taking kids

[bingley]

How many people believe in self-reliance and personal responsibility? Raise your hands, please. *Many hands come up* How many of you think these principles should apply to obesity? *Same hands* How many of you think self-reliance and personal responsibility mean the government should come in and do the job for you?

Come on, I want to see hands.

 

[steveh_131]

I was not trying to make it out to be quite that simple. My point was, if it was possible for the human body to magically create energy (fat cells) we would have evolved as a species to take advantage of this trait and would no longer need to waste time and energy searching for food. If this child was gaining weight at such an accelerated rate that he was 200 pounds by the age of 8, a reasonable person would take a closer look at what that child was eating. If the calories in are cut and the child continues to gain weight uncontrollably, then a reasonable person would assume there is something else in play which is leading to the uncontrollable weight gain.

And they may have been working on it. We don't know. Finding a diagnosis for problems like this is not cut and dry. It takes time, money, lots of tests and still can remain hazy. There are people with severe hypothyroidism whose lab results come back normal.

 

[Rookie]

And they may have been working on it. We don't know. Finding a diagnosis for problems like this is not cut and dry. It takes time, money, lots of tests and still can remain hazy. There are people with severe hypothyroidism whose lab results come back normal.

Exactly. My daughter has struggled with her weight for years. At one point, she was walking ten miles a day, running one, eating very little, and still couldn't lose a pound. Our family doctor would run blood work, say everything was normal, scratch his head, and collect his money. This year we took her to a specialist because she was getting migraines. Come to find out her "normal" thyroid levels were not normal for her. Three months later, she has no migraines and has lost over forty pounds.

 

[TMU317]

Exactly. My daughter has struggled with her weight for years. At one point, she was walking ten miles a day, running one, eating very little, and still couldn't lose a pound. Our family doctor would run blood work, say everything was normal, scratch his head, and collect his money. This year we took her to a specialist because she was getting migraines. Come to find out her "normal" thyroid levels were not normal for her. Three months later, she has no migraines and has lost over forty pounds.

Was she continuing to gain weight, or was she having trouble losing weight? I don't disagree that it can be difficult for someone with a hormonal imbalance to lose weight. However, I don't believe that a 200 pound child got to be 200 pounds simply because he has a hormonal imbalance. Like I said, the body can't magically create fat cells. The child still had to consume energy before the body was able to store it as fat.

 

[Paco Bedejo]

I don't think parents should be allowed to raise their children as they see fit. They were obviously neglecting their child. I, for one, am glad that we have a benevolent government which has been empowered to take our children from us when we don't meet certain metrics.

Now, we've simply got to do something with those Christians who insist on brainwashing their children...

In seriousness, I was only "husky" as a third grader & around 150lbs (I believe I was ~5' at the time), despite being extremely active as a child & regularly eating balanced meals. Some kids are just big. Add in some hormonal issues & It's not hard to see a 3rd grader hitting 200lbs. I don't particularly care to have a government which is powerful enough to intervene for high BMI...even if it means we lose a few kids here & there. Once such a concept is accepted, it doesn't take much for the metric to change. Perhaps 5' 150lb kids need to be taken away as well? I mean...the state knows best & could really whip them into shape just by utilizing the same menu as school lunc... sorry, I couldn't even finish typing that load of BS.

 

[INMIline]

My wife and I took in a foster boy around the begining of this year. He wasn't removed for weight. But was very over weight. After a baseball season, soccer season and healthy eating he dropped 25 pounds. He just returned home and loves his new condition. He's 12, he loves to brag about no longer being chubby. I hope this 8 year old finds a good foster home. One that can teach the mother how to go about getting him in shape. It can be done and I agree with the DCS call. I would assume Mom will take some classes and visit her son often. As long as she is a sober woman with decent home he'll be back in no time.

 

[steveh_131]

Was she continuing to gain weight, or was she having trouble losing weight? I don't disagree that it can be difficult for someone with a hormonal imbalance to lose weight. However, I don't believe that a 200 pound child got to be 200 pounds simply because he has a hormonal imbalance. Like I said, the body can't magically create fat cells. The child still had to consume energy before the body was able to store it as fat.

The food isn't metabolized properly, meaning the amount that would need to be consumed in order to avoid gaining weight is not enough to assuage hunger or to properly nourish the body.

That's why she had to eat so little and exercise so much just to maintain her weight, and it likely left her extremely depressed, fatigued and miserable in general.

So yeah, they maybe could have starved their child old for several years (maybe starting when he was 5?) and kept him plump instead of obese. And they could have made him waddle around a track for several hours a day. Of course his brain probably wouldn't have developed properly due to a lack of fat intake. And he'd be exhausted and miserable pretty much all the time.

ETA: This is all assuming that he has a metabolic condition, which may or may not be the case. But we probably shouldn't rush to judgment without knowing that.

 

[88GT]

I was not trying to make it out to be quite that simple. My point was, if it was possible for the human body to magically create energy (fat cells) we would have evolved as a species to take advantage of this trait and would no longer need to waste time and energy searching for food. If this child was gaining weight at such an accelerated rate that he was 200 pounds by the age of 8, a reasonable person would take a closer look at what that child was eating. If the calories in are cut and the child continues to gain weight uncontrollably, then a reasonable person would assume there is something else in play which is leading to the uncontrollable weight gain.

Fair enough. And to be clear: nothing in my posts was related to the child. I was speaking only in general terms. There is clearly some stupidity involved when a child who is not responsible for buying the groceries or making the meals, reaches such an extreme weight.