We’re not alone in our childhood obesity epidemic, nor are we the only ones handling it in an odd way, but our solution looks to be of the same instant-gratification no-effort style that is becoming so typical lately. Using surgery to “fix” your fat kid instead of buying them a rubber ball and a swing set will hurt the child far more in the long run than any upset some real discipline in their diet and excercise will cost them.
For decades, the number of kids trying weight-loss surgery has been tiny. The operations themselves were risky, with a death rate of about 1 in 50. Children rarely got that fat, and when they did, pediatricians hesitated to put the developing bodies under the knife. Only 350 U.S. kids had such an operation in 2004, according to federal statistics.
A group of four hospitals, led by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, are starting a large-scale study this spring examining how children respond to various types of weight-loss surgery, including the gastric bypass, in which a pouch is stapled off from the rest of the stomach and connected to the small intestine.
Hell, run around outside with them and you’ll get thinner as well.
Side note about the kids shown on the Maury show. I have a sneaking suspicion that the parents feed them lard just to get on TV.
When that kid gets “fixed”, a McDonald’s somewhere will go out of business.
Makes you wonder why we don’t need a permit to reproduce anymore.
I feel sorry for the poor girl who will be tormented for the rest of her life.
Give her a dollar and have her chase after the ice-cream truck. Give the driver a 50 to not come to a stop….
Doctors should start perscribing the Wii for those fat kids, and maybe a DS with Brain Age for the parents…
Biodiesel is a processed fuel derived from biological sources. Can we farm these fat kids and use them as an alternative energy source? Process the fat fryer at McDonald’s on both the production and the consumption end.
6,
Barf, dude.
Why aren’t the parents, most likely parent, due to marriage being “politicaly incorrect”, being brought up on charges for child abuse? They are if a child is disciplined. Easy, the same reason “16 won’t get you 20, but it will get you a good time”. Instead of telling the kid to get outside and move around and get some kind of life, the parent goes to Walmart at midnight the day of it’s release, gets a PS3, brings it home and throws it to their fat little chump of a kid as a babysitter. How much of a workout will they get pounding on a game controller all day? After all, we don’t want to hurt the little angel’s self esteem, now do we?
Between the weenies on the left telling parents they can’t discipline their children for bad or even STUPID behavior, and the parents being lazy morons themselves, this is your future.
Get used to it.
Can we farm these fat kids and use them as an alternative energy source?
The 21st Century equivalent of J. Swift’s A Modest Proposal.
J/P=?
There may be some evidence that the obesity epidemic could be related to some disease/environmental exposure. To all those parenting experts, you can’t keep a child locked in a cage and shove them 1000 calories a day. They become very skilled at sneaking food. Nor can you reason with a six year old to keep them out of the refrigerator. Please don’t let this site degrade into a contest for the sickest smart ass posts.
#10: Yeah, the disease is bad parenting.
“There may be some evidence that the obesity epidemic could be related to some disease/environmental exposure.”
Oh, yeah, sure it is. It could could never be from stupid behavior, could it? I don’t know who I should pity more, the fat kid, the parent of the fat kid or the morons who dream up statements like the one I put in quotes above.
Such a dilemma.
The only environmental exposure making them fat is overexposure to too many twinkies.
#13 that would be #7 in the top ten list. The #1 on this top ten list? Oprah!
#8 Just so that I understand, you are blaming liberals for the obesity epidemic
Could you please post an example of a lefty weenie advising parents not to discipline their child?
#15 – Dont you know? Liberals can be blamed for everything. Rush says so.
#9 The problem with adopting Swift’s “Modest Proposal” is that these kids don’t have meat on them…they have fat. Don’t know about you, but I tend to trim the fat off when I eat.
Of course, it’s all academic because it is a (purposefully, I know, I know) revolting idea. Just making a point that these kids wouldn’t be ideal candidates is all…
9,
17,
Actually the analogy is not quite apt unless it is meant antonymically. We love our fat children, not despise them, and their chubby state is a result of our overattention, not inattention.
As fas as I know, blame the parents for not teaching them some decent dietary habits.
Of course, NOT EVERYONE CAN AFFORD A MACROBIOTIC/VEGAN DIET because a vegetarian diet has to be balanced otherwise it could do more harm than benefit.
#8, & 12
It is easy to see that neither of you have children. Because if you did, then Children’s Services should take them away from you.
Mass, severe obesity is something relatively new to society. There have been several paradigms that may (or may not) have an influence on uncontrollable obesity. Including the high use of corn sweeteners in food, hormones and antibiotics used in livestock, pesticides and herbicides sprayed on plants, highly processed food, drugs used by adults and children alike, mass vaccinations of children, and fluoride in our toothpaste.
In short we don’t know what is causing such severe obesity. To say it is the child’s own fault is ingenuous.