admit this?
Why can we not admit the need to change culture?
As individuals you and I can be counter-cultural, make more than average effort. But on an aggregate level, something else is needed. I don't know why it makes people so uncomfortable to admit this. Oh yes, I do: brainwashed by neoliberal capitalism.

Fallen that's an interesting article. A month or so ago I threw a book in the bin because it was basically an advertisement for some plastic toy manufacturer's products. It was a really nice, bright, heavy duty baby book and I felt guilty at the time but the article mentioning advertising to newborns and babies being able to recognise brand logos has reassured me that I was right.

vezzie I think that is very true.

I live in a terribly affluent area where being fat (especially DC) would be frowned on. There is no fast food restaurant in our local town. There is no Greggs bakers. The few fat DC really do stand out and fortheir parents not to care is counter cultural.

Yet not too far away is another town wit McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Greggs. It is far more acceptable in this town for DC to eat crap. In fact I'd go so far as to say it would be expected that DC would eat crap. And fat DC are not frowned on in the same way.

vezzie I'm on a thread about feeding cats ATM and I KNOW that feeding cats the junk dried food makes them ill and very fat and I have said so on the thread; you would think that I've advocated eating kittens from some of the replies I've had IMO brain washing about junk food for everyone including animals is endemic in our society I agree.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19267308

Article proposes that it is child abuse if the parents have been given every opportunity to address their child's eating habits, it should be considered abuse. I think the general consensus is that they need some guidelines on this issue- especially with extreme 50st teens

If the children are morbidly obese their physical and emotional wellbeing is at a huge risk - why isn't this considered abusive behaviour?

The family will be worked with, as it is seen as needing intervention of some sort.

You cannot walk past someone in the street and know wether they are trying to make changes, what the back story is and if support is being directed to them, unless you would rather we start tattoo people, or perhaps putting different coloured stars on their coats?

Just so you know whether to judge them, treat them like shit, talk about them on the internet, or feel sorry for them, of course.

There's a programme discussing this issue on R4 right now. Very shocking stories of 7yos with type 2 diabetes, a 2yo who weighs nearly 5 stone etc.

I really hope that social services and clinicians are able to put together a code of best practice to address this issue.

Is it abuse? Barring medical causes like Prader Willi syndrome, I would agree with the social worker who described it just now as physical and emotional abuse and neglect.

In terms of judging people out in the street, I don't think that a casual passer-by can possibly know the background. I do think though that the adult laissez-faire 'big is beautiful' 'anti-fattist' attitude is creating an environment where children being overweight through poor diet is acceptable.

It is schools that will play the bigger part, in this rather than SS, but it did start at Children's Centre's/Surestart and now they are disappearing, it is going to be tackled later, rather than sooner.

I think that in some areas the LA needs to adher to the ECM policy of providing affordable lesiure and parks/open spaces, etc.