Is Childhood Obesity Child Abuse?

A woman in South Carolina has been charged with child abuse when her 14-year-old son weighed in at 555lbs.  WOW!  They consider this child neglect.  The mother says that she has tried to help her son lose weight but doesn’t have the time since she has to work two jobs to make ends meet.

This is a huge deal since 67% of adults in America are overweight and one-third of US kids between the ages of 10-17 are obese.  This is so sad to me.  I’ve struggled with my weight in recent years but I try to be very careful about what I feed my family (who are all healthy, normal weights).  I would never want to put my kids at risk.  However, as a mother I also understand how hard it is in today’s economy to have enough time to give my children all of the attention they need and deserve. 

Of course, this is a hot topic so I’d love to hear what you think – is allowing your child to become obese child abuse?  These children suffer from many health problems including high blood pressure, heart disease/failure, diabetes, kidney failure and more.  How tragic! 

Watch the segment and leave me a comment!