Very little is known about the causes of obsesity, and as anyone who struggles with a weight problem can tell you, it’s extremely difficult to get your body to weigh what you think it should when it wants to weigh a lot more.
Very little is known?
Most all the time, obesity is caused by eating too much and not exercising. Period. And just because it’s “haaaaaaard” to lose weight doesn’t mean it can’t be done.
IMHO, the “setpoint” theory is BS. Do we hit plateaus as we lose weight? Sure. But take an obese person and you’ll find that their body is DESPERATE to lose the weight! Why do you think people who weigh 500 pounds can lose like, 75 pounds in two months once they finally start eating normally? The body is dying to get the weight off, that’s why it comes off so fast for a while!
Why not show some compassion and sympathy for the woman and her overweight child, instead of looking to condemn her for a serious crime, when you don’t know the first thing about the situation?
Who said anything about condemning?
Maybe “abuse” is the wrong word, maybe we should call it neglect. Abuse DOES imply that the parents are out to hurt their kid.
However, what would your reaction be if you saw a 5 year old smoke a cigarette with his parent in plain view? You’d flip out, right? Same if he drank a beer. Ok, these two things are illegal as well, but why is it obesity is “okay” as far as health problems go? If the mother in question was letting her kid smoke or drink, there’d be public outcry. But letting a 4 year old get to weigh 80 pounds is something we should be quiet about? Why? It’s gonna ruin this kid’s life if something isn’t done.
Snoopy fan, thanks for the post. As you point out, plenty is known about the causes and consequences of obesity.
There have been a couple of cases where social services took children into foster care, but those children were having very serious health problems because of their obesity. I, too, remember reading about the woman who was caught smuggling sweeties to her child.
Additionally, every once in a while Christian Scientists or something will fail to seek treatment, and wind up in court. (e.g., http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/religious_defense021003.html and http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/xsci/suffer.htm) In most of those cases, though, the issue starts when a parent refuses widely accepted medical care repeatedly. Not when, as might happen, a parent rejects aggressive experimental treatments or chooses as hospice instead of that last round of chemo which has only a 4-percent chance of success.
That said, I’d worry about rushing to call anything abuse. Benefit of the doubt and all that. Peta claims a non-vegan diet is abuse. There are probably a half-dozen religious groups who consider PS2 abuse. Frankly, I think a couple of my friends who homeschool are abusing their kids, but not in a way that should be a public issue.
I’m all for letting kids smoke and drink. Well, okay, all for letting the rugrats pretend to have a puff off grandpa’s cigar and letting 'em have a swig of mom’s beer at a family event. People have been doing this for hundreds of years without much harm to the kiddies.
Also, we don’t know anything about the 80-pound four-year old in the OP’s link. Could be just a big kid.
Hey I was fat when I was young. I did very little exercise. But that was because I don’t do any purposeless movement at all, and despised socializing. And before you call me lazy, I did have 7 RBI’s in a baseball game once; played official pitcher for pickup sandlot softball; won at field hockey (one shot, one goal); played goalie in both soccer and water polo (won the all-boys game, but lost badly in the co-ed no rules–you try playing goal when a bunch girls are pulling your shorts down!). I call it efficient.
If there is a medical issue that is getting attention, then no. If there is a medical problem that is not getting attention, then it is neglect.
If there is no medical problem (but possibly a psychological one), then I still think it’s neglect. If the problem manifested itself in the opposite direction—i.e., the child was starving his or herself, one would expect the parents to do something, so I don’t see how this is any different.