Mom Arrested for Obese Child Under Child Neglect

Is Child Obesity Another Form of Child Abuse?

July 25, 2009

The average weight for a 14-year-old boy is roughly 112 pounds. When a child packs on a score or two more than that, most people start to notice the thicker waistline. So when a South Carolina boy tipped the scales at 555 pounds, it wasn't just friends and strangers that noticed — local authorities did, too. The teen's mother, Jerri Gray, was taken into custody for child neglect and may face jail time if found guilty. The working mama blamed her work schedule for feeding her son unhealthy meals, but claims she has been trying to help him lose weight.

Do you think child obesity is a form of child abuse?

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14 Comments

2 years 17 weeks

It is abuse via neglect. Obesity is a medical condition that needs intervention. How can a kid get to be 555lbs and that mother NOT take him to the doctor? Obesity is a medical condition, and to not treat a child's medical condition is neglect. Period. Would you not take your child to the doctor if s/he had seizures? Would you not give him/her the proper anti-convulsive medication? Any good parent would. This is no different.

CaterpillarGirl 3 years 42 weeks

It is abuse, You as a parent control what and when your child eats, they control how much they eat. Kids will not starve to death if you are giving them a balanced meal and its there in front of them. If they are hungry they will eat it, they have no choice. Buying them what they want, fixing them what they want is being thier personal chef and that isnt your job. Your job is to get the food to the table and let them do the rest. Believe me that way they wont overeat.

PinkNC 3 years 42 weeks

Yes it's abuse. Although some children can't help it sometimes because of something physically wrong inside of their system. But then there are some parents that stuff their children full of food because it shuts them up and the children end up leaving them alone for a short while. These are the parents that I would claim are abusing their children. These type parent do not chose nutritional foods. Usually it's unhealthy snacks or fat overload.

PinkNC 3 years 42 weeks

3 years 42 weeks

No. More like overindulgence.

lickety split 3 years 42 weeks

abuse? well, maybe in some cases. my girls take tumbling and the parents have top be in a specific area that overlooks the kids. even in my girls age group (the youngest is 8) there are over weight kids and by the time the kids are in high school 2/3 are overweight and 1 in 10 is obese. how much do you have to eat to be overweight when you are burning calories like kids do? seems like it would almost have to be at least neglectful.i have a friend with a daughter the same age as my oldest. the girl is 11 and 75 lbs overweight. the grandmother was telling me that diet food doesn't work with this child because she won't eat it. um hello, sounds like it does work.

lickety split 3 years 42 weeks

abuse? well, maybe in some cases. my girls take tumbling and the parents have top be in a specific area that overlooks the kids. even in my girls age group (the youngest is 8) there are over weight kids and by the time the kids are in high school 2/3 are overweight and 1 in 10 is obese. how much do you have to eat to be overweight when you are burning calories like kids do? seems like it would almost have to be at least neglectful. i have a friend with a daughter the same age as my oldest. the girl is 11 and 75 lbs overweight. the grandmother was telling me that diet food doesn't work with this child because she won't eat it. um hello, sounds like it does work.

3 years 42 weeks

Absolutely. I had a child in my 2nd grade class this year who was morbidly obese. Her grandmother explained that she was pre-diabetic and was eating a diabetic diet so she could not eat the school food. The grandmother began bringing her Big Mac's with fries and a coke, or 6-8 tacos from Taco Bell for lunch EVERYDAY. That is abuse when you know your child has a condition (which obesity leads to diabetes, heart disease, etc.) and you knowingly feed them junk. It was really infuriating.

FrankiLee 3 years 42 weeks

I totally agree with kindo and Danni99. I take extra care, even though my daughter is only 13 months, to feed her as healthily as I can, and I can only hope that the habits I teach her now will remain with her as she goes on to make her own choices. Besides that, everything that I wanted to say has been said!

nikkisoda 3 years 42 weeks

I agree with kindo1313

nikkisoda 3 years 42 weeks

I agree with kindo1313

Danni99 3 years 42 weeks

I think it's very situationally specific. There are some children who are just naturally built larger (my daughter is one) and for whom extra special attention to diet and incorporation of athletics is vital, and then there are situations where parents need to step up to the plate and make more healthful choices for their children by eradicating the crap foods from the kitchen at home. It also doesn't help that public schools serve such junky foods and provide limited periods of physical activity. Many families also lack access to extracurricular sports for their kids, due to cost and lack of time in overworked households. If it's "abusive" then I think we have to lay the blame for the abuse at the feet of our society, which really enables sentient lifestyles and promulgates atrocious diets!

Danni99 3 years 42 weeks

kindo1313 3 years 42 weeks

Perhaps not abuse, but definitely child neglect. If underfeeding your child is worthy of intervention, then extreme overfeeding definitely is as well.

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