Hey, back again! There's an issue that's been pressing on my mind for a long time so I thought I'd raise it to see what kind of response I get - maybe I'm crazy and out on my own, but I'm sure there are people out there who will agree.

The point is pretty simple. First off, let me establish the fact that if you are a parent and fail to feed your child you can get charged with abuse (neglect). This is perfect and exactly how it should be as it has a direct impact on the child's health and development, or "failure to thrive" as it's known in the social work world.

For years TV has been bombarded with programmes about "fat Britain", "half ton mom" and many, many others telling us how fat we are all getting. One particular programme whose name I can't recall, showed a mother who was morbidly obese in England who also fed her 10 year old child to the point that he was obese. She was looking to get a gastric bypass in order to control her excessive eating, which consisted of take aways, fry ups and other incredibly unhealthy meals. Her situation had led her to refuse to leave the house as she was ashamed of how obese she was - note that she was not a "half a ton mom" but something like 30 stone so still fairly able to get around. Although I am totally against obesity and unhealthy eating in general, I have no major issues with her if this is how she wants to live.

My issue is the effect this is having on the child. The child was going to school and getting bullied because of his weight, the mother didn't leave the house and so the child had to take himself to school and fend for himself with anything concerning the outdoors. Yet when the child came home from school the camera showed the mother saying "shall we just get a takeaway for tea? Just our fourth one this week, haha". What?! She proceeded to call her local takeaway, who knew her name, address and order just by the sound of her voice! Then upon arrival she sent her son to the door as she was too ashamed to answer the door herself.

I'm sure you have seen something similar to the above but if not no doubt you can relate to what I've said and answer the question - why aren't parents charged with abuse for not supplying a controlled, healthy diet to their children? In the above example the cost of the takeaway was almost double the amount the parent could have spent on something healthy from the supermarket to feed the 2 of them. I'm absolutely disgusted and think that in a country that is aiming to tackle obesity we are failing our younger generation by allowing parents to influence with their slovenly, lazy and incredibly unhealthy ways.

Let me leave you with some facts from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/50541.php and I look forward to any comments or opinions people have on the above.

Adults in England in 2003 (adults means people 16 and over):
22% of men were obese
43% of men were overweight
35% of men were of ideal weight or underweight

23% of women were obese
33% of women were overweight
44% of women were of ideal weight or underweight

Estimates for obesity rates in 2010:
Men 28% - 33%
Women 28% - 31%

Girls (2-15 years old) 22%
Boys (2-15 years old) 19%