Child Obesity and Parental Negiglence

Child obesity has become a major problem for parents all over the world. Over the past several years child obesity has caught the eye of the professionals in the health field and the media, so much that there is currently a motion in which obese children under the age of 12 are being threatened to be removed from the custody of their parents into protective custody under the state in which they live. If parents are failing to help their obese child live a healthy lifestyle.

Parents look at their growing children and believe that it is cute that their child is plump. Parents believe they are showing good parenting skills by feeding their child and giving them all the sweets and fatty foods that the child desires. There is nothing wrong with feeding a child, however, it is what a parent is feeding the child that matters. A child cannot fend for his or herself, therefore, the parent is the primary agent of the child’s well-being. Parents encourage obesity in their selves and children without knowing it. Factors that play a part in unhealthy eating habits, and some parents do not realize, is household income and food selections There are parents that work and do not have time to prepare good nutritional meals for their families. Most parents in this situation go out and purchase foods that are already prepared, whether it is fast food, frozen dinners or anything you can just warm up with little or no preparation. These types of foods are high in sodium and fat. There are parents that are not able to afford the good nutritional foods needed to lead a healthy life. These household are considered to be low income and do not take in many vegetables. Vegetable consumption for low income households “reduced by 22% compared to only 12% reduction among the highest income households. Thus, research can conclude that time and healthy foods are contributors by parents to obesity.

Time and low income are not factors that can be controlled by parents. If a parent or parents have to work long hours to get the bills paid and does not have time or is too tired to cook a nutritional mean or if a parent or parents are not able to get many hours at work to provide food that is healthy to eat, where is the parental negligence in that? There is no parental negligence. However, if a parent does have time to cook and is giving their child or children adult size servings of food. This is training the child metabolism to decline because the calorie intake is greater than what the child’s body is able to burn off. Also, if a parent let their child go and prepare their own meal or the parent is letting the child eat what he or she wants and the parent is not paying attention to the foods that the child is consuming. This is called parental negligence. The type of environment a parent raises their child in is the type of environment that the child is going to adapt too. If a parent has cookies for breakfast his or her child is going to want a cookie for breakfast.

The children are the future. What type of future are we making for them if we are not giving them the chance to be at their full potential. Teach your child how to live a healthy lifestyle.