Quiet today so thought I'd start a debate.
If it is right to take fat dogs away from owners (see linked story) to help them lose weight should the state take the same action with fat kids?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/6187014.stm
BTW did you know that the NSPCC was formed in 1880 after an inspector from the RSPCA went in to a home to take away some abused animals but felt that he couldn't leave the children in such a hell hole depisite having no power to do so.
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Since creating kids can be done fairly easily would be hard to regulate. Maybe AFKA wants to be an inspector!
My own view is that the fuss about fat kids is a class issue. Fat people = working class slobs Slim people = middle class, gym membership owning, organic food eating "good" people in the eyes of middle class people. Another way to attack the poor and for the snobs to differentiate themselves. Most kids at my sons school are slim and reasonably fit (fairly mixed in terms of class and race school in Bromley) there are some fat kids but there always were.
as for the licence for having kids, i'd have all kids sterilised when at 12, then would have to apply to have it reversed from 21 onwards after they have proved they can maintain a relationship, job, good character etc. And if your found to treat your kids badly, you're sterilised again so you can't have any more.
Country is overpopulating at a drastic rate, teenage pregnancies and law and order is getting out of control, time for drastic measures !!!
:-)
most girls in Dartford already have 3 kids by this age
you sound like James Whale but I agree 10,000%.
Why?
No one used to get dropped off at school. Mum was at home making a proper meal for dinner that night. You done cross country twice a week and 'Double Games' was a treat. Everyone went swimming (2d for the bus fare!). You were hardly seen in the house at weekends apart from meals and to sleep.
I know things have changed in that time and the way we live governs much of this but it will take a lot to reverse it IMO.
Henry, take a look at your boys school when he's early/mid teens, I reckon you'll see a change then.
because I know it to be the case. Afraid to offend gays/lesbians they get more leeway.
BTW, I have no problem with gays/lesbians adopting. Anyone who is prepared to adopt children and bring them up as their own is more than ok with me whether gay/lesbian/straight. Adoption should be positively encouraged.
Fat people not being able to adopt is part of the same class prejudice. (Fat = poor parenting skills = working class) and is wrong. SHould be the kids welfare not the parents weight. Then again I have no problem with gays or lesbians adopting kids either.
There should be a total ban on advertising and promoting on confectionary and crisps - and they shoul carry cigarrette style health warnings and pictures of stomach-stapling.
* Margaret, not Ben
Because they can do something about it.
These days playing fields and parks have often been built on or where they still exist they are inhabited by drug addicts and other undesirables. There used to be a bloke called a Park Keeper in a brown suit when I was a kid and he would sort out trouble himself or if necessary call the Old Bill.
Is it more irresponsible parenting to let your kid get fat in the safety of the home or risk attack and abuse on the increasingly lawless streets and parks?
It is not only a case of eating too much of the "wrong" food!
I however am not pro gay / lesbian adoptions however, and i don't say that lightly as i have gay friends i know would make fantastic parents. If there are no other options, of course i wish a child was raised by two loving people, but i believe it should be the very last option. In my mind, it would provide unnecessary awkwardness for a child in respect to their peers, and probably confusing mentally on themself.
It is about children being overfed on diets of extreme levels of salt, sugar and fat - they will die young, under-achieve, be diabetic and generally unhealthy for the rest of their shortened lives until they die of heart disease long before the reach retirement age - not that they would have had much to retire from in many cases.
It is not about organic food and alfalfa sprouts - it is about giving children the home cooked food and and a bit of fruit and veg - like we had as kids - a lot of parents don't bother with any of that these days.
but how does size affect their ability to be parents ? And IF it does should we not then remove children immediately when born from those who are overweight ? Of course we shouldn't, should we ? But if we did we should also remove children immediately when born from those on drugs, those who are alcoholic and those that smoke. Smoking and drinking is ultimately more harmful to kids than having overweight parents. Also overweight parents doesn't automatically mean overweight kids just as it doesn't mean that kids whose parents drink or smoke are going to do so themselves in later life. If fatties can do something about it then so can alcoholics and smokers.
I get the impression the mum's in general that don't work nowadays, despite being at 'home' have a very different outlook...
I know people with glandular problems. There is not a lot they can do about it.
There is a school of thought, presently unfashionable admittedly, that sexual orientation can be changed.
The point is though, in a supposedly free society, why should "the state" oppress fat people as opposed to any other group? Health reasons you will probably reply. In Western Society most Aids sufferers are gay, according to the stats, yet nobody suggests attempting to change their behaviour.
believe me it is the case !! However, I do not believe your second point to be true at all. I know a lesbian couple who have adopted (one used to be married & has two older kids and a gutted ex-husband !) and they are two of the happiest kids I know. These days when half the kids in school have two dads or two mums, step brothers, step sisters, one mum, no dad, siblings under 16 with kids of their own I really don't think school friends are bothered about it. In fact they are probably more normal than half the kids in school because at least their parents are in a loving relationship whereas friends are probably packed off at weekend to a parent they'd rather not really see. On reflection many friends must be secretly jealous.
Glad that this stimulated some interesting views and debate.
My own view is that while my familt eat healthly and well at home I'm over weight by about 1.5 stone. I drink and I eat some rubbish sometimes (as Len will testify). That's doesn't make me a good or bad parent. My son is slim, almost skinny as his dad and mum were at the same age. He sometimes plays in the street but also goes swimming, plays for a football team and spends every school play time playing football or another game. He does get sweets sometimes and he gets fizzy drinks but rarely. As long as he eats a balanced diet and does exercise he will be OK.
I'm glad that we don't see kids with calipers or who were malformed due to not enough food (my own dad for example) anymore or very rarely.
Actually don't know what I think about taking kids away. I'd fight to the death (literally) to stop someone taking my son from me so why should I allow someone else's kids to be taken unless they have been physically or sexual abused.
Next week - Short people - nasty or just annoying