Parents of Obese Children and Charges of Child Abuse

Imagine you are invited to a BBQ. You get there and after sitting down with your plate you notice a man with a child sitting at the table across from yours. You see that the man is feeding this child a stick of butter, spoonfuls of fat and washing it down with cups full of grease. Do you feel there should be consequences for this? If you do, what would be appropriate?

In most states this would be considered child abuse. Child abuse is defined by the CDC as the following; “…any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child.” There are strict laws against physical and sexual abuse for the health and wellbeing of children. These physical abuse laws should be applied to criminally charge parents of morbidly obese children.

Up to 17% of children and teens in the United States are obese (Centers). Obesity is unhealthy weight gain due to poor diet and lack of exercise and is responsible for up to 365,000 deaths each year. Obesity is strongly associated with a decrease in the ability to exercise. An overabundance of fat tissue, which occurs from obesity, impairs the breathing process. The impairment of the breathing processes in youth has been linked to more damaging breathing problems in adulthood. The lack of exercise that starts a child down this path can be reversed and good exercising habits can be instilled by parents. Therefore if 1 out of 3 children are obese, what does that say about the health and wellbeing of these children? It says that these children can look forward to a life of medical problems, emotional issues, and higher costs than their non-obese counterparts. The most pressing of which are heart disease, type 2 diabetes, pulmonary...

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