malnutrition

Childhood Obesity Campaign Launched

Shouldn't it be "anti-obesity"? To me, an obesity campaign sounds sort of like it's pro-obesity.

I'm wondering also, since care givers in the US can be judged negligent or abusive for malnourishing a child to the point of starvation, can severe childhood malnutrition in general (and including malnutrition which leads to childhood obesity and early onset of diet/exercise related diseases) be seen as a form of neglect or abuse? Can it be and should it be? Is it equitable, socio-economically, to frame abuse and neglect definitions so underweight children will be seen as a sign of possible abuse/neglect but children who already have signs of type two diabetes, and whose parents won't adjust the family's or child's diet or lifestyle have no such association? I had a friend whose daughter was in joint custody. Step mom and dad fed the family shit. Mom was into organic foods and home cooking. Moreover, mom included her daughter in meal planning and preparation. Dad and step mom made 100% parent based decisions about what the entire family would eat at mealtime.

The kid was overweight, I wouldn't have said severely but she was overweight. Moreover the kid was aware of this and distraught. See, she was right at the edge of this whole "fat kid" trend (perspective or reality) in the US and she was getting noise from all sides. Surprisingly not silent was stepmom, who told her repeatedly she was fat and needed to lose weight. Then she'd serve up some McDonalds.

So is that abuse?

According to the state of Connecticut, abuse is "a non-accidental injury to a child which, regardless of motive, is inflicted or allowed to be inflicted by the person responsible for the child's care" and includes "any injury which is at variance with the history given" and "maltreatment such as, but not limited to, malnutrition, sexual molestation, deprivation of necessities, emotional maltreatment or cruel punishment."

And neglect is "the failure, whether intentional or not, of the person responsible for the child's care to provide and maintain adequate food, clothing, medical care, supervision, and/or education."