Fat Kids: Are Parents to Blame?

Fat Kids: Are Parents to Blame?

Thursday, October 23, 2008

filed under: family

When a parent continues to feed their fat kid junk, shouldn't they be prosecuted?

Guest blogger, Gina: If a child who cannot swim asks his mother if he can jump in a pool, and she says yes, is it the pool's fault for being there or the mother's fault for her response? What is the difference between this and if a mother of an obese child continues to feed her Twinkies?

Obese children did not get to their weight on their own. No child gets fat by eating vegetables, oatmeal and whole grain sandwiches. It's impossible. Obese children obviously have junk food available to them or they wouldn't be in this condition.

Because it's so difficult to see a child struggle with their weight, it seems that no one wants to say out loud that these kids are eating fast food, drinking soda and snacking on Hostess cakes. And it's not like a fat six-year-old is finding this stuff on his or her own. Someone is making it available -- and it isn't the wind.

We keep hearing that fast food companies' greediness and cereal companies who market to children are to blame for the growing obesity epidemic of children in the United States. How about blaming the parents who refuse to say "no" to their kid?! When I was a kid, there was a McDonald's down the street from me and I memorized the "Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids" slogan. However, still to this day, I have never tried Trix cereal and I can count on one hand the times I ate McDonald's before I was 16.

According to the Mayo Clinic, "obese children can develop serious health problems, such as diabetes and heart disease, often carrying these conditions into an obese adulthood." They also can suffer from low self-esteem, bullying, behavior and learning problems and depression.

By feeding their children unhealthy foods and not figuring out a way for them to exercise, these parents are responsible for killing their kids, right?

27 comments so far | Post a comment now >>

I also think schools, churches, and community centers are also guilty. They offer donuts and coco as mourning snack instead of fruit and cereal.. They have ice cream Sunday days, they feed the kids garbage with out parents permission. I’m sorry, but if I had children, I wouldn’t want them to have donuts for breakfast. I want them to eat a healthy snack and then maybe ON OCCASION, have a little treat after that.

- Vashti

Posted 10/28/08 05:15 PM

KARA, they do these types of visits when investigating possible abuse cases, that is what overfeeding your child is, abuse. Not teaching your kid good eating habits is not only going to give the child future health risks but it is also going to leave them vulnerable to hateful bullying. If my kid went to school 70 pounds over weight at age 10 I would understand them checking in on my home just as I would if my kid went to school covered in bruises and cuts.

- Anna

Posted 10/28/08 11:30 PM

I have a teen that is over weght despite a family that eats healthy and exercises. She has her own money and buys junk food at school and after school. I feel the school should get rid of the vending machines and the medical community needs to have a plan. Her pediatrician lectures her but there is no action. Very heart breaking for a parent.

- Anonymous

Posted 11/10/08 09:44 AM

Adults should take responsibility for what their children eat and not blame it on other things, yes genes do contribute but only to a certain point. Do you think half the population in the ancient times were obese? xxx

- xxx

Posted 11/11/08 07:53 PM

I am very forunate to have three children F-13,m-12,m-9. I have never made them watch what they eat except I will get on my daughter if i catch her eating too much at one sitting ,but they can eat small amounts as much as they want through out the whole day.I am overweight and working very hard to get rid of it and it is hard.My children’s weights are absolutely perfect and the dr.’s even say so.Their Dr.even ask me how I keep them so fit.Here is the answer no cable t.v. they are put outside to play when weather permits not asked.I take them fishing and swiming and they play games outside they play in the mud,in the woods and run all day long under my supervision I get involved and stay involved no matter how busy I am or how tired.My daughter is a bit more inside but I encourage her to exercise.They don’t have computer’s,videogames and etc.that they sit on for hours I have a computer and gamecube and I allow them One hour a day each on one or the other not both.Parent’s need to cut off the cable,myspaces,video games,cut out the sitting around on the phone,or textmessaging cadgets.Put them on a bike, spend 200 on a treadmill instead of that nintendo DS, parents it is time to be parents.What we teach them now is what they will grow up to be and you don’t want your child to grow up depressed and miserable.All women know how upsetting it is to just have 20 or 30 lbs to loose and know how hard it is to loose encourage your kids to want to do better for themselves.Heck some of you overweight moms might actually loose weight yourselves if you make a family effort that everyone be fit including some of those couch potatoe husbands.

- doodle

Posted 01/15/09 12:04 PM

for the people who are so intent on blaming the “obesity gene”.i suppose this gene only resides in America and the UK.why arent people in other countries obese.and dont just ignorantly think that its because they dont have access to food.i grew up in Kenya and although there are places stricken with famines and drought and people starve there are places that have an abundance of food.we have the opportunity to eat what we want but yet no obese people.its not only junk food.do you really think that a chicken that is being pumped with steroids is good for you?thats not fast food.in other countries the food is NATURAL and people dont have to spend a fortune to get it nor do they have to go to Whole foods.bottom line its not only junk food, but also the horrendous “normal”food that Americans think is good.

- Ashley Carl

Posted 02/10/09 07:09 PM

The child has no control over her diet nor her genes. Obesity is a condition that is forced on a child by her parents, and parents who fail to address this condition early on to nip it in the bud are failures as parents. It’s a sign of abuse, neglect, ignorance, and laziness to feed an already overweight child fattening food.

- k

Posted 04/17/09 06:14 PM

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