Fat kids

Research came out this week indicating severely obese children should be taken away from their parents.

I am uncharacteristically divided on this issue to tell you the truth.

On one hand, parents who don't notice or do anything about severe obesity are putting their children at risk of several unpleasant (for the child) and expensive (for society) diseases. The thinking goes that if the children are removed, they can learn healthy habits while under the government's care and the parents can be taught a lesson, too.

But I think it is safe to say it would take more than one nutritional lesson to cure what is ailing these families. I am not a doctor, but if is eating nutritiously was easy, we would all do it.

It costs money, a lot of it. Fast food and prepackaged meals are cheaper and easier to prepare.

It takes time, more than many families have. For those working multiple jobs, kids get left home to prepare their meals, and they are more likely to toss something in the microwave than saute vegetables.

And it takes emotional stability. This may seem like a strange need for healthy eating, but think about it. How easy is it when you are tired, or sad, or depressed to chose the more expensive, more time consuming route to a meal?

This problem is much larger than these researchers make it out to be.

On the other hand, parents should be held responsible for their kids. If no one buys Doritos, no one will eat Doritos. If baby carrots or apple slices are the only choice for snack time, the kids will have to decide if they are hungry enough to eat them.

These parents need help, and so do their kids, but saddling them with emotional stress of having the family taken apart certainly will not help them.

And let's be honest. If you were going to take kids away because they are too fat, maybe you should take them away because there parents smoke. That is a proven health hazard to the child and is inflicted by parents who won't change their habits, too.

And why don't we take smokers' kids away? Because smoking isn't illegal. And neither is being fat.