Right: Regular check-ups, including Body Mass Index (BMI) are recommended by medical experts, as children who are obese often carry that obesity into adulthood.
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Arguments against the parents of obese children being charged with neglect
1. Blaming the parents of obese children discriminates against the poor
Most obesity is caused by excessive daily caloric intake relative to daily caloric expenditure; however, it has been claimed that socio-economic status influences a child's weight.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics data has demonstrated that children living in the areas of greatest relative economic disadvantage had more than double the rate of obesity (28%) of children living in areas with the lowest relative disadvantage (13%).
'Aside from socio-economic differences between areas in terms of education, income and employment, some areas may also offer greater opportunities for physical activity and greater access to healthy food options.' This data suggests that relative poverty seems to have particularly adverse consequences in terms of a child's weight gain.
Other recent Australian studies have also suggested that having a sole parent, a low income family and living outside a major city are risk factors for childhood obesity.
The National Council of Single Mothers and their Children (NCSMC) has claimed that one of the key factors driving obesity in these families is that the children do not take part in organised sport because their parent cannot afford for them to do so.
NCSMC spokesperson, Terese Edwards, has stated, 'Annual sporting fees are several hundred dollars and then you need footwear and shin guards and petrol to get the kids to training and games.'
Ms Edwards has further claimed, 'Food is also a big issue.' Ms Edwards went on to explain that many single parent families simply could not afford to follow the healthy eating guidelines.
Professor Sharon Friel, author of a 2014 study of the cost of healthy eating, found that such eating habits cost up to 30 per cent more than a diet high in carbohydrate, sugar and fat.
In an opinion piece published in The Conversation on July 20, 2012, Darren Powell, a doctoral candidate in Health and Physical Education at Charles Sturt University has stated, '[B]laming a mother for making her child fat does not begin to acknowledge the multiple, oppressive forces that restrict the choices a parent can make.'
2. Parents do not knowingly promote obesity in their children
It has been claimed that the parents of obese children do not knowingly promote obesity in their children. It has been argued that many parents of obese children do not even recognise that their children have weight problems.
In an article published on October 15, 2013, on essentialkids.com.au it was reported that an Australian study of more than 500 children aged up to five conducted by the University of Sydney in 2012 found that 70 per cent of parents of overweight kindergarten children thought their children were the right weight, along with 30 per cent of parents of obese children who also thought their children were a healthy weight.
It has also been noted that parents are unaware of the impact of their own role modelling and equally unaware of what behaviours to demonstrate to their children.
Tim Gill, an associate professor at Sydney University's Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise and Eating Disorders, has stated, 'Parents are under a lot of pressure and they are time-poor, but they don't quite understand the impact little things like sitting down and having a family meal and seeing it being cooked and going outside to kick soccer ball even for five minutes can have.'
3. A punitive approach to childhood obesity is likely to be counter-productive
It has been claimed that condemning the parents of obese children as neglectful is likely to cause shame and unease among parents and lead them to deny their children's health issues.
In an article published on October 15, 2013, on essentialkids.com.au, clinical psychologist Dr Kathryn Berry stated, 'Obesity is...such a sensitive issue, not only for the child, but also the parents who may feel blamed or responsible for their child being in the unhealthy weight range, which I think acts as a barrier to help-seeking for parents.'
Concern has also been expressed that pushing parents to control their children's weigh could have a series of negative consequences.
A number of experts have warned that adopting a punitive approach toward parents can result in them treating their children in insensitive ways likely to cause additional harm.
Dr Kathryn Berry has stated, 'If you are going to make comments about their weight, chances are they are already feeling bad about themselves so it just exacerbates their negative feelings.'
A similar point has been made by Dr Joanna McMillan, a nutritionist and dietician, who has noted, 'It's crucial that good body image is enforced with all children, including those who are overweight. We must ensure that they are not judged by their weight, and that the focus remains firmly on what is healthy from the inside out.'
Susie Burrell, in an opinion piece published in The Herald Sun on April 3, 2012, stated, 'Anyone...who grew up with a mother or grandmother who was obsessed with diets and weight loss will clearly recall how damaging this was in terms of feeling inadequate, feeling constantly restricted with food and basically more likely to overeat than ever before.'
It has also been suggested that heavy-handed approaches from child protection authorities can damage the fabric of the family, causing greater harm to the children.
An article published in the Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy Journal in May, 2014, and written by MS Merry and K Voigt argues that intervention over obesity can damage relationships within families and lead to unintended stigmatising effects.
4. There are community-based means of reducing childhood obesity than punishing parents
A wide range of measures have been proposed to alter Australian eating and exercise habits and thus reduce childhood obesity. Such initiatives include government-funded advertising campaigns and school-based education campaigns to increase awareness of healthy eating behaviours and increase exercise; further regulation of the food offered for sale in school canteens; improved labelling of food stuffs; government subsidising of sport participation for children from low-income families and greater sponsorship of local sporting bodies.
It has also been suggested that a tax be imposed on soft drinks and fast foods to discourage their consumption and provide additional funds to be used to provide greater opportunities for exercise within the community. Nutritionists have also urged that the GST not be extended to include fresh food as this would make healthy eating even more expensive for those living in relative poverty.
The above proposals are all seen as ways of altering the social environment which leads to obesity.
5. Childhood obesity is a societal problem with causes that extend beyond the individual parent
It has been claimed that the child's total social environment contributes to obesity, with factors that are outside parental control contributing to the child's unhealthy eating habits and weight gain.
In an article published on October 15, 2013, on essentialkids.com.au, nutritionist and dietician Dr Joanna McMillan stated, 'The reality is that we live in an environment that encourages obesity... Where families see it as normal to eat energy-dense takeaway food, snack on lollies and drink soft drink, or simply to overeat, it's very difficult to change things... The whole family needs...support from government, from local community and from extended family and friends around them.'
In an article published in The Age on June 12, 2012, Associate Professor John Dixon, of the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, was cited as stating, 'I would not want parents out there with overweight or obese children to in any way feel that it's through their negligence that we have a growing obesity issue in children today.
That would be very wrong indeed ... This is a community problem, an Australia-wide, a global problem that we're not addressing very well at the moment.
We shouldn't be blaming the parents for our environment. The parents and the children who are obese are really victims of this environment.'
In an opinion piece published in The Conversation on July 20, 2012, Darren Powell, a doctoral candidate in Health and Physical Education at Charles Sturt University has stated, 'Parents and children who are obese are...victims. It is well established that economic, environmental, social, cultural, historical and political forces act as determinants on children's health and bodies. These factors also affect the ability to parent well.'