Debate...Childhood+obesity+is+now+an+epidemic!

Join the following discussion.... Morbidly obese children should be taken from their parents as it is a form of abuse....... Agree or disagree? Post your response here..... .

I agree that morbidly obese children should be taken away from their parents as it is a form of abuse and the children might get a very bad diease or even die if they get too fat. Anyway, it isn't like the children will be taken away from there parents forever and also, the obese child might always have other children teasing them as well as always having to go to the hopital to have occasional checkups. If the obese child is just taken away for special people to look after them they can be happy and healthy kids like other children are. This is why I think that morbidly obese children should be taken away from there parents to get healthier. Crystal Mai

I disagree about this. The child would obviously wouldn't like it if a another parent had to look after them. The parent would also miss the child badly and the child would, of course, be scared and confused.Instead of taking the child away, why don't people just tell the child & parent what they need to do to lose weight and could try to replace unhealthy food into healthy food. It is a form of abuse because it is their child, they paid for the child's clothes, food, toys etc. and they simply wouldn't like it. Grace Lee

I agree because parents can't stop their children from eating junk food because it already has become a habit,like having a can of soda each night or giving them money for lollies everyday. The other reason I agree is that it's not like they're are going to steal the child or do something bad to them so parents shouldn't be scared that they will not see their child again. I think that even though the doctor can come and tell parents what they should do, they could still ignore it. Joyce Chen

l agree that morbitly obese children should be taken away from their parents. This is because if the child is at real risk, l think that it is the same as the parent wanting to make the child have more germs in their bodies and die. l also think that the parents should sign a contract saying that they will not overfeed the child ever again. l don't think that parents should make a huge deal about it either. l think this because taking away one child isn't going to make a big deal. And it is not like they are going to steal their child. I think that parents do not need to worry because the children will some day come back to be skinny an dpart of the family again. Raylia Bae

I think that they should be taken away because the parents are mistreating the child by letting it get so obese. If they are taken away then they will lead a healthier life and be returned to their parents healthy. Dana

I strongly believe that the kids should be taken away from their parents because this is an act of chid abuse. These children are in danger of passing out. This is very dangerous towards the childs health. Even if they do not have enough money to buy good food like fruit and vegetable they should be helped. The parents are not playing a good role. The parent is not looking after there parents properly and the child should be taken away to lose weight because this is an life threatening condidition. Albert Wong

I think even though child obesity had been a big threat the children should not be taken away from their parents. The supervisors can reduce their big meal of junk food and try fruits and vegetables etc. But they should not be taken away from their parents, it is also a type of child abusement too if they were seperated from their parents. The child will feel lonely and sad when they are left alone himself/herself.  Chris  I think that children should not be seperated from their parents as seperating families is also a type of child abuse. The child will feel sad and confused and they will miss their parents dearly. The hospital should just give the parents the instructions to help the child, or the parents should teach the children the right thing to do as it is a skill they can always use instead of sending them to the hospital every time. This is a much better plan then seperating them. Catherine Yu

I agree with Catherine Yu that children being separated from their families is also a form of child abuse. The children will most likely be annoyed and after being to the hospital feel depressed and eat even more. This would be because they are angry with the government taking them away from their home and to get revenge they will most likely do the opposite of what they had been taught at the hospital. There should be a letter sent to everyone about child abuse and over feeding your child or something like that. No-one should be separated from their loved ones. Shenoa!

I don't agree with Shenoa because if a parents child is obese the than the police or a doctor should advise them to change the childs lifestyle. Yes if your child is morbidly obese it is child abuse but it is not just the adults fault it can be the chiids fault too. (OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH and please don't delete mine again LEON, I have had to type mine three times so please don't delete mine and sorry Tara I think I got rid of yours.)Richard!!!!!!!!!

I disagree that obese children should be taken away from families. The parents can no longer choose what school that child goes for the moment. They also know everything (not necessarily) about the child and how the child lives. The child may be young and still may be too used to their parents around. Also if the child is fat, then let the parents choose whether to change his/her diet or exercise and whether they should be taken away instead of giving one option. Oh, and I think it is not much of a form of abuse. Tim

I agree with Tim- grace

I don't think that overweight children should be taken away from their parents because sometimes obesity is caused by emotional problems and being taken away from your parents isn't going to help. Parents should get someone to come to them and give tips and information. - William That's OK I made a copy. I think that morbidly obese children should be taken away from their parents, but only if their parents can afford to buy them food that won't make them obese because for some poor people all they can afford is lollies. Also, if their parents have let them get that fat in the first place people will think that they don't care about their child as much as they could. Tara

I agree with you Tara. Joyce

I think that morbidly obese children shouldn't be taken away from their parents because they will both miss each other dearly. Just because they are morbidly obese, it doesn't mean that we should treat them differently. You don't need to go the step further-separating the child from parent-there are other ways to solve the problem. eg.Get your doctor to advise you of what you can do:Do more exercise, go on a diet, change eating lifestyles-eat more vegies!!! It is possible to stop the morbidly obese children from geting fatter if they actually give it a try. I believe that it is unnecessary to go a step further. You wouldn't like it if you were morbidly obese and they took you away from your family so don't do it to them! ~ Alvie

I believe that morbidly obese children should have a choice. Either go to a health centre to lose weight or to have their parents be taught how to take care of them properly. Toby

Good point toby-grace I disagree with Cathrine Yu because sending a letter won't necessarily work because they could just ignore the letter completely and there is nobody to stop them.  I believe that morbidly obese children should not be taken away from their parents. I think that if parents have morbidly obese children it is entirely the parent's fault The fact that you feel good while eating junk food is no excuse, because a while later you will feel depressed. However, a parent's love for a child is immeasurable, so parents would definitely want to right their wrongs in order to keep their children smiling. They will do whatever it takes, including turning their lifestyle right around to keep their children happy and healthy. Being taken away from home is nothing more than kidnapping, so why should people have the right to do it? If children do not have their parents around to encourage, reassure and comfort them, how will they have the will to do anything? -Abhishek

I agree with Abhi. Chris

First, I have to clarify that I **__DID NOT__** delete anybody's writing. I believe that taking away morbidly obese children away from their parents is not the right way to solve this problem. Yes, the parents have neglected their children by feeding them fatty food but maybe the parents are unaware of the damage they are doing to their children or maybe they are too lazy to cook for their children. But is being lazy or unaware a crime? To take children away from their parents is a very serious action. I think it will do more damage to the children than the damage made by their parents. I think both the parents and the children need a nutritionist to educate them of what is healthy and what is not. BY LEON YAO  Hi I think that childhood obesity is a serious matter and should be dealt with by the parents knowing what happens to obese children and be fined for not helping their children at all, even before they learn what happens to obese people. Their children may be forced to go away from their parents if the situation doesnt improve after they get fined.
 * By Vivienne Smith**

I disagree. There are more than one cause to obese children. Firstly the child might have genes that turn all the food into fat. The second cause is the main one; their parents would not feed them properly and don't know about healthy food. They might unhealthy food or feed th child in an unbalanced way. The third cause is that the child loves junk food. And there is one more. The child might not do enough physical activity. There are ways instead of taking away the child. The parent could teach them what is healthy and what is not, the parents could cook healthy food or the parents could encourage physical activity. Charles Hui Who deleted my work when i said not to-Cordelia :-(

I don't think they should be taken from their parents because I think it is the parents fault so they should get a choice. Either the parent goes or the child goes. Which ever way they choose at least one of them should go. If they choose parents to go I think the parents should go at seperate times because then the child won't have to be put with different parents and if the parents are seperated they might be able to concertrate better. If they choose for the child to go i think the child should be able to see their parents often so they don't start to miss them. I also think if the parents are overweight they shold loose some weight to encourage the child and for their health too.

I don't think morbidly obese children should be taken away from their parents. There are several reasons why the child might be obese. Firstly, if the child is obese because they have eaten too much, that is the child's fault. Secondly, if the parent is forcing the child to eat more, then it's the parents issue. However, it is the child's choice if they want to leave or not because nobody can make you do things. If the child wants to go but does not want to miss his parents, the family could go and get some information or visit the child once a day. The parents are also suppose to be role models to their children so if they are fat, they should lose weight so the child will follow their footsteps. //Alexander Lin//

I don't agree with Alexander because if parents forced children to eat they would want them to grow so they would give healthy food. Also the parents wouldn't like their children being obese. If a child is obese it would be their own fault. Charles Hui

I agree with Abhishek with his humorous comments. It is true that children shouldn't be taken from their children as this may change the child's behaviour and personality and think that his or her parents don't love them. Can't the government just hire a person that check's the child's weight daily, weekly or even monthly? This would be a great idea as this doesn't harm the childhood of the child. Also it has been told that DOCS ( the people who take care of children) have recently (3-9months ago) been very harmful and unsatisfactory to meet the requirement of the Federal governments rules. This would also make the child's childhood come crashing down. -Patrick Wan (Patwan112)

I think that children shouldn't be taken away from their parents. There are several reasons why I think children shouldn't be taken away. Firstly, if the child gets too obese then they could just excercise at their own home. They shouldn't be taken away to get slimmer in a hospital. Secondly, the child's parents wuld get very upset if they wouldn't be able to see he/she anymore. The child would also be upset for not being able to see his/her parents anymore. Finally, the parents paid items for the child (food, toys etc.) so if their child gets taken away then they would be wasting half their money just because they bought something and their child got taken away, then they wouldn't be needing it anymore. //Nathan Luu//

Morbidly obese children should not be separated from their parents even though they are too fat. Parents of those children can just cook healthy food for them to eat. If they are separated from their parents, they might get unhappy so they eat more junk food and get fatter. The government can tell the obese children’s parents what to do and what not to do to their kids. Parents might not notice they are giving too much junk food to their kids. Horace