From Yahoo News:
It is the obligation of parents to care and provide the needs of their children. However, it is difficult to draw the line with regards to the extent parents should care for them. This includes the food intake of each child. There are some parents who would allow their children to eat more than one serving even though their child is already overweight.
Studies show that obesity is related to abnormal food intake, genetic factors like metabolic defect, leptin deficiency and the use of steroids (Styne, 2005; Link et al., 2004; Roth et al., 2004). In line with abnormal eating, television advertisements play a significant role in attracting children to eat high-calorie and fatty foods. In fact, most of unhealthy food advertisements are using toys, colourful images, convincing music, and popular personalities to effectively capture the attention of children to patronize unhealthy food products (Morley et al., 2008).
Regardless of the main cause of child obesity, being extremely overweight could result to a long list of serious health concerns such as heart diseases, Type II diabetes and the different types of cancer. There are cases wherein obesity could cause the child to encounter social adjustment disorders or social discrimination especially among children of the same age.
It is the obligation of parents to care and provide the needs of their children. However, it is difficult to draw the line with regards to the extent parents should care for them. This includes the food intake of each child. There are some parents who would allow their children to eat more than one serving even though their child is already overweight.
Studies show that obesity is related to abnormal food intake, genetic factors like metabolic defect, leptin deficiency and the use of steroids (Styne, 2005; Link et al., 2004; Roth et al., 2004). In line with abnormal eating, television advertisements play a significant role in attracting children to eat high-calorie and fatty foods. In fact, most of unhealthy food advertisements are using toys, colourful images, convincing music, and popular personalities to effectively capture the attention of children to patronize unhealthy food products (Morley et al., 2008).
Regardless of the main cause of child obesity, being extremely overweight could result to a long list of serious health concerns such as heart diseases, Type II diabetes and the different types of cancer. There are cases wherein obesity could cause the child to encounter social adjustment disorders or social discrimination especially among children of the same age.
“Times.com recently reported that there is a Scottish couple who lost custody over two of their six children because they were not able to reduce the weight of their children. Recently, the mother of the 14-year-old son weighing 555 lbs. is currently facing child-neglect charges.”
Although there are millions of children around the world who are obese, it does not necessarily mean that is solely the fault of the parents. Not all factors that causes obesity is controllable. Since obesity can be caused by genetic factors like metabolic defects, it is irrational to sue mothers for negligence only because they failed to keep their children’s weight down.
What will you do if the someone tells you that you have just lost your custody over your own children because one of your child is extremely overweight?
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