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

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!

I agree with kindo1313

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!

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.

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 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.

No. More like overindulgence.

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.

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.