Do you think it's child abuse if a parent lets their child get obese?

[General Jumper One]

Well I assume if they're getting junk food then it's by buying it using the money their parents give them. In which case they can stop doing that. Can't kids take their own packed lunches to schools in the US?

Yes, I've only had one school lunch in 2 years. But my school does serve REAL food though, not the stuff other schools hand out.

[Ben 'Teal'c would WIN!!' Noble]

Well I assume if they're getting junk food then it's by buying it using the money their parents give them. In which case they can stop doing that. Can't kids take their own packed lunches to schools in the US?

I don't think there should be an unhealthy option for the kids to buy.

[SF_and_Coffee]

To KEK: But what, exactly, can a parent do? It comes right back to how do you control what your child eats when they're not in your presence? If your child is getting fat but not obese yet, sure, you can change their diet at home. But if they're still going to scarf down a ton of junk food when they're not at home

Well I assume if they're getting junk food then it's by buying it using the money their parents give them. In which case they can stop doing that. Can't kids take their own packed lunches to schools in the US?

You're forgetting that kids hang out at each other's houses, and will often eat whatever is available there, with no payment required. So if a fat kid hangs out at a skinny kid's house and eats potato chips and ice cream while there, they didn't spend any money to do it. Which brings us right back to the question of how the fat kid's parents are supposed to control what their child eats when out of their sight? Or are you now going to tell me that if a kid is getting overweight, he should be punished by not being allowed to visit friends? Yeah, like that's going to help whatever issues the kid may already have...

I don't think there should be an unhealthy option for the kids to buy.

I agree with this. But what you and I agree on is, sadly, far removed from the reality many children live with these days.

[Ben 'Teal'c would WIN!!' Noble]

You're forgetting that kids hang out at each other's houses, and will often eat whatever is available there, with no payment required. So if a fat kid hangs out at a skinny kid's house and eats potato chips and ice cream while there, they didn't spend any money to do it. Which brings us right back to the question of how the fat kid's parents are supposed to control what their child eats when out of their sight? Or are you now going to tell me that if a kid is getting overweight, he should be punished by not being allowed to visit friends? Yeah, like that's going to help whatever issues the kid may already have...


I agree with this. But what you and I agree on is, sadly, far removed from the reality many children live with these days.

I doubt a kid can get fat from just eating junk food at a friends house.

[SF_and_Coffee]

Depends on the kid, their metabolism, and how much/how often/how long that goes on. But my point was more the matter of a kid who is heavy but not yet obese, eating junk food in places other than home, and over time that pushing the kid over the line to obesity, NOT a kid going from a completely healthy weight to obesity just by eating junk at a friend's house.

[KEK]

I'm sure the kids parents could get in touch with his friends parents and put a stop to it.

[jmoz]

lol doesn't matter about this and that solutions, they're all band-aid fixes. The real thing that needs fixing is why people choose to eat unhealthily and not healthily? Wow did not know that unhealthily and healthily are words.

[SF_and_Coffee]

I'm sure the kids parents could get in touch with his friends parents and put a stop to it.

Were you ever actually a kid? When I was at my friends' houses, their parents didn't hover. There were times when we could have eaten everything in the kitchen if we'd wanted to, and it wouldn't have been noticed until later. Fortunately, we were too focused on other things, like actually playing or conversing.

At this point, it looks like you're just looking for ways to back up an unsupportable assertion.

[mad_gater]

well as it has been stated right now because of the government rigging the game with taxpayer dollars, junk food is cheaper than healthy food.....take away the subsidies and and I'd be willing to bet that healthy food would become cheaper than junk food

number 2.....it tastes so damn good!!!!

if junk food is supposed to be bad for us maybe the consumption of it could be discouraged by finding a way to make it taste worse than healthy food....

I tried Kashi "Go Lean" once and while I don't doubt that it had lots of fiber and protein (greater than 5g/serving for both fiber and protein) there was one problem....it tasted like I was eating a bowlful of tree bark....yuck!...now Kashi Go Lean CRUNCH tastes much better.....tastes a lot like granola and probably is largely made up of granola

[SF_and_Coffee]

I knew I was weird. I actually like Kashi GoLean.

Then again, I was also one of those weird kids who pestered my parents to buy me whole-grain bread, dried fruit and muesli, simply because I liked the tastes and textures of things like that. They were happy to buy me Lucky Charms and Millbrook White and kept trying to figure out whose kid I might have been switched with at birth.

[mad_gater]

I knew I was weird. I actually like Kashi GoLean.

Then again, I was also one of those weird kids who pestered my parents to buy me whole-grain bread, dried fruit and muesli, simply because I liked the tastes and textures of things like that. They were happy to buy me Lucky Charms and Millbrook White and kept trying to figure out whose kid I might have been switched with at birth.

well I don't mind whole-grain stuff either as long as it doesn't taste so bland that it tastes like my bowlful of cereal came from the outside in the form of tree twigs.....the texture is alright though...although it can take some getting used to.....I like whole wheat pasta and the Kashi wild blueberry cereal and whole wheat bread...my mom uses the Go Lean CRUNCH in a WW recipe for something called "Snicker's Pie"....which actually does taste a lot like eating snickers in pie form......and while i'm not a big bean person hummus is alright.....esp. with carrot and celery sticks and spread on toast

[KEK]

At this point, it looks like you're just looking for ways to back up an unsupportable assertion.

Really? If anything I'd say it's you who's desperately trying to contrive situations in which stopping a kid getting fat would somehow be impossible, which is coming across as a little silly. Even if a kid could get fat by stealthily eating crap food at a mates house frequently, it's not as if it would go unnoticed, and it's not like it couldn't be put a stop to. There's simply no excuse for letting your kid get into that kind of state. It's bad parenting, simple as.

[Ben 'Teal'c would WIN!!' Noble]

Were you ever actually a kid? When I was at my friends' houses, their parents didn't hover. There were times when we could have eaten everything in the kitchen if we'd wanted to, and it wouldn't have been noticed until later. Fortunately, we were too focused on other things, like actually playing or conversing.

At this point, it looks like you're just looking for ways to back up an unsupportable assertion.

Unless the kid spends five days a week at a friends house eating junk I doubt he can get that fat. if the kid is eating a healthy meal three times a day at home the parents should be able to keep their weight healthy.

We in the UK are not too far behind the US when it comes to obeseity, our obeseity rate highest in Europe I think.

[Ukko]

Unless the kid spends five days a week at a friends house eating junk I doubt he can get that fat. if the kid is eating a healthy meal three times a day at home the parents should be able to keep their weight healthy.

We in the UK are not too far behind the US when it comes to obeseity, our obeseity rate highest in Europe I think.

At least we're winning at something.

[SGalisa]

I used to have a friend who always had a 3-p.m. snack. Fattening snack. Lucky her, but her mom micro-managed the time so that my friend had to eat her snack so many hours/minutes before supper.

My parents usually frowned on an afternoon snack, unless it was a fresh fruit, Fig-Newtons, or a pre-sampling of dinner, while it was cooking, and only came by super-special request and permission (it had to have lots of leftovers, and was often veggies ala a spoonful of sour sauerkraut, or boiled potatoes with vinegar --things that weren't on the fattening list). And since I usually disliked what we had in our cookie drawer, I hardly touched anything then (crackers, or cheap, cardboard thin type of chocolate chip cookies), and only munched on a few whenever my mom took the boxes out of the cabinets. The *good-good* stuff was reserved for side snacks with our lunches and/or supper at home.

Yodels were mostly reserved for school snacks, and we kids NEVER had access to any vending machines in those days. Only the teachers and school staff had vending machine access. We also never had soda fountains, either. Just milk, water and juices during snacks (which we brought from home) and lunch (available at school). Meals were real family type -- home cooked on the school premises, but smaller portion sizes for appropriate age groups, too. Not much in pre-packaged meals in those days, except for the pizzas on their own square slab of bread crust -- cut for school cooking trays, and canned chow mein (which I avoided like the plague, and asked for P&J sandwiches on those days! =).


On the other extreme, usually the health food people I meet up with are super skinny, and complain about what more weightier folks are eating. Many folks in the entire GREEN / ENERGY movement are anti-meat eaters, and complain about cow farts clogging up our air with too much extra CO2 emissions. Not enough forests on the planet to combat that. I've read just about every excuse in the book from the treehuggers sites to other groups making the same complaints, and about having more than one child, too (adding extra CO2 into our atmosphere, etc).

Anywho... it's not impossible to cut down on the size portions of meals. People can split a yodel and still enjoy it, if those things are eaten in moderation. Instead of having 5 or 6 cookies, have only 3... the box will last longer that way, too.

Nearly 5 days every week of the year, I used to have two slices of bread with Peanutbutter & jelly on, until my hubby got me into the habit of making only one slice for him of the same meal. The jelly is sugar free, too, btw, in case anyone was wondering... and the Peanutbutter is either the omega-3 or reduced sugar variety. It costs more, but at half the sandwich size (meaning, on only ONE slice of bread, not two), probably works out to be the same price.

Also, instead of eating huge portions in meals, cut those in half or less than that and supplement the necessary vitamin intake with whatever vitamin amounts are apparently deficient. Because I am personally too small in stature (petite) to eat everything recommended on a daily table diet -- I have to supplement with vitamins. Some of my coworkers think that's silly to supplement, but I can't eat what some of them eat -- partly because of taste differences and prices (can't afford the expensive stuff).

I know some doctors are anti-multi vitamins as well, but that is the only thing that helps maintain some semblance of balance in my nutritional system. And my hubby hates leftovers (because they taste a bit on the pasty-bland side), so what we buy is first hand devoured that day type of meal. Unfortunately, our local grocery store stocks mostly for larger families, NOT smaller households; and the smaller portion meals are super expensive. So, it's mostly noodles and P&J for us... things I can make smaller portions thereof, without the hassles of losing meals, because the leftovers won't get eaten soon enough.