Obese Child to be Removed From Parents

Obese Child to be Removed From Parents

Source Link: news.independent.co.uk

The mother of an eight-year-old boy who may be taken into care tomorrow because of his excessive weight has condemned her local health authority for threatening the drastic measure without offering enough support to deal with her son's weight problem.

Experts fear the only way to prevent Connor McCreaddie, who weighs 14 stones, from developing life-threatening diabetes or heart problems, may be to remove him from his family.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Parents 'Blind' To There Childrens Weight

If the parents woult stick to a solid diet plan for the little guy they probably wouldn't be going through this. All that aside I think making it illegal for children to be obese like the article states is absurd. For cases like this where it's the parents fault I feel it is justified but there are some with genetic disorders out there that really can't help their weight without surgery. It should be on a case by case basis as far as that goes. The parents are obviously the culprits here, maybe if they didn't feed the kid so much junk he wouldn't have the health problems he has now.


my $0.02

I find it very irresponsible of the mother to wait for someone else to help her. How hard would it be for her to go out for a walk with her son once a day? Even encouraging him to go swimming or play "tag" would have benefited his health greatly.

Originally posted by DJMessiah
I find it very irresponsible of the mother to wait for someone else to help her. How hard would it be for her to go out for a walk with her son once a day? Even encouraging him to go swimming or play "tag" would have benefited his health greatly.

Agreed, and in the words of the Brits on this board. These parents are obviously "chavs" Just waiting for someone else to take care of the problem they created. They are pathetic.

She says they didn't offer her enough support to deal with the weight problem. She should've cared enough before now to seek help if she needed it. He didn't just wake up one morning with this.

It's amazing how people are like that. They'll ignore a problem until someone steps in to do something about it. The attitude displayed by these parents is a nice reference for why things get as bad as they do. They should've joined ATS and learned to deny ignorance, it's better than living in ignorance.

I should add that I think the punishment is a bit severe. Maybe some kind of probationary period would be in order. I do feel that it is sad to see the youth of today obese. It seems there are two extremes in weight these days....too skinny, or too fat. Where's the healthy median?

Is obesity in America as bad as the media makes out? I always hear of the US being the fattest nation on earth and all this, but I can't say i've ever been there to see for myself. I visit Europe most summers and the majority of people that I see are what you refer to as the healthy median.

If the kid was obese the mother should have sought support herself, not expect the health services to do it. And she can't complain that they want to help him before it becomes life-threatening anyway, I doubt she would have done anything about it!

I don't know what the numbers are exactly, but it is on a rise. I personally know of a 10 year old that weighs 235lbs. That's at 10, she shows no sign of losing weight nor do her parents see the problem.

And people say america is not a socialist state. Probably see more of this in the future, and people will just have themselves to blame for the society our rulers are making.

Everyone should applaud MCDONALDS and other fast food outlets who brainwashed 2 generations of low IQers that they could eat supersizes without mentioning the side effect of Obesity, until a few years ago when fat people started to sue. The wonders of capitalism and irresponsible advertising.
Will the western world ever recover?

Originally posted by andy1033
And people say america is not a socialist state. Probably see more of this in the future, and people will just have themselves to blame for the society our rulers are making.

Why are you blaming the US? This took place in the UK :shk:

What I would like to know if the government had the child looked at by doctors to see if perhaps he had other contributing health factors before jumping and blaming the mother?

I only say that because the mother is complaining about lack of support so perhaps it could be the fault of social services and the UKs health system. Not enough details in the story to really determine just exactly what is wrong here,

[edit on 2/26/2007 by shots]

Since not everyone is going to know how much 14 stone is, it's equalt
to roughly 196lbs.
I'm 18, andI only weigh barely 11 stone (158lbs).


This woman was incredibly irresponsible for letting this child get to this
weight in the first place, and not dping anything about it is worse.

The authorities are right to take the child away from her.

Originally posted by malganis
Is obesity in America as bad as the media makes out? I always hear of the US being the fattest nation on earth and all this.

A bit off topic, but I'll answer.

Yes, America has a real obesity problem, in fact so much so, that the
government considers it an epidemic.

The last statistic I heard, was 65-70% of adults were overweight, of that
30% were obese, 55-60% of uner 18s were overweight and something
like 15-25% were obese.

Originally posted by andy1033
And people say america is not a socialist state. Probably see more of this in the future, and people will just have themselves to blame for the society our rulers are making.

First of all America is not a socialist state, we do not have universal
healthcare, or any other social programs like that, in fact the onyl thing
we ave that is reminescent of socialism is Social Securtiy, and they are
evn trying to privatize that.

I really don't even see what this statement had to do with the topic.
This happened in the UK, not America.

Originally posted by malganis
I always hear of the US being the fattest nation on earth and all this.

We do have a problem but not the honor of being the fattest nation that goes to a small nation inf the Pacific were they have 94% overweight. It should also be noted that some Pacific Islands have a much higher obesity rate averaging 90% who are obese. Oddly enough it is not because of fast foods either it is due to either it is junk foods and lack of exercise according to the UN or it could be WHO forgot now which it was.

news.bbc.co.uk...

[edit on 2/26/2007 by shots]

IMO opinion there are multiple reasons for the US obesity epidemic:

1). convenience
2). income
3). lack of education
4). plain laziness

The lower your income, the more likely you are to be overweight simply due to the fact that healthy food costs more.

We have too many 'convenient' foods....frozen, fast foods, snacks, etc.

I feel that childhood obesity is a form of child abuse. My daughter is getting a little chubby, obviously her metabolism is not like the rest of the family, so we pay extra attention to what she is eating, make sure she exercises (she plays basketball and soccer)....unless there is a medical condition, there is no excuse for a fat kid. None.

Again, I believe it is child abuse. You cannot give your child a bag of doritos and a pepsi and let them watch TV or sit on the computer. Parents now are lazy, they don't want bothered, and they want to give the responsibility to someone else.

)....unless there is a medical condition, there is no excuse for a fat kid. None.

Have you ever heard of genetics? Some people are just naturally fat. Everyone in my family is very active and usually eats right, yet all of us are still chubby. I would not call being obese abuse. At all. Sometimes it just can't be helped. Watching everything your kid eats and pushing her to exercise all the time seems more like abuse to me. I hope your kid doesn't develop an eating disorder when she grows up.

Put the kid in care and either seriously fine and give the parents a suspended sentance or send them to prison.

It's abuse. Plain and simple. The parents have let this poor kid stuff his little fat face until he's morbidly obese and probably can't put his own shoes on. Where is the discipline? Where's the "no jonny, you can't have your eigth bag of crisps go out and play with your friends"? Where's the parent stepping in and actually admitting that her son is probably going to die because there's enough tv shows on the subject? And....... if you watch these programmes where they show kids at the age of 8 when they're 40, normally the parent(s) cry because guess what???? THEY KNOW IT'S THIER FAULT.

How can the mother have the cheek to blame everyone else but herself? This is typical of the parenting in the UK at this moment in time. Too many people on a free ride waiting for someone else to clean up thier mess.

It makes me sick that some people are so quick to point the finger. Let's have a look at the mother if we can.... I bet a few people change their minds then.

Remirah.

the BBC radio news reported that :

" he steals food ..............hides it and binges later "

and also

" if she gives him fruit , vegatables and healthy options ... he refuses to eat and throws a tantrum "

those are only paraphrases of what i heard on the radio - not citeable quotes

interesting that people are still using the term "stone(s)" for weight. haven't heard that term in a long while. even by UK standards. poor kid.

Any excuse the government has to take you children away and have you programmed is, to them, a good excuse.

This'll only get worse as it becomes applied to more and more ridiculous, everyday things.

Send your kid to school with a real butter knife in his lunch and youve supplied him with a weapon. Government breaks your family apart.

Refuse to let the "social worker" in your home and suddenly youre a threat to yourself and others. Government breaks your family apart.

It wont be long before they come after you for not vacinating or for home schooling or for even teaching a religion to your children.

Itll all be called abuse and neglect and the next thing you know you cant see your kids and some doctor is forcing meds down your throat with a "peace officer" looking on.