Should parents face fines or criminal charges over their kids obesity?

• SlurpTASTY wrote on 2014-02-27 09:20

  Quote from Elleanior;1202463:

  At my high school, P.E. is mandatory until grade 10. But 90% of the students are tall, thin, Dutch kiddies who've been on 2-3 athletic teams since elementary. They may bitch and moan about what the teacher tells them to do in the class, but they'll easily push those boundaries on their teams.
  
  I very rarely see obese people, so things over here in Western Canada are quite different than some places in the USA.

  
  
  I'm also from Western Canada, the concept of people allowing themselves to get super fat is just strange to me. Seeing obese people is like seeing a unicorn here. Only obese person I know is my grandma but she's almost vegetable mode so it's acceptable I guess.
• Kingofrunes wrote on 2014-02-27 09:22

  Quote from Ashikoki;1202476:

  I think you should get a license... it's somewhat irresponsible to not have one, regardless of whether you own a car or drive.

  
  
  Yes, I'm aware of this. It's something I intend on working on this spring. I keep putting it off, because I keep seeing it as more of an inconvenience. Plus, truth be told, I'm quite terrified of driving and see myself as a nervous wreck when I get behind the wheel.
  
  Only solution for me at this point is to get driving lessons from AAA cause I don't know anyone who will be able to teach me how to drive and where I would get the necessary practice.
• Space Pirate Nithiel wrote on 2014-02-27 09:39

  Quote from Kingofrunes;1202479:

  Yes, I'm aware of this. It's something I intend on working on this spring. I keep putting it off, because I keep seeing it as more of an inconvenience. Plus, truth be told, I'm quite terrified of driving and see myself as a nervous wreck when I get behind the wheel.
  
  Only solution for me at this point is to get driving lessons from AAA cause I don't know anyone who will be able to teach me how to drive and where I would get the necessary practice.

  
  
  I don't recommend learning to drive from family anyway. From my experience there are two kinds of family members. 1. The kind who are so used to driving that they try to get you to drive like them which makes you even more nervous because they are constantly trying to get you to drive non-standard ways. "It's ok to speed, no one's around!" "You should only drive with one hand, using both makes you too stiff!" or 2. The kind that freaks the fuck out no matter how good you're doing. My mom was this type. I could be going 40 in a 60 and she's clutching the car for dear life like I'm going 100.
• Ashikoki wrote on 2014-02-27 09:42

  Quote from SlurpTASTY;1202478:

  I'm also from Western Canada, the concept of people allowing themselves to get super fat is just strange to me. Seeing obese people is like seeing a unicorn here. Only obese person I know is my grandma but she's almost vegetable mode so it's acceptable I guess.

  
  
  The whole "let themselves get super fat" thing is usually due to our inability to identify changes in our body. It happens so gradually that it just doesn't become recognized until it's too late.
  
  As for area differences, of course there's multitudes of factors like we've discussed earlier, such as local method of transportation. Just walking to public transportation, class, work, or your errands is already a huge amount of exercise that most Americans don't have in their daily routines. This alone should burn enough calories to cancel out about a fifth of your entire dietary consumption.
  
  Other factors could include genetics. Mind you, if a group of people in one part of the world is not as fat as another, this is a feasible answer. Metabolism does change based on long term exercise and diet, but many people inherently have poor metabolism, which is further spread as they mingle and reproduce in their own local population. You hear exaggerated jokes about how certain people look at a cake and gain 2 pounds, but it really is a hyperbole to an actual problem that exists.
  
  I have a friend who eats twice as much as I do and exercise less but is almost nothing but bones. People even comment on it and tell her to eat more, which is silly since she can eat a large baconator meal from wendys and go for a extra large DQ blizzard afterwards. Meanwhile I have a fruit smoothie for breakfast and drink unsweetened tea all day long and I can't reach my goal of shedding just a couple pounds.
• Kingofrunes wrote on 2014-02-27 09:52

  Quote from Space Pirate Nithiel;1202481:

  I don't recommend learning to drive from family anyway. From my experience there are two kinds of family members. 1. The kind who are so used to driving that they try to get you to drive like them which makes you even more nervous because they are constantly trying to get you to drive non-standard ways. "It's ok to speed, no one's around!" "You should only drive with one hand, using both makes you too stiff!" or 2. The kind that freaks the fuck out no matter how good you're doing. My mom was this type. I could be going 40 in a 60 and she's clutching the car for dear life like I'm going 100.

  
  
  My mom would be the same as your mom from my own observations with my brothers.
• Space Pirate Nithiel wrote on 2014-02-27 09:52
  Hundreds of years ago only the rich were fat. If you were fat it meant you had a ton of money and could actually provide for your family, while all the peasants living off scraps were skin and bones. I've heard some theories reasoning that some people get fat because of those leftover instincts from back then that you need to eat as much as possible when you can because you never know when you might not have access to food. Of course in today's society (most)everyone has access to food on a regular basis, making this unnecessary and resulting in weight gain.
• Ashikoki wrote on 2014-02-27 10:34

  Quote from Space Pirate Nithiel;1202487:

  Hundreds of years ago only the rich were fat. If you were fat it meant you had a ton of money and could actually provide for your family, while all the peasants living off scraps were skin and bones. I've heard some theories reasoning that some people get fat because of those leftover instincts from back then that you need to eat as much as possible when you can because you never know when you might not have access to food. Of course in today's society (most)everyone has access to food on a regular basis, making this unnecessary and resulting in weight gain.

  
  
  The rich being fat is a stereotyped trope that passed down. It wasn't that rich people were fat, but rather poor people couldn't get fat.
  
  To really understand this, you have to look at the amount of physical exertion the average person dealt with on a daily basis for work vs the amount of food they ate in general. The most fatty foods, like meat, was considered an extremely rare commodity that only the rich could taste. Most peasants would live their entire lives wondering what beef tastes like. Their diets consisted of whatever their country grew the most of; Asians ate mostly rice and cabbages, the luxurious ones could sometimes get fish, the Irish ate potatoes... or not. During the great potato famine, a third of the Irish population died. Simply because they couldn't properly distribute their potatoes.
  
  You'll find that in poorer countries or cultures today, a large portion of their cuisine is made of soup. These soups are simply made with one or two anchovies boiled in water and cheap vegetables like cabbage. Other ingredients go in to make them fancy, but the overall concept seem to be similar and repetitive across the board.
  
  It's pretty much impossible to get fat when you're running on the bare minimal amount of food needed to function. It's always a distribution and efficiency issue, rather than availability. I'd go as far as to say that is still the case today, with how much waste and excess food first world countries have. There are large amounts of crops going to waste to poor distribution or farmer patent wars.
  
  Wait, I could've just pointed to 3rd world countries and made my point without referencing the past.
  
  tl;dr being poor in a first world country doesn't even begin to compare with the true terror of being middle class in a 3rd world country.
• Yanm wrote on 2014-02-27 19:04

  Quote from Ashikoki;1202482:

  The whole "let themselves get super fat" thing is usually due to our inability to identify changes in our body. It happens so gradually that it just doesn't become recognized until it's too late.
  
  As for area differences, of course there's multitudes of factors like we've discussed earlier, such as local method of transportation. Just walking to public transportation, class, work, or your errands is already a huge amount of exercise that most Americans don't have in their daily routines. This alone should burn enough calories to cancel out about a fifth of your entire dietary consumption.
  
  Other factors could include genetics. Mind you, if a group of people in one part of the world is not as fat as another, this is a feasible answer. Metabolism does change based on long term exercise and diet, but many people inherently have poor metabolism, which is further spread as they mingle and reproduce in their own local population. You hear exaggerated jokes about how certain people look at a cake and gain 2 pounds, but it really is a hyperbole to an actual problem that exists.
  
  I have a friend who eats twice as much as I do and exercise less but is almost nothing but bones. People even comment on it and tell her to eat more, which is silly since she can eat a large baconator meal from wendys and go for a extra large DQ blizzard afterwards. Meanwhile I have a fruit smoothie for breakfast and drink unsweetened tea all day long and I can't reach my goal of shedding just a couple pounds.

  
  
  
  Just about this part, she's probably similar to me and other people that'd classify as "ectomorphs", very fast metabolism. Though, why they can't gain weight, it's possible her digestive system is all out of whack and might not be "absorbing" all the stuff from the food. Or, off the top of my head, she just doesn't eat the same amount of calories throughout the week. That's what matters for gaining weight.
  
  My stance on this is that there needs to be SOMETHING done in regards to the obesity stuff. I'm curious if sources that say it's going down can really be trusted, because media.
  
  On another post you made, I have a hard time believing that a good portion of the world is literally busy 24/7. Like, no hours at all do they have free time to do stuff. Parents not having time to cook? Why not they take one Sunday or some day they have time, make enough food all at once to last for a week? Sure, some free time will be robbed doing that, but is that an excuse? I don't think so.
• Hanna wrote on 2014-02-27 21:14

  Quote from Space Pirate Nithiel;1202442:

  "Eat what I say or starve" Yeah, because that -isn't- child endangerment. If you try and force kids to eat healthy that will just make them never want to eat healthy because it will be tied to bad memories of sitting in their room starving to death.

  
  
  You have obviously never been without food for longer than six hours
  Skipping one meal does not count as starvation and there's no "bad memories of them sitting in their room starving to death" if your kid isn't a stubborn spoiled brat who is used to getting whatever they want they will have no problem eating whatever is put on the table or waiting for breakfast the next morning.
  It's pretty obvious you grew up like a brat where mommy got you whatever you wanted to eat, which is why you are obese. It's not entirely your fault because your mother was supposed to teach you how to cook and eat right, but as an adult you are now responsible for your own health.
  
  Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty fat too, but I'm taking action to lose the weight I've gained in the past two years. I'm paleo now, which is basically the best diet out there (and it's not a temporary lose weight diet, it's a lifestyle choice) and I'm losing tremendous amounts of weight for eating whatever I want and doing basic strength training.
  
  
  My children will NEVER be allowed to eat fast food, hell the 3 year old I'm helping raise right now has no problem eating what I cook. It's the food choices I make for him now that will influence his food choices as an adolescent and as an adult.
• Ashikoki wrote on 2014-02-27 21:20

  Quote from Hanna;1202617:

  YI'm paleo now, which is basically the best diet out there (and it's not a temporary lose weight diet, it's a lifestyle choice) and I'm losing tremendous amounts of weight for eating whatever I want and doing basic strength training.
  

  
  
  You'd lose more if you'd stop drinking fermented carbs.
• Space Pirate Nithiel wrote on 2014-02-27 21:34

  Quote from Hanna;1202617:

  You have obviously never been without food for longer than six hours

  
  
  Wrong.
  
  

  Quote from Hanna;1202617:

  Skipping one meal does not count as starvation and there's no "bad memories of them sitting in their room starving to death" if your kid isn't a stubborn spoiled brat who is used to getting whatever they want they will have no problem eating whatever is put on the table or waiting for breakfast the next morning.

  
  
  And if you force them to eat healthy for breakfast so they don't want that either? And then the school forces them to eat healthy for lunch because of the dumb government programs and they won't eat that either? You don't have to eat healthy 3 meals a day 7 days a week 365 days a year to be healthy.
  
  

  Quote from Hanna;1202617:

  It's pretty obvious you grew up like a brat where mommy got you whatever you wanted to eat, which is why you are obese. It's not entirely your fault because your mother was supposed to teach you how to cook and eat right, but as an adult you are now responsible for your own health.

  
  
  Who says I'm obese? I've never discussed my appearance with anyone on here as far as I know and the only picture I've ever posted was like, shoulder up. o_o;
  And my mom didn't just give me whatever I wanted. She explained why shit was good or bad and I was smart enough to listen. I just said she gave me the choice of what to eat. I never said I only chose bad things, I just said I didn't choose nasty "health food". Vegetables were like, my favorite snack. AND I eat less than everyone else.
  
  

  Quote from Hanna;1202617:

  My children will NEVER be allowed to eat fast food, hell the 3 year old I'm helping raise right now has no problem eating what I cook. It's the food choices I make for him now that will influence his food choices as an adolescent and as an adult.

  
  
  My children (god forbid I ever have any) would eat fast food because there's nothing wrong with it. The problem is people eat it EVERY MEAL OF EVERY DAY. Then people look at them and blame the food when there are plenty of people who eat it in moderation that are perfectly healthy.
  
  I eat McDonalds like, maybe once a week, probably less. Probably more like once every 2 weeks or so. My friend eats it daily and is easily twice as healthy as I am. He can run faster, lift more, weighs less, looks better. And all while eating fast food daily. So clearly the food isn't the problem.
  
  
  Also - http://www.theonion.com/articles/disturbing-fast-food-truth-not-exactly-a-gamechang,35388/?ref=auto
  It's the Onion, but they make a valid point.
• Yanm wrote on 2014-02-27 21:54
  Sorry to say Hanna, but (I can't believe I'm saying this) Nithiel is right about one part, and that's that fast food daily is the real issue, not once in a blue moon. There's not much of a difference if you eat whole foods 90% of the time and junk 10% versus just being strictly healthy. For one thing, that's hard on you mentally, because anytime you have the option to eat the wrong stuff, maybe a favorite snack you used to have, cravings can and will probably happen. I eat far better than I used to, but I still have some junk food every now and then. It's when you do it all the time, like that one girl that only ate McDonald's chicken nuggets for YEARS that shit goes down.
  
  @Ashi She'd do better if she did some SQUATS >:C.
• Hanna wrote on 2014-02-27 23:39

  Quote from Ashikoki;1202622:

  You'd lose more if you'd stop drinking fermented carbs.

  
  ITS EASIER SAID THAN DONE OK
• Kouki wrote on 2014-03-06 15:54
  I'd say only if the child is young enough(like a toddler and younger), and obese enough(as in DAYUM).
  
  However, it also may not be a good idea because, most likely those parents are either uneducated to begin with, or too poor to afford a healthy diet and live on McDonalds/TV dinners because they don't know about healthy cooking. Fining those parents would only make it worse for the child. And the child's well-being should be first priority in this situation.
  They need their parents, and they can't possibly get better if their parents have to pay more fees, suffer mentally from stress(one of many cause of child abuse/neglect), or possibly go to jail.
  
  I think a better thing would be to send those parents to a school to learn about nutrition and childcare(And also to inform the parents that the child decides their future when they are elderly, so they should take good care of them).
  If the child is in school, the schools need to teach about nutrition and healthy exercise.
• Chiyuri wrote on 2014-03-10 15:02
  For food, I had access to a lot of things, but I just sticked to the ammount of food I wanted. Basically there was enough potential to become really fat. but in the end my own choice leaded me to be slim. I don't think it's the parent's fault if a kid decide to put too much food in their mouth.