Saw this on the local news this morning and I guess theres alot of mixed feelings about it. What does HA say on the topic?

 

I wouldn't want to see kids forcefully removed from a situation, but wtf do you do with a kid who is 13 and weighs 350 pounds?



I hate the idea of another government funded program, and I hate the idea of government having any authority in private lives. However, some of the *extreme* cases I've seen on TV could easily be considered neglect or abuse.



1. Detailed guidance and review over what constitutes "overly obese" (body fat %, height, weight) and have oversight for every individual case.

2. Don't forcefully remove the child, but maybe provide state(?) funded assistance programs for helping the child (i.e., Fat Camp).

3. Counseling sessions for the guardian(s) on how to change their lifestyles to help the child.

4. Strict follow up procedures to monitor succcess rate.

 

I think it's nuts to remove the kids. If it's truly neglect there will be other reasons to remove the child.

 

What else but abuse/neglect would you call it when a preteen is 200lbs? It doesnt matter if it's intentional, the parents are hurting the children physically by their family diet protocols.



Taking children: bad

Killing children with fatness: worse?

 

There are many reasons why a kid could get that fat which would be pretty tough to call neglect IMO. For instance if the fat little bastard sneaks the food despite being told not to and gets punished in a PC way such as groundation or a "time out" which is ineffective.



Would it be less neglectful to beat the kid until it listens? Yes. But that lands you in hot water due to the nature of the punishment you dished out.

 

So is it then NOT neglect if you fail to effectively correct the overeating?

 

Shoot the kid, shoot the parents. Problem solved.

Ammo is cheaper and you won't have ANY repeat offenders.

Once word of this gets out, watch jenny craig/weight watchers/nutrisystem stock quadruple in a week.



In all seriousness, yes, they should remove the child as that child is in an unhealthy enviornement.

If both parents were tweekers on meth, no one would have a second thought of yanking the child

If both parents were drunks every night, no one would have a second thought of yanking the child.

Just because the child is abused and is using food as comfort (or eating for some other reason) we Don't blame the parents?

Funny, we blamed the tweekers and drunks pretty damn fing fast.

One standard folks. ONE.

 

yea, the kids should be temporarily removed, and the parents should be mandated to attend some sort of health education program.



i also agree that govt should be involved in our lives as little as possible. this is definitely a slipper slope type of topic though...

 

This is dangerous territory because in the end it takes away the rights of the family. I will however say that morbidly obese children should be watched heavily by child and family services. For instance: in my long distant days of working retail I saw some real s*** but by and large the one thing that sticks out in my mind as just flat vile was a mother handing a 4 year old child a can of pringles to shut her up while she gabbed with the neighbor. Not a few chips in a bag that she brought in from outside, a brand new can of pringles off the shelf, tore open the container and handed the entire f***ing thing to a four year old child. Needless to say that can lasted all of about 3 minutes and the child began crying and thrashing about.... again. Behold the magic cheese button in the rat maze, yet another can of pringles emerged from the depths of the shopping cart. And after polishing off the second can both were disposed of on the same shelf as some electric merchandise, because it's not theft if you haven't left the store. So basically you now have a 4 year old child full of enough toxins and fat to kill a fully grown woolly mammoth, stuck in a child's restraint in a shopping card full of enough canned starch products to feed an army, and being taught that with misbehavior comes the spoils of kings.



Now, I won't say that the child should be taken away, that's like putting down someone's dog because it barks at night. But someone needs to be the adult in this case and teach the child that misbehavior yields punishment. I mean, they don't crush your car the first time you're caught doing 10 over on the interstate, likewise it's a far cry to abduct children at the first sign of obesity. Though I do feel as though many parents need a swift kick in the tail for piss-poor parenting. My nephew for one refuses to eat dinner ever. And I don't mean like eating one piece of broccoli, squirming then finishing his meat. I mean full on sit there, swivel the fork around, maybe take a bite out of his mashed potatoes then spit it back onto his plate and throw a tantrum. But come desert time he's the first one done and begging for seconds. If I had even though of doing that my dad would have beaten me with a spiked club, assuming he was in a good mood. I propose we implement a system similar to traffic tickets for children in the obese range. Schedule regular doctors visits, educate parents on healthy eating, an if improvement is not seen impose a fine on them. Seems tough but the next 200lb kid I see under 10 I am going to seriously harm someone. I mean it's f***all easy, it's commonsense, and for god sakes give a s*** about your kids!!

 

I believe a country in Europe has fat camps where they come in and take your overweight kids and put them there.



Also an important note to see is that the current generation is the FIRST generation ever to have a life expectancy that is SHORTER than the current generation. It is sad how people allow there kids to get huge but without imposing on them it is very unlikely that anything will change.