Doctors say childhood obesity is neglect - do you agree?

[mylittlefreya]

The article is here

I think it's interesting the comment about undernourished children being automatically a cause for concern, but its almost not politically correct to say the same about overfed children.

I also think peoples perceptions can be quite distorted - there is a big difference between chubby, and obese, but often I don't think people see this.

At some level this worries me and at another it relieves me.

What do other people think?

Yes I think it is neglect tbh.

I don't think that the answer is to take all these children away from their families where they can be neglected elsewhere at the state's expense, but I don't really think you can argue that feeding a child to the point of obesity, which has just as serious health implications as underweightness (is that a word?) is not neglect. I'm a bit surprised by that nutitionist saying that all children should be skinny and you should be able to count their ribs. (She was on the Today programme this morning.) Is that true? Or does she have an eating disorder?

I suspect it is in most cases.

I imagine there are some exceptions, but i agree its neglect.

Obviously there's a caveat that not all childhood obesity is neglect - sometimes it's because the child has some illness or underlying condition that makes them more prone to obesity.

But boy, that idiot family who were smuggling in 1lb chocolate bars to the hospital - obviously the spiritual cousins of those lardy women who were shoving hamburgers through the fences of that school where Jamie O proper dinners had been introduced.

hmmmmm i would say some parents of obese children are neglectful. there was a programme on a few weeks ago about a teenage girl who was over 30 stone. i think she had her stomach stapled and her mum tookher shopping and kept asking if she wanted a packet of crisps as a treat. now im sorry but in my eyes that is neglect. this teen is vastly overweight and her mum is offering crisps.

I don't know really. I think it is a lack of good parenting skills, lack of knowledge about nutrition possibly, lack of cooking skills too.

At what point is an overweight dc obese?

I think if you are TRYING to make your dc fat, there is something very wrong. Neighbour of mine who takes in dc in care for short periods had a 2 year old who was wheeled about in a pram and so fat he couldn't move. The mum told her to feed him lots of chocolate, she wanted him soft and fat. I think that kind of thing is surely very rare though

Possibly in some small number of cases, yes. The word 'neglect' is quite emotive, too much so I think.

Call me a fluffy arse, but I think it would be more helpful to ask why the hell this is happening. Mainly because we are 2 or 3 generations down the line of parents who have very little knowledge about food, cooking, or parenting in a wider sense, maybe because their parents didn't. I'll say it again, don't forget, we are the lucky ones.

I don't know whether it's as intentional neglect as underfeeding a child though.

Sometimes underfed children also have parents who have psychological issues with food - there is very clear evidence that a mother with anorexia is likely to underfeed her children - but I think often parents who overfeed their children just aren't aware of the health and psychological implications for their child, or how better to feed them.

yes neglect, there is no excuse for feeding your children so much crap that they end up obese.

wether it is intentional or not, there is plenty of advice around on nutition, its everywhere, on the news, tv radio etc

Stuffing your child full of crap is lazy parenting. Giving them everything they ask for is lazy, say 'oh well they will only eat McDonalds' is lazy. Strangely enough being indulgent is actually neglectful.

However parents need to be educated in the problems caused by obesity. If you are on mn you probably have a passing interest in parenting so have picked up on how to feed the dc's. Nutrition and cooking needs to be taught in schools as standard for everyone.

I think it is sometimes neglect (anything for an easy life) but often lack of education (on the part of the parents) about food/nutrition.

Although being the mother of a child who is literally skin and bone (but who eats masses and has a natural appetite for healthy food) I wouldn't be too quick about labelling families because of their children's weight, genetics has to play a part somewhere (not that DS1 has my genes, DH was the skinny one).

agree that in the majority of cases allowing your child to become obese is neglectful, as the op says undernourished children are a cause for concern, so why not obese children? the risks to their physical and mental health are just as serious.

yes, i think it is neglectful parenting to allow your child to become and remain obese (medical conditions - which are rare notwithstanding).

i think education is the key. i work VERY hard to keep my kids fit (i have a terror of them ending up fat like me) but still, i make mistakes thinking things are the healthiest choice and it turns out not to be the case, and i am consciously trying all the time. and even so, i think ds1 is a bit chubby at times.

however, if a child with a serious weight problem is identified and the problem is discussed with the parents and they refuse to act in the best interests of their child by ensuring their good health, then i can see how, in the end, if the child is seriously suffering health problems, at least a temporary seperation for health care would be in the long term interests of the child. in the same way a sick child is admitted to hospital for treatment. or maybe the family going to stay somewhere together, to learn. a good residential course.

I think its because some kids are sitting on their bums at the computer (ahem..) or goggling at telly instead of traipsing about outside burning up energy.

I dont believe it's down to the food, you have to burn it off, whatever you eat! We used to live off steak and chips and bacon ribs most nights (brother was a butcher ) with space dust and sherbert dips for afters but we were all like lats!

When I was a kid, my mum used to virtually push us out of the house and from under her feet so days and afternoons consisted of bike riding and den building and roller skating and all this in earnest too, not a token mooch up the street and back while the nintendo loads.

So not so much neglect as lack of motivation from some parents who seem happy to let their kids vegetate basically.

in the case of the 12 year old whose parents smuggled in chocolate they could clearly see that their son had weight issues yet they still carried on feeding him junk ie the chocolate. surely that is neglectful.
we are becoming much more aware of healthy eating and i think parents of obese children should have courses on food nutrition and cookery. if they still feed their children junk then yes thats neglect and i believe that something should happen. maybe the child should go on the at risk register. and the family carefully monitored

yes, it is neglect. but, going on what DH says about obese patients that he sees, they are completely ignorant to the reality of a healthy lifestyle. Portion size, processed foods, exercise etc.

Personally, I think the government needs to take drastic action. Processed, low quality food should be banned or at least come with a hefty price tag. Supermarkets should be taxed heavily for importing food, thus forcing their hand to stock locally grown produce. The government needs to subsidise (fruit and veg vouchers) families heavily so that they can cook healthily.

Cooking takes time; the government also needs to recognise that families need to be home in time to cook at night - the UK works the longest hours in Europe. Increase mat/pat leave to 2 years.

It's the government thast has given these supermarkets tax breaks to dominate our food market and thus exploit low income families with their cheap, low quality shite food. Thus it's the government thast needs to lead the way and force us to eat well again.

steps down off soapbox

agree with carmenere - lazy parenting (in most cases)

Yes, I do think a morbidly obese child is the victim of poor parenting - though that parenting could be for many reasons.

My ds is a bit chubby because he has Aspergers and dyspraxia (and his mother's genes) and is extremely disinclined to move and cannot play any sport or ride a bike. he also has a very sweet tooth. But he gets a lot of healthy food so he will never be obese. If I gave him everything he wanted, he might well be obese.

more anecdotal stuff:
one mum at our school tells me (and her son) that he is too fat. He's not HUGE but he has a fat wobbly tum. He walks to school and that's it. He does no sport out of school.

She finds him too fat so she says she won't give him an evening meal, he has to make do with a yoghurt. She has a bowl of sweets and chocolates in the kitchen and he runs in and out helping himself all afternoon. Almost every day after school he runs up to her and says, "mummy can we get an icecream" and she always says yes.

I tentatively tried to point out that he might be better off with an evening meal, no sweets, chocolates or ice-creams but she doesn't see it.

I wouldn't honestly call her a neglectful or uneducated parent but I don't understand why she does what she does.

And society makes it hard to give children healthy food - and to give ourselve appropriate food. Portion sizes in restaurants are mad. I always ask the ice cream man to give us a small cornet and there seems to be no concept of this. When I was a child ice creams were far, far smaller. Cakes were smaller. even slices of bread were smaller.

... but Mars Bars were bigger, Aloha! Or so everyone always says.

So were Curly Wurlys

I tell you what is definately smaller - wagon wheels, it's scandalous actually, they are so small now they're not even double the size of a jaffa cake (which are also way smaller)

I think it has to be neglect when they get to the point where they need a walking stick. VSS I wonder re that comment about ribs. You can see 6yo DS's and 3yo DD's ribs. But I think 6 is generally quite a thin age and 3 is a getting thin age. And my two have 50% thin genes (not my 50% btw!). But some children are not going to be so naturally thin.

There was a comment in the article about the children being big boned. But surely the bone struture affects the weight rather than how fat they are? DS has big bones, you can see them all sticking out, big knees, wide feet, wide shoulders with the shoulder blades sticking out, because he is thin.

it is neglect imo. My two - DS3.5 and DD 17 months are bored stiff this morning (for instance) - I cant do much to entertain them as we are away camping this weekend, and Im batch cooking, packing etc.

DS keeps hovering around my ankles asking for food - snacks.

Now it would be very easy for me to shove a packet of crisps(although we dont have crisps very often in our house and dont have any now either) or other snack in hands and send him off for 5 minutes; but thats all it would be - 5 mins, till the next 'I want'. DD hovers too, and again...easy to shove a snack in her hand and send her off while I continue to busy myself.

So i have had to 'find time' to entertain them - Ive now included DS in the cooking, and will include them in the packing (although that will be a nightmare!).

In truth, its very hard NOT to fend them off with a treat. Its much harder to stay disciplined and self-controled, and work harder - its for them in the long run, lets face it.

OK, off now to check cooking and retrieve bin contents from DD. LOL xx