Are parents to blame for overweight children?

Well, since I think that parents are responsible for what their kids eat and if they’re playing a video game or out riding their bike…I’m going with yes.

Partially I guess.

Yes.

Overweight children are as much the parents fault as spoiled children.

Yes I think its the parents fault shoving all this fast food and sugar garbage at their kids all the time.

Yes. Childhood is supposed to be a time of activity so the body and mind can grow. Parents need to insure their kids are getting what they need to become healthy adults.

Yes and no. Contrary to what people think.....genetics does play a factor in overweight children and overweight people in general. Kids can be chubby as kids and then grow out of it. You don't know what's going on in someone's house. Yeah, if they are feeding their kids fast food and junk all day and letting them sit in the house and play video games, then they are a big part of it. But then that's not always the case. Everyone's metabolism is not the same. The children can be eating normal and getting some activity but are still a little chubby because they have to work extra and harder to keep the weight off and they don't do that.

If the parents are overweight themselves, then you know where the kid picked up those bad eating habits from.....if one kid is fat and his siblings are all thin, then maybe not.

YES

Yes, for the most part. Parents are the ones who should be setting examples and getting the kids to lead healthy lives. Genetics does play a role and parents need to be aware of that. High cholestral and high blood pressure run in my family. When we realized that, my parents changed the way our family ate. We knew we were at risk... okay - they knew - we were just young kids - and they changed our family's lifestyle as a result. We were all encouraged to be active. I don't know how many times I pass an overweight couple in the grocery store and seetheir cart is piled with unhealthy food. Pretty soon, overweight kids come along with more junkfood. It starts young, too.

Genetics does play a role and in that case, families have to work a lot harder to combat obesity. I'm not talking about kids who are just overweight, but the ones who are truly obese.

I think most of the time its the parents fault because they use junk to pacify or reward, or are just plain not monitoring what and how the kids eat. When I was a little I was fat and it was because I lived in a house where food and snacks were always being served or available. Everybody in the house was fat at some point. I eventually grew into my body and shed the pounds as a teen, but looking back I wasn't chubby just because I came from thick stock (even though I do) it was because I gorged on meats & sweets and nobody stopped me.

Because kids don't buy groceries, it's totally the parents faults. Eating habits are sanctioned by the adults in the house. Somewhere along the line you shut them up with snacks or turned your back and let them splurge on their own. A kid can't OD on pizza and twinkies if you don't bring that junk around them.

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Exactly, you know once they're older and they are able to go out by themselves and go to the stores to get junk food, that's one thing, but how could anybody look at those kids and think the parents are NOT at fault here?

I agree that if a toddler is clinically obese, it's his parents negligence. We come from a familial culture that shows love with an overabundance of food. Then the same grandmothers who stuff their grand kids faces will be the first to complain out loud about how fat they're getting.

And it's not just kids. Pets are often subjected to the same treatment of overfeeding, to the point that they become grossly obese. The other night on Animal Planet they had a special on on obese animals, first one up, 35 pound cat, looks like he should weigh 60, and my brother complains I feed our cat too much and she's only 12 pounds?

Do you question the parenting skills of people with significantly overweight children? Do you think that it is a result of parental error?

I think you've asked this before, Chris. But my answer is basically yes. Baring some medical condition, obesity is the result of too much food and too little activity. Parents should control both. Much of the time though, when you see fat children you see fat parents too.

It could easily be a parent's fault but I wouldn't always be quick to blame the parent. I'd likely try to assess the situation they're in to see the whole picture. Of course, not really in much position to blame them anyway since they're not my kids.

Chris wrote:

Do you question the parenting skills of people with significantly overweight children? Do you think that it is a result of parental error?

Nine times out of ten, it is the parent's fault.