Are you a bad parent if your child is overweight?

Question

Are you a bad parent if your child is overweight?

Answer 1

it depends!!!!!!!!!

Answer 2

well it kinda shows that u spoil them and le them have what they want

Answer 3

Not necessarily. But if a child is morbidly obese probably. Genetics may play some role in a child's weight but as a parent is our job to be sure our kids are eating healthy and staying active. If a child is over eating or lazy and gaining weight something must be done. If a parent does nothing than yes it is bad parenting.

Answer 4

You're a bad parent if you don't deal with it.

Answer 5

Not necessarily, it would depend on how overweight they are.

Answer 6

Not bad, but irresponsible, yes.  A child looks to the parent for their nutrition and I do think it's irresponsible to overindulge a child.  But it doesn't make you a bad parent.  Fortunately, there is plenty of time to turn it around and teach them proper eating habits.

Answer 7

yes sorry, your responsible for your child's health and being overweight isn't healthy, so you obviously aren't caring for them properly.

i re-read that, no i didn't mean BAD parent, just that you need to change things, make improvement.

Answer 8

Irresponsible is the best way to put it. I think that parents who's kids who are grossly over weight should face child neglect or even abuse charges. Not everyone should be a parent and unfortunately there are no prerequisites to be a parent.

Answer 9

I think my sister in law is an excellent parent, except for the food and soda aspect.  

She is a good mom, except she feeds her very very heavy 6 year old Mountain Dew (diet?), cookies and cakes every single day.  

Every time she takes my 5 year old with her for an outing to the park they HAVE to stop for ice cream.  If they do a sleep over I send Abigail with some watered down juice.

They don't see the problems that they are giving to their child for the rest of their life.

Answer 10

No, you are bad parent if you don't do anything about it.

Answer 11

I personally believe that as a parent you MUST teach your child to eat healthfully and exercise often. Teach them the importance of staying fit, but make it fun at the same time. But I don't think it's good to become obsessed! You need to teach them to love and respect their body and everyone else's body no matter what size they are.

Answer 12

I think that you are not helping your child at all if they are overweight. Since the parent should have complete control over what their children eat when they are younger as well as what their physical activity levels are (are they in sports or not). Once they are teenagers the eating is mostly up to them and the parent can't really be held responsible, but as for anyone under the age of 12 I think the parent is responsible for a child being overweight.

However - during the ages of 11 and 12 most go through puberty which causes them to gain weight and they grow out of that, so I don't think that counts unless they are severely obese.

Answer 13

It depends on the situation, but if the parent is just shoving food at their children and not having them exercise then yes. If they call them fat and make them feel like they are worthless then yes they are a bad parent.

If the child is biolar and taking medicine that side effects means that they gain weight then no they are not a bad parent.

Answer 14

Yes.

Answer 15

That's a really broad question...it could be answered with both a yes and a no.

If there are medical or hereditary issues which you cannot control which contribute to an inability to loose weight or a tendency to be heavyset then there is nothing that a parent could do about that.  They could hardly be faulted for something that they cannot control.

However, if a parent does not encourage a child to be active and combines that with an unhealthy diet of junk and fast food, and enables the child to be obese, then I think there are some serious issues that need to be addressed.  Allowing your child to be obese when there is no reason for it is termed a form of child abuse - your child could die from undue stress to internal organs.  It's really sad to see children suffering at the hands of those who feed them.  So in that case, yes I would think the parents were not the best equip...sometimes they don't know better though so I wouldn't say they are bad parents, just uneducated.

Answer 16

I don't think having an overweight child means you are a bad parent, it just means that you are making poor choices when it comes to the food that your family eats.  And a lot of the time overweight children have overweight parents.  Children learn by example.  However, I do believe that when it starts to affect the childs and the parents fail to intervene, it could be because of poor parenting & lack of discipline.

Answer 17

No.  However, a responsible parent will help a child to adjust their lifestyle to eat healthy and increase exercise levels, and will consult with a doctor to determine if there are any underlying medical issues that are contributing to the weight gain or if any additional measures are necessary to maintain the child's health.    If a responsible parent is taking those responsible measure to address the weight gain, that that is a good parent, not a bad parent.  

Asthma may cause a child to reduce their physical activity, leading to weight gain, and children on steroid based medicine, which is common with asthma patients, may experience weight gain as a side effect of the medicine.  Since asthma is such a common problem with kids today, many kids battle weight gain along with their asthma.   Some families have a genetic tendency to gain weight.  If all or many of the adult members of the family have extra thick waistlines, then that child's parents need to be extra careful with that child in terms of diet and exercise.

A parent with an overweight child should have the child in a regularly scheduled physical activity such as karate or swimming.   They should have play equipment like a trampoline, swingset, pool or ball equipment to encourage outdoor play.  They should limit sedentary activities like TV watching and video games, or encourage a more physical type of game, like a dance game or a wii.   They should require that the child eat some form of fruits or vegetables at every meal, and offer healthy snacks, like a snack tray with cheese, snack meat, fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc, and they should limit access to sugary sodas and fruit drinks and candy.

Many parents do all these things and still have overweight kids.   They are still good parents.

Answer 18

I don't think you are a bad parent. I just think parents whose children are overweight make poor choices in providing snacks and meals for their children. My 3 kids are all naturally slim. However, I also don't have cookies, cake, etc... in the house and they have to "pay" for snacks with pretend money that I've made. Healthy snacks like fruit and veggies are free. But anything remotely unhealthy such as popsicles or crackers, then they must purchase them with the money. I give them $6 per day of fake money and the menu is posted on the fridge, along with snack times. We have 3 snack times per day during the summer. This has made my kids really think about the choices they make. We also make sure we play outside each day and they have a very limited amount of TV and computer exposure. I just think many parents were brought up with all sorts of junk food in their house, and that is all they know! Also, so many people have such busy schedules with work, kids activities, etc... its just easier for them to plop a microwave meal on the table, or go through the drive thru.