Obese vs. Abuse

The other day I went out to dinner with a friend, and we talked about obesity, specifically childhood obesity.

She works with children at an after-school program designed to help them stay active.
She sees one child, a first grader, who she believes weighs close to 70 or 80 pounds.

The parents pack about five pudding cups in his bag for the day, all of which he eats in a single sitting.

He has trouble keeping up with the other kids and often stops in the middle of the track because his feet hurt.

He can’t wear jeans because none fit him, so he is forced to wear basketball shorts and size XL T-shirts. Keep in mind this kid is 7.

My friend’s concern was simple. The mother of the child obviously loves her son but is not putting his health first. In the last few months he has grown even larger.

His mother recently posted a YouTube video encouraging her son to dance around in what was supposed to be a funny, quick message to his sister.

In reality, it is a 3-minute display of a 7-year-old boy dancing to Lil Wayne and stripping his shirt off because he is hot.

He even asks his mom to stop during the video, but she tells him to keep going. As we watched we could hear her at some point say, “Whoo, Chippendale dancer!”

Where does my friend draw the line? Her work, as in all workplaces geared toward children, has strict policies on suspected abuse.

If a child shows up with repeated bruises, cuts or injuries that do not seem typical, they are recorded, and the police are notified.

If a child arrives at the center clearly starving and/or losing weight rapidly, the parents are called into question.

But what about an obese child? What about this video, which displays to an uncomfortable end how huge this 7-year-old boy is?

We came up with no answer. One can’t call the police to report the existence of a fat kid. Most officers would probably laugh at the thought.

But the obesity itself points to a lack of knowledge or failure on the parents’ part.

After all, if one’s child weighs 80 pounds, one might want to rethink packing him five pudding cups or even buying pudding at all.

One might also want to rethink posting a video of their young son stripping on YouTube, no matter how funny one thinks it is.

However, the dinner conversation and video made me realize how careful I have to be when I eventually have kids. Children have no off button when it comes to portion control and balanced diet. These things need to be taught.

An obese child is just as malnourished as a skinny one, and if we really want to change the way we view healthy living, we must use that often-clichéd expression to start with the kids.

­— ewenning@indiana.edu