Do you think parents of severely obese children should be charged with child abuse?

absolutely not, how could you tell your kid they’re obese? or how could you get arrested for child abuse for nothing you can really control..

That’s hilarious. No, that shouldnt be considered child abuse, but i’d die laughing if it was.

Just imagine how many parents would be charged with it if that was true O.O

Of course not. That’s just stupid. Like one person said it’s not like they’re intentionally hurting their kid

it’s not the parents fault how high/low a child’s metabolism is… there’s no chance that’d ever be a crime… and if it was, that’s dumb.

I don’t even know what to say. I think that it should not because sometimes there can be a medical problem that causes kids to get that big but then again perents do need to watch what their kids to eat you know? But i Think it’s a no in some cases.

in some circumstances, yes. some parents are just irresponsible with their child’s health - feeding them chocolate bars to shut them up. i think that when it reaches a certain point of obesity then parent should be forced to attend classes or something to educate them of how to save their child. then after a period of time, if there is no change then the parents should be charged. isn’t overfeeding a child the same as underfeeding? it has the same damaging consequences but only one is considered neglect? it doesn’t make sense.

Good point.

thankyou

No way. It’s not abuse, it’s just ignorance and laziness as a parent. When a child reaches age 9 ish, they are pretty much fully responsible for what they eat. It’s not the parent’s fault if their kid is sneaking cookies, swapping lunches, and using their pocket money to buy candy bars. I don’t think any parent would intentionally shove food in their kid’s mouth as abuse. It’s more laziness of not being bothered to cook healthy balanced meals, and instead going out to McDonalds 4 nights a week. Also letting the kid eat what it wants, when it wants.

Overfeeding is neglect as well as underfeeding your child. In my opinion, yes they should be charged. AS LONG AS all other possible reasons for obesity were ruled out. Of course, I wouldn’t make the consequences as severe as they were for beating or starving a child. But the parent should definitely be court ordered with therapy and nutritional guidence. And then periodically checked up on to make sure the problem was corrected. If not, then further action would need to be taken.

Intentionally or not, the parent should be a parent and take care of the children. I agree with considering it child abuse, you are shortening your child’s lifespan by LETTING them (and yes the parent is buying the food) eat nonsense, plus causing possible emotional damage, so I agree with they should be charged with child abuse.

It depends on the circumstance. Some children are obese for reasons outside the parents control. I think parents should provide good nutritional food for their children, and if they dont, whether because they are not giving their child enough food, or because they are feeding them an unhealthy diet then something needs to be done. It can be very difficult to moniter what a child eats though, and in some cases there may be other factors involved such insufficient leptin production.

Unless their condition is one that cannot be helped, then yes, they have full responsibility of looking after the child with their health, so they should be charged, possibly not j@il time, but something that will warn them that they need to look after their child better.

Once a certain BMI is reached I believe there should be mandated classes/counceling for both the parents and the children if there is no underlying medical reason for the condition. There should be no punishment, only education. The counciling/classes should include education regarding good and bad choices. Food preperation and shoppng. I also think physical education should be mandated in school for all students. This could be exempt for older students who participate in sports and can test out in a physical test.