Is having overweight kids child abuse?

[Mummyme1987]

A friend posted on Fb that parents with fat kids are child abusers. Except for kids with medical problems. It started with comments on how it's awful that there's a generous fit section in clothes shops. I'm shocked that people think this. I think the majority of parents don't just feed their kids crap, and some kids are bigger than others, and unless it is a very extreme case it's not child abuse. Thoughts?

Would i be the same sort of person if i had always been a smaller dress size and therefore took it for granted

I'm your battle with weight has shaped who you are today. However I don't think you need to go through all this to appreciate being slimmer. I have never been overweight but I still don't take my dress size forgranted.

What we want to avoid is for kids getting to the point of it becoming a battle. They need a kickstart to being active from a young age so it becomes the norm and part of life.

They need a kickstart to being active from a young age so it becomes the norm and part of life.

Yes I agree with that.

Even just walking on a daily basis isn't the norm in some children's lives. They're often driven everywhere and will see their parents taking the car to the local shop, to buy a newspaper because a 15 or 20 minute walk, isn't seen as 'normal'.

3 chicken shops near a school There was just the one chippy near ours in the 80s I saw a tv doc several years ago where there was a Burger King next to a heart ward.

Mini

Widespread obesity is a modern phenomena which exists only in countries where formula junk food is affordable and widely available.

However, Norway French and Italian children don't end up obese like UK children do, even though unhealthy food is sold there too.

We just want are ALL children having optimal nutrition and healthy lifestyles. We consider it a health issue. Like the NHS does, as does the WHO and all other major health bodies do.

Having flat nipples feet may make it harder for a child to exercise, but it's no excuse not to do it.

Children in Rwanda aren't obese, their mothers were able to give their children a diet that didn't lead to obesity, even though they don't have access to the advice we have in the UK.

The advice to help you keep your DC on a healthy diet was available, but I think you'd decided it was all just too much effort and didn't really engage with it, and became aggressive with the HCPs who were trying to help you when you claimed you wanted it.

Maybe, Mini, like all those mothers you pour scorn on who don't BF, or BF for long enough IYO, you just didn't try hard enough to make sure your DC had a healthy lifestyle which set them up for life. Lots of other parents struggle, but they persevered, because their child's health was important to them.

All of these points may ring a bell to you...

See, not nice when people imply that you're just too selfish and lazy to do the right thing for your children, is it. Maybe bear that in mind the next time you tear apart a woman's reasons why she didn't feel able to BF.

Aye i beg to differ. half my family is Italian because my mum is and a few of my cousins" children are overweight.

Obese is such a nasty word.it should be bout helping eachother out.to get happy therefore healthy kids.tracing the simple recipes.the walks.time together.not making them hate because there fat,obese and wrong in some way.this purpetuates it all.howcan we get people to change.to like themselves enough t want t be healthy,eat veggies and good stuff.why jump on people as soon as they "fail"

AyeAmarok what do you mean? By mentioning formula? That's very unkind you know. MANY women can't or choose not to breast feed for VERY valid reasons.....you being snide about formula is just uncalled for.

I formula fed because I was sexually abused as a teen and my breasts are no go zones. My children are not fat.

Matt, you're preaching to the converted. I have absolutely no issues with FF whatsoever.

You've obviously never been on a BF/FF thread with Mini.

Where are all the offers on fruit and vegetables? Why aren't supermarkets actively promoting proper food and not just junk.

Loads of supermarkets have offers on fruit and veg. Aldi do some every week for about 60p

shebird ive seen multipacks of TWELVE packs of crisps for a pound.

Crisps arent filling or meant to be and everyday food. You can choose not to buy them. That's why junk isn't cheaper. It's not filling and you need more.

The running a mile thing may look great on paper but what are schools going to do about the bullying of the overweight kids that may result.

this is the attitude that I see when it comes to the daily mile. People scared their kids will get bullied because of it. It shouldn't really be that difficult for most children without medical problems.

What about kids that are bullied because they aren't great at spelling or failed a test. When the bullying happens outside the class room?

WorraLiberty
It's actually quite upsetting that so many adults are willing to put up so many excuses/reasons as to how 'impossible' it is to help kids lose weight.

That is not the focus of this thread at all. People have provided reasons for not commonly labelling some cases of childhood obesity as neglect on the parents' part. Not the same as providing excuses/reasons as to how 'impossible' it is to help kids lose weight.

I asked earlier in the thread the practical value of categorising some cases of childhood obesity as abuse but didn't get a response.

If you were to define some cases as abuse, what assessment criteria would you use? How overweight would the child have to be? How would you assess whether or not the parents were trying (hard enough) to help their child? What action would you take in the interest of the child's welfare? At what point would you consider removing the child from his/her home, and if so, where would you place the child?

Obese is such a nasty word - why is obese a nasty word? It is a medical term - the correct medical term for having a BMI over 30.

What would you prefer? Fat? Corpulent? Very Overweight? Whichever word you choose, someone is going to be upset & huffy about it. I particularly dislike the use of the word Big for obese - I'm slim but don't describe myself as Small.

Diabetics don't call themselves Sugary

Diabetics don't call themselves Sugary

fascicle

worra's not even remotely interested in listening to views that differ from her own. She's decided that the fat lazy parents are the cause of the fat lazy kids.

Your questions are interesting though - it's like the arguments for/against criminalising women for drinking whilst pregnant - where on earth do you draw the line?

I asked earlier in the thread the practical value of categorising some cases of childhood obesity as abuse but didn't get a response.

Yes you did

Are you proposing criminalising this abuse? Why/why not?

If a child was eating a diet of sugary sweets and coke, and not brushing their teeth and their baby teeth started to rot and fall out. If the dentist said to the parent "they need to brush their teeth at least twice a day and drink water, not coke, or they'll lose all their teeth".

If the child was getting bullied at school and couldn't chew food because lots of their teeth have fallen out and the ones that are left are too sore to use.

If the parent keeps giving the DC coke because "that's what DC likes", and then the dentist reiterates the warning; They are going to lose all their teeth. They need to eat more than sugar and brush their teeth. But the parent knows their child, and is busy and doesn't have time to make healthy snacks or make sure the DC are brushing their teeth.

If then the DC's adult teeth come in and they rot and fall out too, leaving the child needing false teeth.

At what stage would you say that was abuse/neglect and required some sort of intervention? Or do you think that would be unnecessary? Same thing.

What would the intervention look like? (For obesity and your tooth example?)

What would you suggest for parents who willfully cause their DC to have serious health issues?

I suppose smoking in the DC's face frequently and continuing to do so when the DC becomes asthmatic and has breathing difficulties could be considered similar too.

Walking is NOT a great form of exercise

Beg to differ.
So what if it doesn't have the same effect as slogging away for hours at a time in a smelly gym.
The children would be out in the fresh air. They would be moving.
When you walk you move.
Children need to be moving around more.

It should be Walk a Mile and if some want to Run, then let them run.
The others can Walk.
Everybody's happy.

Nobody said anything about young children being in a gym. That's the last place they should be.

They should be outside in the fresh air running about, and very able to run the daily mile at school.

The excuses are part of the problem. Saying that kids shouldn't exercise for fear of being bullied is yet another excuse.

I agree with this.
Should we ban all PE for fear the overweight children feel uncomfortable?

Bullying should absolutely be stamped out. But overweight children should be doing PE and sports and Walk a Mile, if ever it's introduced.
Shielding them and writing them excuse notes so as not to do exercise is a form of abuse imo.

Well I disagree. I think it's a crying shame that the most people can hope for for their children is that they might be able to walk a mile (other than for reasons of disability, of course).

But different strokes and all that.

Obese is such a nasty word - why is obese a nasty word? It is a medical term - the correct medical term for having a BMI over 30.
What would you prefer? Fat? Corpulent? Very Overweight?

Curvy?
I know that obese women have re labelled themselves curvy.
I went through a fat stage in my 30's. I wasn't curvy. I was fat.

I think people don't like the word obese because it sounds similar to the phrase a beast

Obese isn't nasty it's a technical/medical term.