8 year old weighs 218 pounds....

I am sure everyone has heard about this 8 year old in England who weighs 218 pounds. In the UK, social services is trying to figure out if this boy's weight is considered abuse from his parents. The authorities decided not to take the child from the home, but there is still a lot of controversy. There was a story about it this morning on GMA.

So the question is...is the issue with this child genetics or bad parenting?

In my opinion, it is probably a mix of both. I have seen a picture of this child's mother and she isn't all that thin and trim herself. So, it is genes or their bad eating habits that allow a 8 year old to weigh 4 times his normal body weight? I can remember watching shows like Montel and the like...about parents and their obese children. I was often left sickened by the lack of parenting going on there. On one of these shows, the child was 3 years old and completely controlled what he ate and how often. He's THREE! And...if the mother tried to control what he ate, he would just have a tantrum until he got his way...which always happened. And this was a kid who was eating a whole package of hotdogs at a time.

I just think that sometimes parents are afraid to be parents...to sometime be the bad guy. If your child is sneaking junk food...as the child in the UK is doing...the STOP BUYING IT! If you fill the house with nothing but lean chicken and carrots and rice cakes and the like...I can guarantee that child will lose weight.

Do I think the child should be taken from the home? Well...no, but I think social services needs to get involved. If a child is too thin or malnourished...then social services gets involved. How is this different? I think an agency should go in and work with the mom on structure and dieting and if there is no change in a given period of time...then maybe they should consider taking the child out of the home. Because...let's face it...if this child is able to continue the way he is...it's only a matter of time before he eats himself to death.

What do people think about this??? I know it's controversial...and I can only imagine how much someone at a fat acceptance site might bash me for my above comments, but well...I still believe them to be true!