Is Childhood Obesity a form of Abuse?

Parents who overfeed their children with little or no excersize and knowing full well that the child is turning in to a little porker are using a form of abuse?
They may think they are being loving by allowing their children to fill their fat faces with cakes and candy, but they are setting that child up for a life of prejudice and bullying, health conditions and the problems of finding nice clothes that fit their size!
Personally i think parents who allow their children to become fat are irresponsible and should not be allowed children, after all, theres enough huge whales wallowing in the pools nowadays, do we really need more?

yes i think parents who watch their children get up to 100 lbs at age 3 need to be in serious trouble, why if you are blessed with a healthy child abuse that and make them un healthy because you can't tell them no

that's the problem with this world is nobody wants to hurt anybodys feelings anymore. children have no discipline its sad

I would agree that it constutes abuse and not enough attention has been paid to that up to now.
Well this can be a hard desion. Sometimes the kids inherrit the obesity from their parent(s). SOme parents are big eaters, and so are the children. I know obesity can be a problem. but sometimes it can't be helped.
i think it is the responsibility of parents to instill good eating habits in their children. feed healthy (not processed!) foods and encourage exercise. if those things are done and kids are chubby so what? but the parents who let their kids get fat, really fat... well, i agree with you. it is abuse.
Sigh.......here we go again.......

Best thing you could do is just mind your own business unless you're paying for their nice clothes and food. And by the way, I think referring to anyone (especially children) as a "little porker" and "huge whale" is abuse in itself. So work on yourself.
I see your point, but your vocabulary is hardly making you look like a nice person either.
Hi,

FYI...I was a FAT kid. Not my whole childhood, but much of it. And even though your question was worded in such a way that you were perhaps trying to antagonize people I am not offended or antagonized.

My parents loved me and my siblings dearly. They both worked long hours to make sure they could meet our needs. We were a family of five children (which might spark your next question ~wink~). Often, in our case money was tight. Fruit and veggies are quite a bit more expensive than cookies and fruit-to-goes. Sometimes to make the dollar and food stretch my parent's had to buy the cheaper but empty-calorie foods.

I don't feel I was abused by my parents. I feel they loved me very much. And food aside, they did provide myself and my siblings with a home near a park, bikes, pools, skipping ropes, etc. Sometimes a child is just going to be overweight. Sometimes there are health issues that cause it. Sometimes is is partly thanks to genetics. Yes, parents should be pro-active and set good examples, but they are not abusing their kids unless they are purposly only buying sweets to make their children overweight.

I would however like to see people stop giving children soft drinks and please read labels! Just because it is advertised as "healthy" doesn't mean it is. Compare!

As for the "wallowing whales" avoid those pools, a small fry like you might get gobbled up! :)

Have a nice weekend!