Now we all know that there are a lot of morons about. People who haven't got a brain cell in their heads. For example, there are people who simply don't think. They just believe that eating 10,000 calories worth of junk food a day is an okay thing to do. They think that weighing 488 pounds is an okay weight to weigh. To which I say, fine, eat yourself to death, blow up like a whale and explode.
But what if what I am actually referring to is a seven year old child? Yes, there is a seven year old child called Jessica, who lives in Chicago, who has the dubious honor of being the fattest kid in the world. A child who weighs 488 pounds, whose bones are deformed through her weight and who cannot walk. Who, doctors tell the mother, is already dangerously at risk and could die if not treated.
Unfortunately, Jessica’s mother does not or cannot understand the health risks she is putting her child under, and continues to feed her 10,000 calories worth of junk in response to Jessica's 'healthy appetite.'
Now, I'm not usually for the state interfering in people's private lives, but this woman is obviously a moron, if not mentally ill. She needs to be told to modify that kid's diet or the child will be taken into foster care.
There are too many moron parents about, and something about this case really annoys me, not to mention depresses the fuck out of me.
What do you think? Should the state interfere in this case?
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Of course they should. If the kid survives - which doesn't look likely - what kind of life is she going to have? Her mother's turned her into a freak.
FFS!!!!!!!!!!
Similar story here in the Uk but not THAT big! My business is diet, and I HATE seeing overweight chilren. The thing is, they are teaching children in school, over here, how to eat healthily. But who's teaching the parents???? I would love to run a program for the government, where anyone who has obese children, must attend seminars with me, teaching them how to cook and eat healthily.
*Vi gets off her soap box*
*Vi gets back on soapbox*
Oh AND I knew a leader for weight watchers (when I used to work for them) whose two girls were OBESE!!!!! See even fucking people who are trained in the business can't fucking feed their kids healthily.
FUCK!!!! You've hit a nerve with me if you haven't noticed Emma.
vi ...I thought this problem was mainly an American one, because many people here don't seem to understand that to be healthy you cannot drive around in a car all day, you actually have to start walking.
When I started going to fitness classes here I could not believe that some of the fitness instructors were fat, I don't mean a little overweight but fat...it was quite odd I must say, that they had no idea about how to maintain a healthy weight.
Sounds like child abuse to me.
Christ. How sad.
I seriously think that in a case like this one, that Child Protective Services should intervene.
I mean what's the difference? Killing your child with FOOD or killing your child with a bullet to the brain - YOU'RE STILL KILLING YOUR CHILD.
Like I told my buddy Hammer - You just can't fix stupid - and Jessica's Mother is stupid.
BTW - I love reading your blog. :o)
This makes me soooo freaking mad, it's plain inexcusable.
Normally, I would say parenting is the role and responsability of the parents, but in this case Child Protective Services (or equivalent) should step in immediately.
Dave
She's not only putting the child's health at risk, but the child is a burden to the health care system. I think the mother relishes the attention, she's obviously mentally unstable. What kind of parent would do that to their child?
Yes absolutely the state should get involved. Overweight is one thing, obese is entirely different.
Why is there a pill to prevent pregnancy when there should be a pill to have a child.... regulated to prevent some from reproducing.
Moron is too nice a name for this mother.
I agree that there is something wrong with the mother. She needs help but not as much as her child needs to be away from her. That is abuse, maybe not abuse-plain-and-simple, but abuse nonetheless. Does the mother have other children?
No it's not just an american problem. It's a massive problem here as well. I'm trying my best to educate people (I've lost 120lb myself).
I agree that this is child abuse. If a mother stopped feeding her child altogether, it is quite clear that death would eventually result and the state would have to intervene. How is feeding your child to death different?
There was recently a case in Canada where social services got a court order and the woman was charged with child abuse and endangerment and the child was a mere 200 pounds or so.
Most obese country in the world? You guessed it, 31% of the USA is obese, 27% in Mexico, and you can see the entire chart here ... http://www.wellingtongrey.net/miscellanea/archive/2007-05-06--world-fatness.html
Well I was hoping to be all original and point out this is child abuse...
...never mind.
It still is though!
What a horrifying little programme. The bit where she was shuffling along the carpet was quite... disturbing. How could you let it get to such a state?
I have many more rhetorical questions and silent raised-eyebrow moments, but nothing useful to say.
Poor girl.
Lock the mother (and father?) up, she (they?) is (are?!) unwell.
Following in everyone else's footsteps, yes, this is child abuse. I couldn't even watch all of the video it was just so disgusting. Definitely there should be a court intervention, and lots and lots of parenting classes!!
would it sound harsh of me if I were to suggest that this is just darwinism in action?
Not much chance of this particular gene pool extending itself is there?
The child has a choice too - they must know that they are overweight; must know that there is a cause and effect by now; must know that simply eating less would have an impact even if they can't understand that eating better is an option.
The child obviously has some kind of hormonal problem to do with the regulation of her appetite. You can't stop stupid people having kids, but you can stop them from being parents.
This is so awful I could scream.
Either the kid has prader-willi (sp?) syndrome which, although difficult, can be controlled with strong parenting or the mother is displaying some kind of munchausen by proxy behaviour.
Either way that poor kid needs help if she's to lead any kind of life.
These parents are obviously incapable of providing adequate care for their child, and the state should quite rightly intervene. I think we had a fairly similar case in the north of England recently where there was serious discussion of placing the child in care
I think that is as much a case of child abuse as hitting her as it will kill her. So yes with reservations, but yes.
There was a similar case not too long ago in one of the southern states.. Georgia or South Carolina... anyway, they threatened to take the child away and the mother was pleading ignorance and to teach her what she is doing wrong, meanwhile the child was munching away on potato chips.
I know I am not a perfect weight and I have my weak moments at snacktime, but I stay on top of what my children eat. They arent deprived of sweets, but they are only allowed a piece or 2, if any, at a time.
I feel for Jessica and yes, the state should step in and regulate her eating habits, teach her mother what to do and nutrition lessons, and if needed, someone to be there to monitor the mother. This is such a drastic case and it is basically being allowed to happen by the mother.
I have an album by a band called the SKATENIGS called STUPID PEOPLE SHOULDN'T BREED. Never really like the title, more than a bit Fascist for my likeing but now that I think about it....
Did I understand the commentary correctly? The girl isn't expected to live to her next birthday? And yet her mother does nothing about it. Yes, the child should be taken away from the mother but I suspect that she will never be what we think of as normal.
Oh god, (yet) another embarrasing thing about my people.
you just love messy subjects
I disagree with all the views expressed here, except the last one from "just a toy" perhaps.
There is a symbiosis between the media and the voyeurism of its customers which should certainly not be allowed to dictate social or criminal policy.
It may seem as though some unfortunate family has become our neighbour via media reporting, but this is an illusion. They manipulate half-truths to sell their newspapers, and I'm not interested.
The tendency to take parental responsibility from parents is one which I totally oppose, except where there laws dictate otherwise. Laws should not be made in response to news.
There are plenty of opportunities for us to help make a better world according to our own capabilities; but being an amateur judge is not one of them.
Well... yes. But mainly no.
The media does indeed exist to propagate itself, and not to refect society, that I totally accept.
There is a limited amount you can do with this material, however.
I would be delighted to hear your explanation for the situation this family finds itself in, and would be extremely surprised if you can avoid the conclusion that parental neglect will cause the premature death of this little girl.
You say that you oppose taking parental responsibility away from parents "except where there [sic] laws dictate otherwise" but if we follow this logic through to its conclusion, no laws would ever change. It is by discussion of the law that it evolves (and due process of course, before anyone thinks that I think otherwise). I know this can often be seen as a force for bad, but think of Rosa Parks and the laws that she got changed.
Right, have come a long way in a paragraph. Using equal rights for black people as a springboard for arguing you can take someone's children away. Don't think I'm not aware of it.
In this particular case, I would say there is more harm than good in taking her from her parents' care. It's just too late, if I understand correctly, to save her, and she probably loves her mum, so why make her obese, dying and miserable when she could be obese, dying and happy.
Finally, yes... messy subjects... but what other kind are there worth talking about? Better than talking about fluff all day.
yves....that the media manipulate facts is without a shadow of a doubt true. No, I would not say that laws should be made in response to news stories, rather they should be made in response to specific cases that go to court. I think you have to face the fact that although this story may be simply a sensationalist one, there are parents out there who are feeding their kids like this and making them sick. If you have never seen obese kids then I cannot think where you are living because they are everywhere. In the long run these parents are causing these kids MAJOR HEALTH PROBLEMS. Should they be allowed to do this? If a parent was starving a kid you know full well the child would be taken into care.
chris...I don't think Jessica is sick enough for this situation to be irreversible. I just wondered if at this juncture in time, whether the law considers that making a kid fat is considered child abuse. If it isn't, it is only a matter of time before it is, with just cause, I would say.
That's absolutely horrific and parents should be penalised and the child should be looked after by nutritionist and physio-therapist c/o George Bush's pocket money.
To Chris: I don't have an explanation because I did not watch the video (too squeamish). I can't discuss the law in this case. If you are saying that parents can have a child taken away for starving it, but not for overfeeding it, then it may be that the law would need to be changed.
It's interesting to bring up Rosa Parks, whose fame has reached these shores (of the British Isles). I suppose in that case her action confronted the conscience of a nation and also helped empower other black people, so constituted a threat, if the law was not changed.
But in this instance it is not so clear. There are Jehovah's Witnesses who would not give their child a blood transfusion to save its life, because of their beliefs.
I think morons, that is, those retarded through genetic defect or brain damage, should be "allowed" to have kids, because I don't like too much intervention by "experts". On the other hand, intervention by those who act from understanding and affection, is a natural thing. One would hope that problem parents have a network of relatives and friends and caring neighbours who would provide first aid and wisdom, before any courts would have to be involved.
But if I knew enough about the case to express an opinion about the best outcome, I might well agree with you Chris, that taking a child away from loving parents is too punitive to all concerned.
As Angela-la-la says, the child may have PWS and be unable to regulate her own appetite.
Most kids would get full and stop eating a lot earlier than this child has.
It is terrible to see, and her mother needs some pretty strong help and advice.
The kid's only 7 so can't really do much herself.
Emma, my Teutonic languages are not as strong as my (still weak!) latin ones, so I must have misunderstood...
... if it is still not too late then I guess it is still of the utmost importance... All we can do is hope the system doesn't fail this child I suppose. The media's attention seems to be focussed on her so I can only hope the authorities' is too... I only hope proper advice is given and monitored, and she pulls through...
Yves... what a great point. Do Jehovah's Witnesses who refuse to give their children blood transfusions abuse their children? I actually don't know what I think about this yet (commenting on the fly) but I like the fact that I haven't and will give it my due care and attention.
I made an incorrect assumption (that you were just disagreeing because no-one else had) and I see now that I was wrong, so I apologise for that.
And I hope the little girl is okay, that is my main concern.
Fast, cheap food is one of the greatest problems to afflict society.
It has spawned so many ills in the world - the people who choose, or who are forced by financial circumstance, to eat cheap food are no healthier than decades ago - albeit overweight.
In some circles there is no longer any respect for food and its value.
To allow it to become a weapon of abuse is unforgiveable - be it too much, or too little.
Sorry to simplify but if the parents locked the house the state would intervene. Feeding the child to such a degree that she can't physically leave the house is the same.
PS - love the blog.
Mmmm, made me want to eat some pizza....
The mother is simply simple-minded. Is she any different from other mothers who indulge their children's passion for inappropriate things? We're supposed to be parents, not buddies to our kids. In our town, the local "pusher" kid uses with his parents.
Pass me that joint, would you, Emma?
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