motd Monday Dec 5, 2011

[Guest guest]

PLEASE DON'T

TAKE MY BOY!

Monday, 05 December 2011

You may have heard this story in the news

from last week. In case you didn't, it's a very sad

story I want you all to be aware of. It's about a boy

from Ohio who has a really serious weight problem.

This boy is only

eight-years-old and already weighs more than 200

pounds.

You see, this boy is only eight-years-old but, and

here's the sad part, he already weighs more than 200

pounds. And,

because of his extreme obesity, the boy was removed

from his mother's care and placed in a foster home!

Local authorities from the Department of Children and

Family Services claimed that the mother wasn't doing

enough to help her son lose weight and that's why he

was removed from his home. This was the first time a

child was forcibly removed from home due to a

weight-related issue alone.

You can just picture this scene in your minds, can't

you? I mean, you can see those officials knocking on

the door, escorting this lady's son to a waiting car

then whisking him away to a foster home. My goodness!

Can you imagine what such a

young child was feeling as he was taken from his home?

First, let's talk about the trauma involved here. Can

you imagine what such a young child was feeling as he

was taken from his home? And what about his mother?

How do you think she felt? She must have been begging for them not

to take her boy. Oh,

it all sounds just horrible!

Now let me ask, how do you feel about this situation?

Do you think it was the right thing for those health

officials to do? Can you imagine how that child felt,

leaving his home and his mother to live with people he

didn't even really know? I'm telling you, this sounds

like one of those truly lose-lose situations.

What would I have done?

Well, I would have asked the Department of Family

Services to give the mother another chance to help her

son. I would've wanted him to have a complete

physical to see just how good or bad his health is

right now. Yes, he's very young but because of his

severe obesity, a complete physical would have been

the smart thing to do.

I would have had a nutritionist sit down with the

mother and son to discuss this situation in great

detail. I should add, some counseling may have even

been in order for mother and son. I mean

surely, there must be some underlying issues that

caused this eight-year-old to eat enough to already

weigh 200 pounds. I'd be sure to follow up with

mother and son to see how they both were doing. I'm

telling you, this just sounds like a much more

civilized approach than removing a child from the care

of his mother. (I was just shocked to hear this

story!)

If you have an overweight

child, it's your

responsibility as a parent to set a good

example for him or her.

Now, after all of that help, if this

eight-year-old was still unable to lose weight, then I believe an

alternate route of action should be taken. And oh

yeah, I have to tell you one other thing. This boy is

also a third-grade

honor student so, obviously,

he's smart, too! God bless him.

Listen up everybody, (and I've told you this

before), if you have an overweight child, it's your

responsibility as

a parent to set a good example for him or her by

teaching your child the right way to live a happy and

healthy lifestyle. And now is the time to get those

lessons started, while

they're still young.

Love,