Let's put your fat ass kid in State foster care homes

puremagic

An opinion piece in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association says putting overweight children into foster care is more ethical than obesity surgery.

http://www.businessinsider.com/obese-ki ... are-2011-7

JonnyPistachio

It should be considered child abuse what some parents feed their kids. The photo in this story says it all: Two overweight kids sitting at McDonalds. Fast food is too easy and too cheap!

puremagic

How do you see something like this working? Short term or long term?

Godfather.

ooohhhh pleeeease !! what next ? add a fat tax to parents with kids that are over weight ?
taking a child from their parents is a devestating and very emotional experiance to the child as well as the parents that could cause more harm than good even if it's just for a short period of time
I'm calling bullshit on this one.

Godfather.

Godfather.

"Out of medical concern, the state placed this girl in foster care, where she simply received three balanced meals a day and a snack or two and moderate physical activity," he said. After a year, she lost 130 pounds. Though she is still obese, her diabetes and apnea disappeared; she remains in foster care,' he said."



still calling bullshit !

Godfather.

JonnyPistachio

Godfather. wrote:

ooohhhh pleeeease !! what next ? add a fat tax to parents with kids that are over weight ?
taking a child from their parents is a devestating and very emotional experiance to the child as well as the parents that could cause more harm than good even if it's just for a short period of time
I'm calling bullshit on this one.

Godfather.

I dont know Godfather.. this is a tough call if you ask me. the article says:
"There are about 2 million extremely obese children in the U.S. who develop medical problems that could end their lives by the time their 30 years old."

Is some emotional sacrifice worth a life with average life expectancy of ~78 yrs old??
Maybe someone should look into these "extremely obese" kids, and see if their parents need counselling.

81

JonnyPistachio wrote:

It should be considered child abuse what some parents feed their kids. The photo in this story says it all: Two overweight kids sitting at McDonalds. Fast food is too easy and too cheap!

being a lazy parent is to easy. you can't blame mcdonalds. i'm not defending the fast food industry, but it's not there fault.

brianlux

Godfather. wrote:

"Out of medical concern, the state placed this girl in foster care, where she simply received three balanced meals a day and a snack or two and moderate physical activity," he said. After a year, she lost 130 pounds. Though she is still obese, her diabetes and apnea disappeared; she remains in foster care,' he said."



still calling bullshit !

Godfather.

I agree- taking the kid away- total bullshit. I also would say allowing your kid to eat crap and become obese- total bullshit. The parents should be held responsible for this kind of abuse.

81

brianlux wrote:

The parents should be held responsible for this kind of abuse.

and what do you do when a child is abused?

JonnyPistachio

81 wrote:

JonnyPistachio wrote:

It should be considered child abuse what some parents feed their kids. The photo in this story says it all: Two overweight kids sitting at McDonalds. Fast food is too easy and too cheap!

being a lazy parent is to easy. you can't blame mcdonalds. i'm not defending the fast food industry, but it's not there fault.

Yeah, I agree.. i'm not blaming McDonalds. I eat there once in a blue moon. Like I said, its the parents choice, and if they raise their kids on crap like McD's everyday, and make it so some of these kids are almost unable to walk, these parents should be counselled.

JonnyPistachio

puremagic wrote:

How do you see something like this working? Short term or long term?

I cant see long term being a good idea. But if this can help a kid survive past 30 years old, I think it should be something to look into. If its short term, maybe it could be a wake up call to parents as well. I would assume that counselling and follow-up visits by authorities would be in order before taking a kid away however.

brianlux

81 wrote:

brianlux wrote:

The parents should be held responsible for this kind of abuse.

and what do you do when a child is abused?

Abuse is not a static condition. If the abuse is extreme- torture, long-term confinement, etc.- you take the kid away and put him/her somewhere safe. If the abuse is less extreme- poor diet- you require the parents to undergo mandated counseling.

ShimmyMommy

Ok, I do take issue with this. Parents are responsible for what their children eat, especially if they are very young. That child does not drive to fast food joints or the grocery store. I feel the parents are in charge of nutrition. It's a fundamental part of being a parent.

Usually, the kids get the fast foods because the parents feel guilty and don't want their children to hate them for being at work so much, being a single parent, or what have you. IMHO, I think those children will hate their parents for "helping" (for lack of a better word) them become overweight in the long run, rather than teaching them how to have a healthy lifestyle. It also creates the mentality of "I blame my parents for doing this to me".

As a child of physical abuse, I take responsibility in my actions. I have never blamed that parent as a reason to be a bad kid. Seriously, she did what she could with what she knew. Because of her, I now know better, so I do better, especially with my child.

Prince Of Dorkness

Godfather. wrote:

ooohhhh pleeeease !! what next ? add a fat tax to parents with kids that are over weight ?

I would support that 100%.

Fat people cost us all money. Their atrocious health costs us health care and emergency room fees, having to retro-fit just about everything so the 1/3 of Americans who are obese can squeeze into things is costly and don't even get me started on the people who take up two seats on public transportation.

Yeah, I'm being mean. You know what? Sue me.

I shot a movie in Australia a few years ago and when I got there, my jaw practically hit the floor. Virtually everyone was in great shape. Nobody was obese, the kids all looked bursting with health and energy, the people had great skin, looked wide awake and happy. I think I saw like 2 fat people the whole time I was there.

Being a vegan and health nut, I usually shop at Whole Foods or some other health food store so while down there (I was doing Production assistance), I was in charge of meals for the cast and crew. I did all the shopping and when I looked at the ingredients on food labels, I noticed that NOTHING had High Fructose Corn Syrup, Trans Fats, Hydrogenated anything... it was all sweetened with cane juice, natural flavours, colours... Even the kid's cereals.

EVerything tasted better, everyone felt better after eating. If you ordered a hamburger even at a roadside place.. it would come with lots of vegetables and real cheese.

People in America who park their huge butts down in front of a McDonald's happy meal and wash it down with half a gallon of Coke just make me sick. I can't believe how unhealthy people are in this country.

When I got back from Australia that time, I stopped by the grocery store on my way home and saw a very American thing... two obese little boys... probably about 9 and 10. Waddling through the parking lot, both carrying a case of Mountain Dew in one hand and a hand-held video game in the other. Behind them, their equally fat mother pushing a cart full of soda, potato chips, ice cream and Captain Crunch. I wanted to go slap her and yell "can you not see your fat brats? take away those video games and throw away this garbage you shovel into them, they're going to be dead by the time they're 24."

Bad parenting costs us all. Why should we have to pay because idiot parents can't figure out how to raise healthy kids?

FiveB247x

At what point in our society and sick culture do we stop searching for problems while failing to address the real ones?

brianlux

FiveB247x wrote:

At what point in our society and sick culture do we stop searching for problems while failing to address the real ones?

I'd say obesity is definitely a very real problem. Prince of Dorkness said it all quite well.

And kudos ShimmyMommy for being a good parent!

Prince Of Dorkness

And by The Way...
Joe My God posts this map of the laziest states and cities.


Kinda telling.

81

Prince Of Dorkness wrote:

And by The Way...
Joe My God posts this map of the laziest states and cities.


Kinda telling.

i thought number 2 was chicago or south bend. who knew Indy was in the NW corner of the state.

i've been lived in, spent time or been thru in 7 of those cities

JonnyPistachio

Prince Of Dorkness wrote:

And by The Way...
Joe My God posts this map of the laziest states and cities.


Kinda telling.

Interesting.
Everyone come to Florida.. there's no shortage of sweaty outdoor stuff to do.
I must admit, I'd be a sloth if I lived in the many of those places on that map. I love to eat, but I am constantly active because its easy in Florida. I must also say, i bet it would be tough living in some places that are cold. I feel the need to be outside and doing physical activity year round. well, I guess there is skiing.

ShimmyMommy

brianlux wrote:

FiveB247x wrote:

At what point in our society and sick culture do we stop searching for problems while failing to address the real ones?

I'd say obesity is definitely a very real problem. Prince of Dorkness said it all quite well.

And kudos ShimmyMommy for being a good parent!

FiveB247x, I agree, this seems like a band-aid solution. Why not make the price of healthy food less than that of fast foods? It probably does cost more to make fast food, as you have to grow it, process it, preservative it, package it, then ship it. Then add in the cost on the social health system to take care of the health issues that come from eating fast food so frequently. Whole foods are usually grown, picked and shipped, and help your health.

brianlux, thank you for the compliment.

FiveB247x

Our society is constantly seeking new areas to worry and fear about. Some of it is brought out by the media, but our culture has become used to following along to be "protective" when in reality these things do far greater harm than good. Everything is a panic, epidemic or something to safeguard against. Go look for another country in the world where they have food allergies, foster care for over-eating or many of these other self-inflicted drama's.. they don't exist. We're far too comfortable and it shows in every area of society.

brianlux wrote:

FiveB247x wrote:

At what point in our society and sick culture do we stop searching for problems while failing to address the real ones?

I'd say obesity is definitely a very real problem. Prince of Dorkness said it all quite well.

And kudos ShimmyMommy for being a good parent!