196 pounds at 8 years old?!

I agree. You as the parent decide what your child puts into their mouth. I think the mom should realize that she is the adult and it is up to her to make the decisions. Do I think the child should be taken from his mother? Absolutely not. I think that will do more harm than good. Maybe she should take parenting classes.

Gosh I just posted about this. I had heard them talking about it on the radio. The radio show said he weighed 218 pounds. Now which number is right? Anyway I think they need help but I don't think removing the child right away is the way to go.

Yes the boy is overweight, I wont argue that BUT there are some key factors they dont touch on...for starters how tall is this child? Is his hieght within the range of his age as well or is he above average? What is the families medical history like? and so on......My daughter weighs that much and she is 11 yrs old.....but she's also 5'6" and build just like her father at that same age.....My son is 5'7" and wts in at 156 lbs...He's heavier than I was at that age and shorter (I was 5'9" and 114lbs) but he's growing like a weed as is my daughter (she grew 4 inches this past yr).. now THIS however "The family claims to have a history of intolerance to fruit or vegetables" is a load of nonsense imo...and yes that shoudl be addressed without a doubt but rather than take the child away, put the family into a court ordered program for nutrition and diet...The child is losign wt and will probably continue to do so especially considering his age...but without a doubt something needs to be done..I just think that using the registry and taking the child away is too harsh...Get them into counseling to find out where it stems from, get them into a court ordered program like I mentioned already and so on...and I always say, that the average guideline when it comes to ht and wt of a child are WAY off mark by a long shot!..

oh someone else posted a discussion about this and made it sound like it was someone in her hometown...i didn't know it had made national news. she also didn't state that the kid was THAT overweight. basically, i'll say the same thing i told her.... -that entire family needs to enter a counseling program to LEARN how to lead healthy lives. it takes time, but it is most assuredly necessary. -i definitely think the government should be in involved b/c poor eating habits is a cycle. parents teach their kids and those kids will eventually teach their kids. it's a shame and it can be stopped. look at NY...by 2008, i think, NY will be rid of all prepared foods that contain trans fats. they ban ciggarette smoking in public places and now they are trying to make food choices for people healthier...good for them, in my opinion. -as a side note....i think the gov't should def intervene if the family is on gov't assistance. i witnessed first hand parents buying groceries on food stamps and they buy JUNK! pure rubbish. soda, chips, cookies, etc. hardly any produce or meats, which i feel is what food stamps should be buying families. my tax dollars are going to this family so they can sit on their butt and get overweight while "working the system". mom has her hair and nails done and kids are wearing all kinds of expensive clothes and shoes, but here i am, working my butt off and just making ends meet as an upstanding citizen. AND to top it off...they get a seperate debit account with free money in it every month for supposedly things like T.P. and soap, but that's what's buying all this non-necessary garbage.... o.k. getting back to the topic... it's a sad situation and i think they kid should be taken if his parents can't take care of him properly. you ahve to be a certain age or have a license to do so much in this country, but any idiot or moron can have kids... very sad. thanks for shedding some morelight on this for me. take care!

I think the government is absolutely right in their attempts to save this child's life. The parents are 100% neglectful to allow their child to become so morbidly obese. Dr. Phil just did a show on something like this not too long ago, and that kid did indeed get taken from his mother. Junk food and fast food should be once in a while treats, not everday food. If your child is hungry enough, he will eat what you put in front of him. And it is not starving your child to refuse to serve custom menus based on what he demands. After all, who is really the parent here? I don't feed my kids salad 3 meals a day, and yes, we have cookies almost every night for a snack, but I do make sure they eat from all the food groups. My son's favorite snacks aren't cookies, they're fruit--bananas, grapes, apples. It's what we keep in the house on a regular basis, and so it's what he likes. It's not at all difficult to feed a child properly. These parents should be ashamed of themselves!

I know a little girl who is 140 and 6 years old. Her mom buys her every junk food she wants, because she cries a lot. She acts like if not eating fries for breakfast will kill her. The parent should be responsible and if she cant take good care of her daughter then she should be taken away because you are endangering that child.

OMG! He's heavier than me, I only weigh 110 lbs and I'm already in my 20's. I hope his parents will realize the risk of being so overweight and stop buying the junk foods. I'm so sorry that he grew with a very unhealthy diet and I think the health department should really monitor the food intake of the entire family for their own sake. He's so overweight if he doesn't stop he may not even reach his high school prom!

Well it depends is he like adult size(tall wise) And if he isn't... Then he is wayy over way-eight :P Anyways i would get someone to help him professional help that is. That person should really lay off the junk food. unless it is genetics... He may have gotten the overweight-ness from his parents... IT is a possibility

You know, it is so easy to stand back and make judgements about other people when we don't know all the facts. My heart aches for both the boy and his parents. My guess is that there are some predisposing factors involved and that they are low-income with limited education. They would benefit from family therapy if they were motivated to make changes. Parenting is the hardest job anyone can ever have and parents really don't get a lot of support for being good parents. Babies don't really come with an instruction manual and if you weren't around parents who were good parents how can you learn to be a good parent? I think we should be sending love and prayers to them as they struggle with this issue. While I wasn't as obese as this child, I've had a weight problem my whole life. I was the only person in my family who was overweight, and that was before junk food existed! As with most problems, this one is too complex for an easy answer.

I watch a program about this boy yesterday. It is really sad that his mum so is depressed that she doesn't look after him and his gran spoils him and gives him everything he wants to try and make up for his bad mothering. I feel sorry for him and his gran. If he is taken away from the family it will be so upsetting for her. What I can't understand is why something hasn't been done for them already. He obviously has a problem so you would think the school would have mentioned it and got social services to try and help the family long before it got to this stage.

Wow weighing almost 200 lbs at the age of 8 years is really a lot of weight. That boy must be very overweight. I think that his parents should care about the diet of their child. He must ate a lot to become so fat. Being this fat is really a big health problem.

OMG! That poor child! That is a perfect example of parents not caring at all. Do you have a link to the story, I haven't seen it yet?

omg, i have never heard of this story, but that is crazy.i think he should be taken away from his mom for a little while until he drops some weight and then she should be taught how to feed him, that is pathetic. my uncle and his wife had never thought about adopting but they found out about this kid and he was like locked up in a cage a fed til he was really overweight, now he's dropped a lot of weight living with them and i think if the mother cant take care of this boy then he should be put into another family also.

Is this the kid in england?? If not we have a kid here who is exactly the same. I think that he should be seperated from his parents because they keep feeding him the junk food and obviously dont know how to keep a healthy diet so yes i agree with the fact that he shoulod be seperated from his parents!!!

i heard about it. there was a big issue of whether or not he should be taken away from his mother, but i think they resolved the issue yesterday. he will get to stay with her. i think its so ridiculous though. no 8 year old child should weigh almost 200 lbs! what is this mother thinking? doesn't she realize how disgusting and unhealthy it is? its so simple to just make him lose weight. dont buy crap and cook healthy foods. its so disgusting when parents just let their kids eat whatever they want simply because they are kids.

I also saw that boy on TV yesterday. Poor kid! He looks so big, yet he is only 8 years old! I just read right now that he won't be taken away from home and I am glad. I think this is a problem that is better solved at home, with the appropriate help from psyhologists or social workers of course. It's not only the kid who has a problem, but the mother as well, although of a different kind. With some help and the mother's love, I am sure they are going to get over that serious problem.

I think it is a case that she didn't want to argue or fight with her son anymore so she gave up and let him eat what he wanted. My mother in law did that and my father in law just about had a cow. My 8 year old brother in law is hitting a growth spurt and he is growing heavier but not taller and he looks very chunky right now. His dad has him doing a few exercises and seriously limited how much junk and pop he is eating. My Father in law was overweight as a child and doesn't want my brother in law to gain all this extra weight and have it not go away when he does grow taller. As for this lady, she needs to fight with her child over this. If she doesn't buy it, he won't eat it. It would be so sad to hear that the child had a heart attack at the age of 15 because of his weight and his health from eating so poorly.

I didn't see this particular case, but I've seen this a lot on different television shows. It is really, really frustrating. Sometimes I actually do think that the children should be taken away from their parents because they clearly don't know how to say "no" to their children. Also, I consider overeating a form of abuse, and parents should not be letting their children do that. It will cause so many problems later in life. I think that in cases like these, they should send the entire family to a nutritionist to learn about what they're doing, and then if the child doesn't stop gaining so much weight, it should be considered a form of child abuse. You have to be able to say no to your children, especially when it comes to their health.

someone should help both mother and child. How sick can you be as a mother to bring your child into such health problems. As a mother i can't understand .

my opinion is that mother and child need help. How sick can a mother bee to bring your child in such health problems? somebody should help both of them........