Parents Arrested Over Obese 11-Year-Old Son

a reply to: grainofsand

being unhealthy is now a crime?

Tired of Control Freakjs

a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks
Wilfully continuing to make choices which you know are damaging to your childs health is a crime, as it should be in any caring society.

a reply to: grainofsand

There is absolutely no evidence of the parents having done anything wrong! They have a fat kid and they couldn't MAKE him lose weight. Considering how hard it is for anyone to lose wieght, that isn't surprising. And it isn't a crime.

Tired of Control Freaks

a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks

So you agree with LadyGreenEyes. Unless your kid is of perfect BMI, if you press a piece of cake on them during birthday celebration, you should be arrested?

And this is your way forward in society?

Tired of control Freaks

a reply to: grainofsand

So explain something to me.

Since you are so focused on the fact that a doctor called the police because he was concerned about the child's health, why did this doctor not admit the child to hospital for treatment?

Tired of Control Freaks

originally posted by: TiredofControlFreaks
There is absolutely no evidence of the parents having done anything wrong! They have a fat kid and they couldn't MAKE him lose weight. Considering how hard it is for anyone to lose wieght, that isn't surprising. And it isn't a crime.

The parents regulate the food intake of an 11 year old. The parents regulate how much money they give a child to purchase sweets/chocolate/crap/etc.

At age 10/11 my own son was getting noticably chubby so we got rid of snacks in the cupboard, regulated the energy intake of him with smaller portions, refused requests for sweets and reduced his purchase power in pocket money to deny him the chance of buying it himself.
He is a fit healthy rugby playing late teen now, and recently we had a lovely deep conversation where he thanked me for the intervention as he knew his mother was the weak link in the food supply.
If I hadn't made the correct choice and taken responsibility for my sons health he would still be fat, possibly dangerously obese as the boy in discussion obviously was to concern a doctor.
It is the parents fault, every time. It is a shamefully weak parent who cannot say no to an 11 year old.

a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks
Diabetes/heart disease not yet diagnosed perhaps?
Shortness of breath during excercise, excess sweating during a simple walk down the street, difficulty climbing flights of stairs etc does not usually require immediate hospital treatment though.

originally posted by: grainofsand
a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks
Wilfully continuing to make choices which you know are damaging to your childs health is a crime, as it should be in any caring society.

No its not.

When the child's condition is a constant deterioration, and by constant I mean medically documented visits where the actions of the parents are a direct factor and not a secondary factor, then you could possibly have an argument.

I am not quite sure how it works in other countries but here in the states medical personnel (Doctors / nurses) are considered mandatory reporters (law enforcement is as well). When an incident occurs that directly affects the health of a child is required to be reported for follow up.

Obesity is not covered.

The intent is to protect a child who otherwise cannot protect themselves. Namely abuse, whether physical or mental. If you want to go down the weight road I would be more concerned with an 11 year old who weighs 50 pounds as opposed to over weight.

Secondly its inappropriate to remove a child and arrest the parents when no actions have been taken to determine cause. By that I mean is the child overweight because of eating alone or is there other issues that MUST be taken into account. There are medical conditions out there that can affect a person to the point of throwing their metabolism off. Even high levels of stress can result in over eating or not eating at all.

Eating/overeating due to psychological conditions are a bit harder to diagnose because it requires the child to be honest about what's going on in their life. As I pointed out before sometimes communication is a no go.

Is an overweight child an issue? Possibly.

What's going to do more damage though -
An overweight child or an overweight child whose parents were just arrested because the child is overweight.

Which one of those actions do you think are going to cause more problems?

Yes I am fat or Yes I am fat and my parents just got arrested and charges because I am fat.

Based on my experience in both, being fat and being in law enforcement dealing with these situations I can tell you the intent on the government to try and do right in this situation has in fact made the situation ten times worth.

Overweight kid.
Parents arrested because of it.
It being discussed world wide.

Yeah... that wont cause issues.

Criminal behavior should be a matter of public record after the fact.
Medical problems should be prohibited from release since a persons medical history has absolutely no business being released to the public at large.

I doubt law enforcement in the UK would release medical information for the royal Family.

a reply to: grainofsand

What's the income status of the family in question?
Based on that answer, what's the economic condition of where they live?
What's the medical history on both sides of the family?
What's the medical history of the parents / siblings?
What's the medical history of the child in question?
What's' going on in the child's life that can create a major factor on the life scale?
What type of help have the parents received prior to this incident?
In the area they live in what's cheaper - Healthy food from the store or fast food?
What percentage of the family income is used for what?

etc

a reply to: grainofsand

And again - you think bragging about what a perfect parent and person you are, how morally superior, how - if only everyone was as wise as you, the world would be a better place.

Please - we have all had a slightly chubby kid and upped his/her physical exercise in response. when my daughter hit puberty and started to get chubby, I had her walk to my workplace and meet me so that we could have quality time walking home together. Notice the fact that I didn't send her for a walk, I made myself walk 3 miles TO work, for the sole and single purpose of walking home with her so that she wouldn't feel like going for a walk was a punishment.

Now aren't I just the best human being in the world!

Now answer the questions I posed to you (i answered yours)

If the child's health was at such a risk that the police were called and the parents were arrested, why did the doctor not admit the child to hospital?

Is this the way forward for society in your eyes - that public health edicts as to what constitutes healthy shall be enforced by law?

Should cakes and cookies be banned and any parent who presses food on their child be arrested?

Tired of Control Freaks

a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks

when you said

People jump out of their skins to explain to the world how superior they are because they are normal weight.

"I just work out 7 days a week and eat nothing but organic lettuce I grow in my back yard" is the normal response and no one even stops to think how the fat person might feel.

It just reiterated something I was thinking as I was reading through this thread.

Most people don't have a clue why they are thin. They think they caused it somehow, but in reality they probably simply don't know.

I had two children and both were thin and healthy with the exception that my daughter was type 1 diabetic. But even her trying to keep her weight UP to a healthy norm was difficult, although that was the diabetes I imagine. The doctor wanted her to weigh between 110-115 in high school and we could barely keep her weight above 100 and most of the time not even that high.

But why were my children thin I don't really have a clue... my son could sit down to a 3,000 calorie meal twice a day and still snack during growth spurts and never gain weight. He SHOULD have been fat with as much as he ate at times because that boy could down some food. There were times he would wake up in the middle of the night and want another full meal because hunger woke him up... after eating three or four times the amount I had eaten the previous day...

we just cannot sit and say well we are thin and its because we did this or that thing... all most of us can do is say we are thin. Don't know why, it just is.

I spent my whole life thin, I could also eat an entire cheesecake all by myself and not gain a pound! Some women even look at a slice and it goes to their hips! For me that changed with age and a back injury.... but I still eat a lot of food compared to others of the same physical output and weigh less probably. Most of being thin has not one thing to do with us, and neither I would assume would being fat be.

Some things just are....Some people need more physical exercise etc to stay smaller and some people dont, we all have our own challenges in life and we are all different. But that is the cool thing about life!

I am horrified that anyone would support the arrest of parents because of something like this. What's next if we allow this? Arresting smoking parents? Where will we stop and say this is not the states purview.

originally posted by: XcathdraI am not quite sure how it works in other countries but here in the states medical personnel (Doctors / nurses) are considered mandatory reporters (law enforcement is as well). When an incident occurs that directly affects the health of a child is required to be reported for follow up.

Obesity is not covered.

Well, this post is referring to a case in the UK, and ALL aspects of child welfare is included in a Doctors remit, including obesity.
In an English court the Children Act 1989 is far reaching and obesity can be considered under:

A court shall have regard in particular to—
(a)the ascertainable wishes and feelings of the child concerned (considered in the light of his age and understanding);
(b)his physical, emotional and educational needs;
(c)the likely effect on him of any change in his circumstances;
(d)his age, sex, background and any characteristics of his which the court considers relevant;
(e)any harm which he has suffered or is at risk of suffering;
(f)how capable each of his parents, and any other person in relation to whom the court considers the question to be relevant, is of meeting his needs;

www.legislation.gov.uk...

So yes, child obesity can be considered abuse, and a crime in certain circumstances, in the UK.

This is what The British Medical Journal had to say about it 4 years ago:

"We suggest that childhood obesity becomes a child protection concern when parents behave in a way that actively promotes treatment failure in a child who is at serious risk from obesity and when the parents or carers understand what is required, and are helped to engage with the treatment programme."

"That might involve failing to keep appointments or get involved with healthcare staff or other professionals who want to help the child, or actively subverting weight management initiatives".

www.theguardian.com...

a reply to: OpinionatedB

Thank you - that is a well thought out evaluation of this thread. If some people had their way, you would have been arrested for allowing you Type I diabetic daughter to be under weight. And it would have be cruel to deny food to the child who is so hungry that they can't sleep!

Doctors are NOT gods (and neither is public health). For 30 years, they told us to margarine and not butter and to control fats. How many people spent their money buying low fat products (but higher in salt or sugar) at the urging of public health.

Then after 30 years, they turn around and without even an apology, that the way to control weight is now to eat fat but control carbs. How many people died of heart attacks because they followed public health advice without question.

And now, they are demanding perfect obedience to their edicts, enforced by the police?????

What is that saying "fool me once...."??? I honestly don't think that scientists know as much about nutrition as they claim.

This fat child has the same rights as any other child. The right to be raised by his own parents.

Tired of Control Freaks

a reply to: grainofsand

Still didn't answer my questions, did you?

Tired of Control Freakjs

a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks
Whatever man, let's not give a # about crap parents feeding their kids too much then, who cares, fat is the new normal apparently, and those parents in the OP have obviously made the right choices for their kid eh.

I will leave you to it now, you are defending the parents as victims, I say THEY made the choices and the child is a victim.
We will never agree and to be honest, I'm tiring of seeing 'Tired of control freaks' at the bottom of every whining post defending fat people as victims, yet not blaming the same people who regulate the food of their child. Even your user name is just a whine every time I read it lol

Good day to you, lets celebrate the wise choices the adults made leading up to a 15 stone, 5'1" eleven year old.
Excellent way forward for society, lets encourage it as overfeeding kids is such a good idea.

Typical fat apologist victim mentality, praise weak crap parents as victims, 'too much food, can't say no to an 11 yr old!!' what a pathetic first world problem.

a reply to: grainofsand

What you just posted is what this thread is all about!!!

The authorities have published a manifesto including childhood obesity as child abuse. That is in the UK and these things have a way of spreading to other countries.

Now - the question is - do you support the authorities in their quest to make obesity a criminal offense and, if you do, where will you draw the line?

Just because they want the right to intervene in the minutia of our lives, doesn't mean that they should get it.

Tired of control Freakjs

a reply to: grainofsand

Still not answering my questions?

Tired of Control Freakjs

Did I really read he weighs more than 200lbs at the age of 11?

Is criminal negligence a crime in the UK? If it is and it is consistently prosecuted then I see no issues with this. Allowing your kid to get that obese is tantamount to abuse in my eyes. The parents have failed at their most basic job and they have put their primary concern, the child, at a risk to die.

If they didn't want to get arrested then maybe they should have at least put a minimum effort into not letting their kid possibly die a slow death. Their are a billion issues that come from being morbidly obese and if that weight is right then he is beyond that. Parents control what a child of that age eats. They have failed.

a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks At whichever point a muli agency team including health professionals agree a child is at risk. Same as considerations when a childs health is at risk due to underfeeding.
To be honest though, you don't need to be a medical doctor to know that an eleven year old boy weighing 15 stone at 5'1" is at risk of ill health. Frankly, you'd have to be blind and #ing stupid as well.

What do I know though, you're the expert on how great it is to have a child as fat as in the OP, even qualified health professionals know # all next to you lol

a reply to: OpinionatedB

Kids do not run like they used to. There were outdoors games etc which kept kids in shape.
Study of physical activity
If people consider few miles walk as a sufficient amount of exercise they are wrong... you need to exercise so hard that you are sweatty..less is not enough
I have type 1 diabetic kid too they are more often too thin. My kid does have physical exercise and eats much more than other kids in his class without gaining weight. Physical exercise actually have made his glucose levels more steady he is still insulin sensitive ( according docs his insulin need is 1/3 what kids in his age usually have ). With decent amount exercise they get good results in diabetes care.