How do I tell my boss his kid is very overweight?

Question

I babysit for a family and they have two small children. Their daughter is 9, but she is mentally/physically handicapped, and Their son is 7, and he's WAY overweight! He's 110 pounds. They feed him all day long and they feed him a bunch of JUNK! Honeybuns, Cocoa Puffs, Burger King, Candy, pizza... It never stops. I cant stand to watch them kill their kid. How do I tell them that their son is overweight?

Answer 1

Don't get involved.

Answer 2

You dont     geez

Answer 3

you shouldn't or write him a note and dont say its from you it could work real talk!!!

Answer 4

It ain't your business.

Answer 5

you cant they obviously know, and don't care, find a new family to sit for if you are having issues with this............  otherwise, when you sit for him don' t indulge him, with the junk, and you could try to teach him about healthy foods, and make fun healthy recipes together..........  GL

Answer 6

agree with others. it's not your place to say something. HOWEVER, if you're spending lots of time taking care of the kids, you could try to integrate some physical activity to get him moving. Say, let's take a walk to the park! Or, who wants to try this great obstacle course I put together-better yet, have him put it together with you. Try to find ways to get him active...it'll lessen his appetite, and get his blood pumping.

Answer 7

I second bajaricky's response.

Unless of course you don't want your job.

Answer 8

Since they are killing their son slowly, you need to step in. As a care-giver for this child, you have the right to speak up as well as a duty to step in. Just do your research and go to them with it. Such as obesity leading to cancers, diabetes, heart disease, emotional turmoil in school from being teased by peers as well, and the worst case scenario of this behavior being fatal. Approach it gently as they may take offense, but assure them that you are only concerned about the boys health.

I wish you all the best in this.

EDIT~I need to add that I am disgusted with how many people are saying "don't say anything/do anything/it's not your place". So if this boy falls ill due to diet and lack of exercise and you have "said nothing" to the parents, how will that make you feel?? Worst case scenario here is you find a new job (assuming they would fire you, which I don't know). Do people really feel that child hood obesity is nothing to worry about??

Answer 9

Why would you want to?

Answer 10

uhh sorry but it's not your place to say anything. it's their choice and if they don't stop, it's their problem. so you just hafta bear with it.

Answer 11

Okay. As I skimmed over questions and read this, the first thing that came to mind is "You don't." It's insulting a lot of people, and since he is your boss, you could end up losing your job because of a comment. I was a really big kid. I think when I was 10 i weighed like 125, it was hard for me to do anything, I was so self conscious and withdrawn. Talk to him and get to know him better and just be a friend to the little guy it will probably help his esteem. (From a 13 year old)

Answer 12

As a parent, they know their child is overweight.. how they choose to handle it is a different story. It is not your place to tell them though.

Answer 13

If you want your job don't say anything

Answer 14

Honestly,  It's not your place to say anything.

Answer 15

You don't, unless you are ready to lose your job.  The parents know that their child is overweight, but they don't want you commenting on it.  You can make comments such as "What a big boy" or ask a question about now much to feed him, but telling them that he is overweight is up to his doctor or close friend and family

Answer 16

You could either:

leave the parenting to them, even if their kid gets fat.

or

say "I've been noticing little tommy (or whatever his name is) has been acting sluggish and tired lately. I'm not sure if that's something to be concerened about, but maybe giving him some energizing foods like apples might help!"

Answer 17

it's none of you business to question their parenting, so you don't tell them. im sure it's pretty obvious to them he's overweight, i mean how many kids in his class weigh as much as he does. hopefully they figure it out soon before there is serious, and irreversible damage. good luck

Answer 18

The parents might get angry if you say something...

When you babysit, bring over low calorie snacks and say to the boy "This is way better for you, why not try this instead?"

Maybe you should take him out for walks to help him burn some calories too. Encourage him to eat healthy! Hope this helped.

Answer 19

If the kid is that big I'm sure they know there is a problem but are in denial.  Telling them how you feel or not depends on how good your relationship is with these parents.  If its a strictly proffessional relationship, I wouldn't say anyhting.  On a personal note, however, I think people who overfeed their children to excess should be reported to child services as a form of child abuse!  Good luck!

Answer 20

Give them some glasses to wear, so they can see the truth. They probably spoil the boy due to the fact of there unfortunate case of there daughter. Leave a pamphlet about diabetes type two around there house. If they ask you about it, tell them that one of your close friends just caught the disease due to being overweight. Tell them that you were reading up on how to prevent it.

Good Luck that's great that you care about the health and care of someone else's child

Answer 21

its not your place to say anything about his weight.look at him you think that they dont know hes over weight.okay then they dont need to hear it from someone they trust their children with .how do you think that will make them feel.

Answer 22

i dont think u can. its juss not appropriate. srry.

Answer 23

The next time thy are there and the kid comes by politely ask the kid,"would you like some butter with your rolls?"

Nah I'm a puppy

It's not your place. However if you believe the child is being harmed from neglect then you need to call cps ( child protective services). It's your duty

Answer 24

HOnestly it's not really your place to tell anyone there child is over weight.... especially not your boss, unless you dont want a job!?! If you cant stand the way they raise there child then dont babysit for them.

Answer 25

sounds like they are compensating for thier daughter being disabled. i see it alot with siblings of children of severe special needs.

if you keep them in thier house then do some research on what  a child that age should be eating and the portion sizes and take it with you. say you want to be the best caregiver that you can be and part of your responsibility is to make sure that they diet is appropriate so you are nt contributing to him getting harmful things in his body.

try to slowly cut back on his food and do more outside play with them like swinging or something. get him playing with his sister. if the parents are really adament about his diet then there is really nothing you can do.

sometimes the child services will step in if the case is severe enough because now allowing your child to become obese is considered neglect and that may be you only solution. this way maybe they can get an eye opener and the child services will get them some resources and some parenting, and some nutritional classes.

Answer 26

unless u want to lose ur job u dont

Answer 27

I don't think you should interfere as some other people have said,

maybe when you are babysitting for the family feed the kids fresh fruit and veggies, take them to the park or the beach.

If you even try to talk to them about their child being overweight, they're most likely to get mad and take it the wrong way.

So yeah, just when you look after him make sure your day is healthy :)

Answer 28

They know he is overweight.  I think you could ask them if they know about the relationship between diabetes and childhood obesity.  They are setting this kid up for a lifetime of illness.  So in my opinion it is child abuse.  I would tell them that you won't babysit for them if that kind of food is in the house because you care so much about their son and you don't want to see him hurting himself.

Answer 29

I'm pretty sure they already know, but don't want to do anything to change it. I think the most you can do is ask if there are any healthy snacks or food to offer, or ask how much xyz he's allowed to eat, and if you should try to limit it. Hopefully their pediatrician is discussing the child's weight with them, but I can't imagine it will come off too well if you try.