Mother Says DSS Threatening To Take Her Son Because Of Weight Problem

[smilingfish]

I was going to blame the mother when I saw the pic. But then I read the report. I guess maybe she's right. There're many reasons that can cause obese. We shouldn't jump to the conclusion that he's eating too much or something.

Hope the doctors can find out what it is and help him and the whole family.

 

[sanctus]

I was going to blame the mother when I saw the pic. But then I read the report. I guess maybe she's right. There're many reasons that can cause obese. We shouldn't jump to the conclusion that he's eating too much or something.

Hope the doctors can find out what it is and help him and the whole family.

I think this is a very serious issue in our society today. Although I am not as hard-nosed as our friend Darlene on this issue, I do confess to finding overweight people distasteful, especially the size of this child. I also think it is common nowadays to blame obesity on various medical conditions. Certainly in some cases there are medical reasons for being fat, but in truth, the general reason is our diet and lack of activity.

 

[tamarin]

Sanctus, the majority of the obese have a lifestyle problem and not a medical one. And it shouldn't be up to the general public to badger them to change their ways. It would be helpful if the young weren't so technologically addicted. I seldom see kids in parks here. They're all at home chatting to their chubby buddies on the Internet or playing electronic games on the sofa. It's all gotten a little out of hand. Health care costs will soar in the years ahead to look after them and that was never the chief intent of coverage: to look after the pervasive, self-inflicted problems of the young.

 

[Curiosity]

Removing a child from the family home is exacerbating the problem of obesity in this child if it has been determined he does not have a medically induced problem for his weight gain.

Rather than taking him away from his family which would incur depression and more inactivity, help would be better spent by working with the family group as a unit to discover their eating habits, medical check ups to determine there is nothing physically (or even mentally) wrong which is causing the child to gain weight.

Often with two working parents or single parenting a child is left on his/her own during unsupervised time with the passive activity the only outlet - such as computer, television, electronic play games...which are frequently accompanied by eating junk food until dinner time when mom gets home...many of the parents are passive recreational people too....

It is a whole lifestyle these days... after school recreational centers and sports teams can help but only if the child is enrolled.... talk is cheap... removing a child from familiar family surroundings courts disaster... but then how government perceives "help for the family" is a disaster itself....and I am not surprised by this article. It goes on more frequently the the general public is aware of.

Then the opposite of a lean, busy, active, overeager and somewhat irritating child is often given meds to "slow him/her down"..... bah....

 

[tamarin]

What we need to do is analyze the fifties and sixties. Overweight children were seldom seen and kids overwhelmingly were fit and well behaved. What did those two decades do right that today's society is not?

 

[hermanntrude]

they all ate overboiled cabbage for breakfast dinner and tea and took LSD and drank whisky

 

[Curiosity]

Tamarin

As I understand from the more senior members of my family - when one opened the refrigerator - there was milk to drink, fresh fruit, and bread to make into a sandwich or toast. Most cookies and or cakes/pies were consumed at the meal if served - there were rarely leftovers.

Foods which could pass as a snack in between meals were pretty much non-existent and if someone wanted to munch a snack would have to be prepared - unless one was happy with an apple or orange or hopefully a leftover which often had to be reheated (not in a microwave).

Pop was something special for parties and juice was the regular stuff.....

I don't remember eating much either when I was a kid - it seemed meals were a family thing which I found routinely boring but necessary to fill my stomach and keep my parents off my back.

My problem was the opposite of the little boy in the article - I didn't see the purpose of food - it didn't play a really big part of my growing up - and the only thing I really loved was popcorn at the movie theater - but I think it was the atmosphere not just the popcorn ...

 

[tamarin]

Curiosity, meals were far more regular then. And junk food wasn't a major concern. We all enjoyed candy but money had to be had for it. We used to prowl the roadsides collecting bottles to hand in at two cents each to secure gum and blackballs. We got exercise doing it. Then came the years of paper routes and odd jobs to earn spending money. Again exercise was achieved. Most of our entertainment was outdoors and tv, then in its infancy, didn't rule our schedules.
Most families were poorer than today's social assistance recipients. And that's the truth. We couldn't then envisage a system that would help pay your rent or make sure your teeth were fixed.
We have to find a way to get kids more active. The number one enemy is technology and overweaning parents and a supervision-obsessed community and government. We've dropped the ball as society tries more and more to control us. Diet is important but it's not the lead here.

 

[karrie]

I think pretty much any dietician you ask can pinpoint the cause of society's obesity very simply.

Convenience foods, and liquid calories. We eat too many high calorie, prepackaged foods, and drink too many calorie laden drinks.

My house is an oddity, and most kids stare at me in confusion when they come over and ask for juice. We don't keep juice in the house typically. It's a rare treat for parties and such. We keep some soda in the basement for entertaining, but the kids don't drink it. It's typically milk and water at our home, and coffee for mom.

I just packed my daughter's lunch, and the 'junkiest' thing she got in her lunch was dried cranberries, and she only got those because I'm out of the yogurt I typicaly send. It's usually a sandwich, fruit, yogurt, and a container of water. I'm a boring mom. lol.

But, all the good habits in the world can't end all obesity.

 

[karrie]

. Diet is important but it's not the lead here.

Take ten kids, and feed five a diet of straight junk.... hamburgers and candies and soda and fruit loops and juice.

Feed the other five sandwiches, yogurt, fruit, fresh veggies, milk.

At the end, see which kids lie around the house exhausted all day, and want to do nothing but play computer or watch tv. And see which ones want to go jump on a trampoline, or ride their bikes around the neighborhood, or go for a hike.

 

[Curiosity]

Junk food is killing us... convenience packaged crap

My sweetest memories about eating ever were trips to out of the way lakes and beaches where we could get out of the city and into the peace and quiet .... I remember tearing branches of chokecherries to eat....which kept me busy most of the afternoon (and quiet).... eating wild
berries like saskatoons and blueberries....

Talk about great 'junk food'....

Our family was quite large and my mother didn't have an outside job so we ate frugally, had a large vegetable and fruit garden and didn't have too much in the way of frill food....

There were little leftovers after a family meal too -

 

[tamarin]

Karrie, exercise is key. Getting outside, running around and doing it often. Junk food addicts won't become obese if they play outside. Those kids who don't exercise, despite their diet, will become overweight. Diet's a jack, exercise is an ace.
Curiosity, sounds like you had the kind of upbringing we need to bring back.

 

[karrie]

Karrie, exercise is key. Getting outside, running around and doing it often. Junk food addicts won't become obese if they play outside.

So you advocate skinniness, looking fit, over actually BEING fit? Because skinny junkfood addicts place just as much burden on the health care system as overweight junkfood addicts. And even more burden than overweight people who eat healthy foods. The same systems are going haywire in their bodies. I may be overweight, but I get a big thumbs up from my doc at my physicals. I eat healthy, good foods. I get out and walk and run around with my kids. Not like my skinny counterparts who eat chips and candy all day long and have blood pressures through the roof, are verging on diabetes, and whose arteries are hardening as we speak.

Being skinny isn't the tell all of health.

 

[tamarin]

Karrie, you're speaking from a position of vested interest I can see. The obese need more activity. The overweight need more activity.
We can introduce new regulations - something western society is remarkably fond of - on the food industry but unless we modify the lifestyle habits of our kids beyond what they eat we're only looking at part of the puzzle.
Banning the Internet would save more lives than banning junkfood.

 

[Sparrow]

You are not a boring Mom, I was the same way with my son. But I think that the art cooking and eating good food has been lost.

 

[Sparrow]

What people do not seem to realize that eating these fatty and high sugar content foods saps energy from these kids and physical activities become more and more difficult, it is a vicious circle. As some have said when we were young we spent more time outside playing than inside. Also parents are more afraid today of letting their children run around freely outside, in many places it is down right dangerous. Today technology has robbed the children of their imagination and they don't know what to do with themselves if they are not infront of a TV, computer or play station. It is very sad!

 

[karrie]

Karrie, you're speaking from a position of vested interest I can see. The obese need more activity. The overweight need more activity.
We can introduce new regulations - something western society is remarkably fond of - on the food industry but unless we modify the lifestyle habits of our kids beyond what they eat we're only looking at part of the puzzle.
Banning the Internet would save more lives than banning junkfood.

Vested interest? Which one? The health of my kids? Yes. I firmly believe activity follows healthy eating. Saying one is the only answer is silly. Saying that kids can be junkfood addicts and it's okay so long as they burn off the fat that results is ridiculous. Junk food drains your energy and makes it more and more difficult to get out and exercise. Lack of exercise makes it more likely you'll turn to junk food out of boredom.... the two go hand in hand. Whole health (and no, it shouldn't be legislated), is what should be taught.

Ideally, healthy food and activity, BOTH, are what should be taught. Not telling kids they can harden their arteries, raise their bloodpressue, and increase their chances of diabetes all they want so long as they're skinny. that's just sick. It goes to show the twisted ideals society has place on body image. It brings to mind all the compliments my aunty got as she wasted away of cancer... "wow, you're so skinny, I wish I could lose weight like that."

 

[karrie]

What people do not seem to realize that eating these fatty and high sugar content foods saps energy from these kids and physical activities become more and more difficult, it is a vicious circle. As some have said when we were young we spent more time outside playing than inside. Also parents are more afraid today of letting their children run around freely outside, in many places it is down right dangerous. Today technology has robbed the children of their imagination and they don't know what to do with themselves if they are not infront of a TV, computer or play station. It is very sad!

My kids have access to a tv and a computer. But, they have to do chores, and have outside time in balance with it. I do worry about what that will be like in the city though. Will I be as willing to have my kids outside? Will I be more paranoid? Right now, they can bike in front of our house, no worries. But there? I think I'll be having to pack up my studies and take them to the park and such. It becomes a matter of not only how much time and energy the kids have, but also how much time and energy the parents have to supervise the kids outdoor time.

 

[tamarin]

Karrie, your vested interest is that you're overweight. Matters little. And I can't possibly think the skinny will have greater diabetes problems and blood pressure problems than the overweight. Kids need exercise. And they need a balanced diet. But the former is the kingmaker.

 

[karrie]

Karrie, your vested interest is that you're overweight. Matters little. And I can't possibly think the skinny will have greater diabetes problems and blood pressure problems than the overweight. Kids need exercise. And they need a balanced diet. But the former is the kingmaker.

I guess if I was saying obesity was okay and not a health concern at all, then I'd understand how that's a vested interest, but I've never said that, so I don't really get what you're trying to say.

And when discussing any generalization of the population, you have to consider that it is just that, a generalization.

Generally, obese people are obese because the overeat on unhealthy foods, and skinny people are skinny because they eat healthier. So generally, obese people will be more prone to highblood pressure and diabetes, because they eat the worst. But if you take a skinny person and tell them to binge on junk food, aside from the symptom of weight (assuming they exercise enough), they're still likely to end up with all the problems an obese junk food eater would get. diabetes, arterial hardening, high blood pressure. these are caused LARGELY by poor diet. obesity is just an other symptom, not the exclusive cause.