Define this
I was going to stay away from this one as I get incensed very easily. I tried ok.
Define child abuse.
Is it causing harm to a child? Mental, Physical or emotional? If a person withholds food from a child is it child abuse? If a person force feeds salt to a child as punishment is it child abuse? Is slapping a child to keep it quiet child abuse?
I have never been sure about corporal punishment. I waver from one side of the argument to the other. I agree sometimes a quick slap on the leg gets a childs attention but also think that there are other ways. Sometimes you have to hurt to prevent harm. If a child is playing with matches then a swift slap to the back of the leg and a very definite no will save them from harm later.
Whatever. there are arguments one way or the other here.
I define child abuse as causing harm to a child. This can be mental, physical or emotional. I don't include telling a child no sometimes in this. In fact the absence of discipline could be considered child abuse.
Having nicked this issue from Fat Mammy Cat I at least had the decency to use a different source. From the BBC News ....
"
Fourteen stone child 'risks care'
Connor McCreaddie - ITV1/PA Wire
Connor prefers to eat processed foods
Connor's mother
An eight-year-old boy who weighs over 14 stone (89kg) may be taken into care by a local authority.
Connor McCreaddie, from Wallsend, North Tyneside, has lost a stone and a half in two months, but still prefers processed food to fruit and vegetables.
His mother, Nicola McKeown, has been called to a child protection conference with the local authority on Tuesday.
Family support may be offered, but the last resort would be for North Tyneside officials to place Connor into care.
I can't starve him
Nicola McKeown, Connor's mother
Connor's pre-Christmas weight of 15 stones and eight pounds (98.8kg) is four times the weight of a healthy child of his age.
He has lost weight after beginning an intensive exercise regime and introducing some healthy food into his diet.
The eight-year-old does have a bike and a trampoline which he uses, but he has to stop after around 10 minutes because he becomes out of breath and can vomit.
He has difficulty dressing and washing himself, misses school regularly because of poor health and is a target for bullies.
Confident
Ms McKeown, 35, told the BBC: "Connor had a mouthful of apple once and he didn't like it.
"He refuses to eat fruit, vegetables and salads - he has processed foods.
"When Connor won't eat anything else, I've got to give him the foods he likes.
"I can't starve him.
"But I'm confident I can get his weight down with a bit of help."
His life expectancy is severely prejudiced.
Dr Colin Waine, National Obesity Forum
Ms McKeown denied she is neglecting her son, and said he would be "skinny" if she had been.
She said she had seen doctors, but no-one had actually stepped in to offer her help.
She said that taking Connor into care would be "disastrous".
His story will be featured in ITV's Tonight With Trevor McDonald, which followed Connor and his mother for a month.
Child's interests 'paramount'
Dr Colin Waine, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, said that removing a child from their family could be justified.
"The long-term impacts of this child's gross obesity are frightening.
"He has great risk of diabetes and coronary illness.
"His life expectancy is severely prejudiced. So action is required if his health is to be safeguarded."
A spokeswoman for North Tyneside Council and North Tyneside Primary Care Trust, said: "We share the concerns over the child's health and well-being.
"We have been working with the family over a prolonged period of time and will continue to do so.
"The child's interests are paramount."
"
Check out FMC's take on it at http://fatmammycat.blogspot.com/2007/02/killing-with-kindness.html
I see what his mother is doing as child abuse. She isn't intentionally hurting him but she is causing him harm all the same. He's a kid, he can't be expected to make the right choice with diet. That is the parents job. Blaming the government for not helping is not a reasonable argument either. If you have a child they are your responsibility. Everyone will make the odd mistake but continued benevolent neglect is not acceptable.
Makes P1P sad and angry at the same time.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6396457.stm
Define child abuse.
Is it causing harm to a child? Mental, Physical or emotional? If a person withholds food from a child is it child abuse? If a person force feeds salt to a child as punishment is it child abuse? Is slapping a child to keep it quiet child abuse?
I have never been sure about corporal punishment. I waver from one side of the argument to the other. I agree sometimes a quick slap on the leg gets a childs attention but also think that there are other ways. Sometimes you have to hurt to prevent harm. If a child is playing with matches then a swift slap to the back of the leg and a very definite no will save them from harm later.
Whatever. there are arguments one way or the other here.
I define child abuse as causing harm to a child. This can be mental, physical or emotional. I don't include telling a child no sometimes in this. In fact the absence of discipline could be considered child abuse.
Having nicked this issue from Fat Mammy Cat I at least had the decency to use a different source. From the BBC News ....
"
Fourteen stone child 'risks care'
Connor McCreaddie - ITV1/PA Wire
Connor prefers to eat processed foods
Connor's mother
An eight-year-old boy who weighs over 14 stone (89kg) may be taken into care by a local authority.
Connor McCreaddie, from Wallsend, North Tyneside, has lost a stone and a half in two months, but still prefers processed food to fruit and vegetables.
His mother, Nicola McKeown, has been called to a child protection conference with the local authority on Tuesday.
Family support may be offered, but the last resort would be for North Tyneside officials to place Connor into care.
I can't starve him
Nicola McKeown, Connor's mother
Connor's pre-Christmas weight of 15 stones and eight pounds (98.8kg) is four times the weight of a healthy child of his age.
He has lost weight after beginning an intensive exercise regime and introducing some healthy food into his diet.
The eight-year-old does have a bike and a trampoline which he uses, but he has to stop after around 10 minutes because he becomes out of breath and can vomit.
He has difficulty dressing and washing himself, misses school regularly because of poor health and is a target for bullies.
Confident
Ms McKeown, 35, told the BBC: "Connor had a mouthful of apple once and he didn't like it.
"He refuses to eat fruit, vegetables and salads - he has processed foods.
"When Connor won't eat anything else, I've got to give him the foods he likes.
"I can't starve him.
"But I'm confident I can get his weight down with a bit of help."
His life expectancy is severely prejudiced.
Dr Colin Waine, National Obesity Forum
Ms McKeown denied she is neglecting her son, and said he would be "skinny" if she had been.
She said she had seen doctors, but no-one had actually stepped in to offer her help.
She said that taking Connor into care would be "disastrous".
His story will be featured in ITV's Tonight With Trevor McDonald, which followed Connor and his mother for a month.
Child's interests 'paramount'
Dr Colin Waine, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, said that removing a child from their family could be justified.
"The long-term impacts of this child's gross obesity are frightening.
"He has great risk of diabetes and coronary illness.
"His life expectancy is severely prejudiced. So action is required if his health is to be safeguarded."
A spokeswoman for North Tyneside Council and North Tyneside Primary Care Trust, said: "We share the concerns over the child's health and well-being.
"We have been working with the family over a prolonged period of time and will continue to do so.
"The child's interests are paramount."
"
Check out FMC's take on it at http://fatmammycat.blogspot.com/2007/02/killing-with-kindness.html
I see what his mother is doing as child abuse. She isn't intentionally hurting him but she is causing him harm all the same. He's a kid, he can't be expected to make the right choice with diet. That is the parents job. Blaming the government for not helping is not a reasonable argument either. If you have a child they are your responsibility. Everyone will make the odd mistake but continued benevolent neglect is not acceptable.
Makes P1P sad and angry at the same time.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6396457.stm
posted by Student at 3:15 pm
7 Comments:
"Ms McKeown, 35, told the BBC: "Connor had a mouthful of apple once and he didn't like it.
"He refuses to eat fruit, vegetables and salads - he has processed foods.
"When Connor won't eat anything else, I've got to give him the foods he likes.
"I can't starve him."
This is the bit that makes me want to get my axe. No child will deliberately starve to death, if he has no other option available to him other than fruit and veggies trust me the boy will eat. Porcessed food is high in salt and suger and if eaten for any period of time becomes something we crave. No wonder the boy is huge. She is a completly aiding and abetting him.
Yep, I say stick him on healthy food and run that little porker until he pukes. Hup hup hup, run you little bastard.
Of course I would pretty that up for the press release.
He had a mouthful of apple once! At least he gave it a shot. "No, I don't believe I like that. Where are the pork pies mum?"
"Well, I tried. More suet dear?"
but is it abuse?
Yes she is stupid (and that should be crime) but whos fault is it really?
what do you do? if this is something the government stepped in on where does it end? do they charge manufactors for attempted murder and coruption?
fatmammacat?..I always think its funny when I run into names on various unrelated blogs... how did you find p1p?
Yep. Straight up. How else would you define it? When you have a child you are responsible for them until they become an adult therefore if you continually fail to look after them it's abuse.
Don't give me wrong if you give your kid the odd McDonalds it's unwise but not unreasonable (it actually hurt me to type that) but if all you feed your kid is McDonalds then you are causing it harm. The future will hold obesity ,liver damage and most likely an early death.
A child cannot be expected to make the right decision they are mostly Id (see your Freud, who was pretty much wrong but gave some interesting definitions that I believe hold).
A child given the choice between broccoli and sweets will most likely choose sweets every time despite them not giving the nutrients they need, despite all the e numbers and sugar contributing to concentration problems.
While we are on the subject; manufacturers and companies should be subject to the law when they are negligent. There ahve been a series of train crashes in England due (in part) to poor track maintainence. People have died. the managers blame the people under them, the front end workers blame the lack of funds and everyone says I'm not responsible. I believe that the CEO's should be held to corporate manslaughter charges. It's the only way to ensure stuff gets done to protect people. If they are immune from prosecution then they will not ensure that safety comes before profit.
A parents role is to make these decisions for the child until the child becomes an adult and responsible for their own actions.
The mother of the child referred to was not taking care of business. She was allowing her child to eat all manner of harmful crap, not occasionally, not as a part of a sensible diet but all the time. She made plenty of excuses, she blamed the government for not helping her but at the end of the day she is where the buck stops. The goverment is right to intervene now before she (if she hasn't already) does irreparable harm to her child.
This is a subject I feel quite strongly on so sorry if I got preachy.
Hey P1P:
I just got finished feeding your little Jibbon 30 bananas, cause he so loves them so much and I love to watch him eat them. You wouldn't say I'm a monkey abuser, would you?
My point is that it's hard to draw the line on when it's love and when it's child abuse.
But it often seems like those who have never had the experience of being a parent draw it a lot closer than those who have had the desperation of not knowing what to do with a kid who ends up weighing 15 stones [not sure what the conversion to American pounds is, but I'm sure it still adds up to fat].
They don't come with an instructional manual (definitely toss out the Freud and the Dr. Spock!), but they usually do come with a mind of their own.
So sure, 15-stone's mom could keep the junk food out of the house, but won't he just grow up saying his mom abused him by not letting him have anything fun to eat? "mommy dearest never let us have cookies."
All in all, it's always damned if you do, etc. in parenting. The best we can say is that the mom made the kid a celebrity for a day.
Hello Mikep
The Jibbon isn't real mike. Feed it spanners if you like.
It is hard to draw the line. A slightly overweight kid can be nothing more that a slow metabolism. The kid is question is four times the normal weight for a British kid. He is having health problems, has trouble walking and washing himself and has consequently missed a lot of school.
It's true I don't have kids but I know enough to know that this kid will face serious health problems in later life. Diabetes, heart disease, joint damage there are a lot of nasty surprises because him mother didn't say no once in a while.
I am not sure how he measures up to American standards of obesity as I have seen some on the news that look like it's a knock out (the Belgians are coming!) but 15 stones is a lot more than me. I am an adult male, average height and I go to the gym regularly so I am not light.
It is true that kids come with a mind of their own. However their mind is full of basic drives. How many kids have you seen feel ill because they didn't know when to stop eating sweets? Would you take a bag of sweets away from your kid to stop them getting a belly ache? Children need supervision to stop them doing stupid things.
There is a difference between having absolutely no junk food and eating that processed crap for every meal. Personally I try to avoid junk food but even I eat the odd snickers bar or enjoy a pizza. The problem the government has with his mother is she feeds him junk food everyday. One of the quotes really summed it up
"Connor had a mouthful of apple once and he didn't like it."
"He refuses to eat fruit, vegetables and salads - he has processed foods.
"When Connor won't eat anything else, I've got to give him the foods he likes.""
What's wrong with this picture? He's the child she is the adult. I don't think being a piss poor parent is excuse enough. I know kids can be stubborn and difficult and sometimes they will just say I am not eating that but that doesn't mean you just allow them free reign.
Would you let him play with matches? There is the same potential for selm harm there?
Maybe when he is older he will blame mummy for cutting him off from the junk food but at least he wont have to pause midsentance to catch his breath and let his heartbeat slow to a mere purr.
Parents have a rough time. I am uncle, so not a complete civilian. I have seen kids in full tantrum and it's nice to be able to hand them back. It is a lot of damned either way so you choose the lesser of two evils. The kid will be pissed off sooner or later, it's better to have them pissed off and healthy.
Bit of an emotive subject huh?
I looked at the pictures. So that's 15 stones?! Nevermind.
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