Junkfood Science: Parents threatened by the State for “allowing” their children to have puppy fat

March 24, 2008

Parents threatened by the State for “allowing” their children to have puppy fat

Despite the fact that there is no “alarming” crisis of fat babies or a childhood obesity epidemic in Scotland, Scottish authorities and special interest groups will not rest until they’ve threatened and terrified parents into starving their naturally larger babies and children into slimness. The latest news from Scotland is leaving readers around the world horrified. Mark Smith at the Mirror reports:

Parents told to put their six obese children on a diet or face having them taken into care

A couple have been given three months to get three of their six overweight kids slimmer - or have ALL of them taken into care…. And social workers have threatened that unless the tough weight loss ultimatum is met through diet and the children taking football and dance lessons, they will seize them and their three siblings to safeguard their welfare….

"This is every family's worst nightmare and I feel we're being victimised. I can't stop crying at the thought I could lose my beautiful children for ever." … [The mother] insisted they ate healthily and merely had puppy fat. She said: "I don't even own a deep-fat fryer. All my food is home-cooked and the kids are not fed junk food at all. But social workers keep making an issue about their weight."

She fears the girl, 11, may develop an eating disorder as she now shuns proper meals, while her oldest son has temper tantrums. The Dundee family came to the attention of social services when they asked for help in caring for the kids, including the girl, three, who has developmental problems….

Arguing that “it is right” to do was Tam Fry, Chairman of the Child Growth Foundation, who cited incorrect claims and threatened other parents:

In 99 per cent of cases, obesity is so avoidable. Letting a child get so fat is a form of abuse as there's a possibility they could die before their parents. It's important they are taken out of their homes and put under 24-hour surveillance from doctors and nurses… if your kid is obese, do something. Apart from the name-calling they will suffer, do you want a death on your hands?

The director of a children’s weight loss clinic encouraged compassion towards families, incorrectly accusing parents of not being able to help themselves and that “they just need to be taught how to do things right.” She blamed the “abundance of junk food, kids' TV shows and computers that contribute to today's unhealthy diets and sedentary lifestyles.”

The Scotsman reports that another couple there is facing the same fate over their child. These developments have “already forced some as young as 13 to seek NHS weight-loss surgery,” according to the paper.

Families destroyed and children’s lives shattered forever. Abuses of power based on lies, prejudices, and corruption. Are there riots in the streets there?

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