11 year old boys parents arrested for sons obesity.

[Natasha2605]

11 years old and 15stone is not genetics. That's neglect, and is no different to starving. Both can lead to severe problems, and heart failure. The boy needs to be protected and the parents given lessons in how to parent correctly.

Absolutely agree.

 

[sheldonsmommy]

Just from this small article, it appears that the parents are grossly misguided. While I agree that you can have a genetic predisposition to gaining weight quickly or having a harder time shedding extra weight due to metabolism, etc, many times instead it is a case of learned behaviours and eating habits passed down generations.

This is certainly not a typical case, so I can only assume that prior interventions with the parents have failed. Maybe they are using the arrest as a wake-up call, I can only hope nutritional and parenting classes will be offered to help the family get on track.

 

[Natsku]

I think that letting a child become obese is just as bad as starving them. Both forms of child neglect.

Obviously genetics etc should all be taken in to consideration , but in this case, it sounds like there was a big investigation and it was the doctors who got the police involved. So it sounds like a case of neglect. In which case, I actually agree with the arrest. No one would blink an eye if parents got arrested after starving their kids. And both cases are quite extreme!

This

 

[Pearls18]

I'm glad action was taken, too long you hear of stories about the RSPCA interfering with animals being neglected by being over fed, we should treat our children with the same respect, obviously it can be a complex issue and it's important to understand the difference between neglect and abuse, but either way intervention must happen and if parents are not cooperative an arrest must happen.

 

[blueskai]

It's serious neglect. Not only physical, but what sort of mental repercussions will this poor lad experience?

It's already mentioned, but although there may be genetic predispositions as to whether you can gain weight quickly, this shouldn't be used as an excuse to allow it to happen. Generally when you look at the diets and exercise level of children who are overweight, it usually shows that adjustments need to me made. I really think it's awful that his parents have allowed him to get to this stage.

xo

 

[WelshOneEmma]

I have never understood people saying junk food is cheaper. I make stuff from scratch and is much much cheaper. We just don't have junk in the house. My daughter will pick fruit over chocolate as she has always been offered healthy choices and everything in moderation

I must admit, if I gave my daughter a choice she would probably choose chocolate over fruit (never tried though). She does have chocolate, but as an occasional treat and a small amount. We still have easter eggs left!

She does love fruit though so we are very lucky with that. And she doesn't like pre-bought meals. She barely eats them but will finish a home made meal. I do buy her organic etc but still feel its cheaper than junk food, so def agree with you there. and its easy enough to cook a load and freeze (i got a spare freezer on free cycle).

I dont understand people saying its genetics. You can be predisposed - i have thyroid issues and am terrible for not exercising so borderline with my BMI, but genetically fat?? Isn't the dad 20 stone?

 

[Noodlebear]

I definitely don't agree that fresh, healthy food is cheaper. It can be but is not always the case. You could get a bag of chips and a bag of chicken nuggets or something to go in the freezer for a few pounds and that would be several meals. The price of food really needs to be looked at. The problem is also convenience, how much easier is it to chuck things like that in the oven than to stand chopping and peeling? People need to be better educated in how to feed their families. Even if they're encouraged to spend an afternoon batch cooking or something. I also think that ready meals and other convenience foods should be much healthier. There's no need to add quite so much crap to things.

 

[JASMAK]

Sounds like they have been working with the parents and there is more than we are hearing. The parents said they dont think its a big deal, and that doesnt sound good. Also, the social services cant even comment.

 

[THart]

This really hits home for me. My cousin died at age 21. He was obese his entire life ( from age 15 on he weighed over 600lb). He was diabetic.

His parents tried various options to encourage weigh loss, they stopped buying junk, put locks on cupboards so he couldn't snack, and in the end they did have home admitted to the hospital. That was most successful, but the hospital couldn't keep him he was in there for 3 months and had lost 100 lb. And when he got home he himself was committed to lose more, but it went opposite and he gained it back.

He ate healthy food, but he ate an excessive amount, a meal for him was 3x what I would consider eating.

And in the end his heart failed.

I'm exceedingly grateful that the police have stepped in for this boy and that he can hopefully get the help needed.

This topic is really emotional for me.

 

[Missnurse]

Of course there will have been some background intervention long before he was taken, I'm sure most schools run a check up session with the school nurse which checks weight bmi at least I know DD school definitely does

As others have said it's not always true that junk food is cheaper than healthy it's a case of shopping around. I try to instil the same values in my dc as I had growing up, everything in moderation, home cooked meals at night always with plenty of veg sometimes 2. Very rarely were we allowed chocolate cereals. Of course we were allowed the odd sweet/biscuit fizzy juice as we got older. Now I try to make as many home cooked meals in a week as I can, spag Bol lasts 2 nights with a bit of salad. I love my slow cooker. And I always push veg although dd loves her veg and fruit on her snack for school.

DD school runs an initiative where if you bring a piece of fruit each day for play time you get an extra 5 minutes on your break on Friday which I think is a brill idea at least a bit if encouragement.