http://www.komonews.com/news/national/200-pound-third-grader-taken-from-mother-134616468.html
What is this world coming to? This lady obviously loves her kid enough to feed him/her enough to be 200lbs. That's the way it is. I hope the people who decided to take this kid out of his niche get shot in the fuckin head.

This is a rough one...he seems to be a good, well-adjusted kid who gets good grades and stays out of trouble.

On the other hand...and I may be a bit extreme in this belief, I'll admit...I think allowing your child to be obese is tantamount to child abuse, for two reasons.

1. Whether we like it or not, or agree with it or not, in a world full of challenges being really obese just makes it harder. Our society does not view obese people very well...which is kind of funny, since we are just about the fattest country on earth.

2. Obesity is the number one cause of health problems and early death in our country. It might be "heart disease"...it might be "diabetes"...but the fact of the matter is that if you are obese, you are in trouble health wise for a ton of physiological and orthopedic problems.

If you are an adult, then I think you have the right to be obese and unhealthy...if you are a 12 year old that responsibility falls to your parents.

Assuming that is true...the next question is...

Is the kid better off in foster care than with his mom?

In my opinion that's the only question that really matters, and the only way I'd say "no" is if the mom acquiesces, and the kid loses about 80 pounds, and they get back together and do it right the second time around.

Would that happen? Will the kid being in foster care make that more likely? How much more likely?

These...are really, really tough questions. As a general rule I think kids are always better off with their parents, all other things being equal.

Fish on...

Todd

Actually, if the kid is that fat at 12, it IS the mother's fault. There are other options at the grocery store for the aware and health concious.

How do those people know that it wasn't something to do with the kids metabolism? There are a million reasons why he could have been overweight. Taking the kid out of the home for no reason other than being 200 lbs is a crime, I hope they get a stiff punishment. A year in jail sounds at least exactly right. I want to see what kind of diet they put him on and how much weight he actually loses. Not that I really care about this issue, it's just the fact that some state worker took it upon themselve to infringe on someone else's life like it was affecting their own. Now it's left to the state to make this kid lose x amount of pounds to be considered sane. Then when he grows up he's gonna say "Well when I was in third grade I was taken away from my mom cause I weighed 200 lbs. and I never saw her again". Abuse of power. I'ms sure he's no different then a sumo wrestler in Japan.

Keerist is there any dire thing that is not the fault of the Corporations?
Keerist. Politicians, lobbyists, food, poop, waste management.
divorce, and death. All corporate shenanigans.
Hell all this time I thought it was just life in general.

Tough call, but just maybe a wake up call for Mom. Letting a young kid weigh 200 pounds is either child abuse or no less than one rung below it. It's possible that there are causes other than eating too much, but I read that about 98% of overweight is caused by plain and simple overeating, along with too little exercise.

Illyrian,

Yes, damn near every dire thing is the fault of corporations for the simple reason that they will do anything, anything at all, to make money. Use chemicals? Sure! Unintended consequences - so what? As long as the corporation isn't held accountable or can get away with it, it's all good if it serves the bottom line. Greed is good! Didn't you watch Wall Street, the movie?

You are responsible for what your kid eats. Corporations should not lie, should not sell garbage, and should not market that garbage directly to children...but, as a parent, it's your job.

Fish on...

Todd

Sometimes the guardians of children are simply not competent and need to be called out. They may have judgment issues or financial issues that prevent them from properly caring for children.

I don't think anyone on this board could witness the mistreatment of a child and not do something about it.
The obesity case is the same an any other medical or abuse case in my opinion.

Ya know it's kinds sad. Man and woman have all the necessary
equipment to concieve a child and yet there is nothing other than
a brain, preferrably two to raise that child. I think perhaps the
school systems are missiing the boat in the basic education area.
No guarantee that old time Home Economics with a few add ons,
would work. But something is missing. Both sexes, btw, should
be required to take that bit of advanced Home Ec. Not talking
about pie recipes here.

Todd, are you a parent?

I have kids.

Feel free to take them any time you want.

Don't need to be a parent to comment on this.


Come on, the kid's in 3rd grade. He needs proper care and guidance from his guardians.


If they let it happen on their watch and don't take appropriate steps to mitigate and the child is a minor, they are liable, IMO.

It really gets tough when freedom of religion is tossed into the mix.
We have a group down here in Oregon City called "The Followers of Christ". They don't believe in medical intervention.
There have been some sad stories of children losing their lives to easily curable ailments.
The court cases go on for months/years.

I don't think you have to have kids of your own to make a judgment call on how poor of a parent you are if you let your child be obese...period.

The medical complications from it should be enough to call your judgment and parenting skills into question, not to mention the social stigma involved for an obese kid...

Little kids aren't born with food addictions, they don't buy their own food, and are not able to make those decisions for themselves...that's why they are called "children" and you, the parents, are called "adults".

Fish on...

Todd

How about the story from several years ago about the vegan hippies who had their child taken away from them because she was undernourished from mainly eating only lemon grass and tofu for three or four years?

Child abuse?

Fuckin-A-right it is.

This is no different.

Fish on...

Todd

I am a parent and try to make sure my daughter eats 3 healthy meals a day, while I admit I can't police everything she eats but if we limit the amount of junk snacks in the house it helps. I am no food Nazi as I like some oreo's or Cheeze Its every now and then but moderation works. To try and blame poor parenting on Corps is just ignorant.

I wasn't attempting to justify feeding a child into obesity,that would be a major problem if it was my family whatever the cause of it was. I don't think people that haven't raised children realize how they are bombarded with all sorts of advertising and peer pressure to eat the garbage that is passed off as food. It's a epic battle between the junk food pushers with their mega million dollar advertising and parents trying to keep their children on a healthy diet. Then there are the junk-food junkie parents that pass their eating disorders onto their children,no excuse for that.

Well maybe the parents shouldn't give into the peer pressure! I suppose you give your kid the Visa card anytime they ask to go to the mall as well.

The number one reason 60% of America is overweight and over 30% obese is people choose to remain uninformed about the consequences of thier eating habits. People, AuntyM comes to mind are looking for the silver bullet cure for an epidemic. The epidemic is lack of knowledge of information that is widely available to them. It is much more convieniant and socially acceptable to place blame on a single food or macro-nutrient then to change eating habits and create a healthy diet. A quick look back through the fat free 80's and low carb-90's shows us blaming one part of a diet is not solving our weight issue. Overweight and obesity numbers continue climbing every year and will continue to do so.

Did I say anything about what I do except for pointing out that if there was obesity in my family it would be a problem? You can suppose anything you want. I suppose your head is up your ass.

My head is no further up my ass than yours is if you think that choosing a proper diet is to hard of a task for a parent given all the other tough choices required with parenting. Maybe yank yours out and get a breath of air once in a while.