There's no question it's a growing concern in today's "on the go" society, but I'd say this measure would be just a tad extreme.
US doctors Lindsey Murtagh and David Ludwig - who both recently had their ideas published in the Journal of the American Medical Association - say it's time to put an end to childhood obesity and they have the plan to make it happen. The pair are proposing that parents should lose custody of their children should the child become obese.
In cases where children are severely obese they say, the damage can be irreversible and "removal from the home may be justifiable from a legal standpoint because of imminent health risks and the parents chronic failure to address medical problems." They also say that overfeeding and feeding improperly is neglect and child abuse.
I know obesity can cause health issues, it's a fact, but is this all really so cut and dry?
There are a number of reasons why a person becomes overweight, and not all are food related. Will we have weight police monitoring families waiting to make the call when a child crosses the line? And who determines that line?
Ottawa psychologist Maggie Mamen says breaking up families is not the answer and I would tend to agree with her. What would it do to the child's self-esteem to be singled out and uprooted from their homes because of their size?
"We need to stand behind parents," says Mamen, "It's a parent's decision what food is placed on the table, what food is in the fridge, what food is brought home from the grocery stores... there's no point in nagging children to pursue healthier lifestyles if parents are not."
Now to me, that's the complete opposite end of the spectrum and somewhere there has to be a happy medium. If child is overweight to the point of damaging health issues then somebody needs to step in for the sake of the child and with that said, the same would need to happen with a child who is going without food. We should be free to parent our children the way we see best but our rights can't come at the expense of the health of a child.
One would like to think it would all boil down to common sense but I guess it just doesn't. The world is full of choices. If you know you're making poor ones and they are having a harmful affect on your child, take the matter into your own hands. Do you really need the weight police to command you?
