Mom Retains Custody of Son Suffering from Obesity

by Lashell Hoover | More from this Blogger

01 Mar 2007 09:57 PM

Nicola McKeown, age 35, a resident of Wallsend, in northeastern England, was permitted to keep her son after a child protection meeting with officials of North Tyneside Council. As part of the agreement, McKeown had to agree to place her son on a stringent diet and exercise regime.

How did it come to this? Under the Children Act, local law officials must investigate if there is reason to believe that a child in their jurisdiction is being harmed or suffering. Connor McCreaddie, age 8, would have been placed on a child protection register and taken from his family because he weighs 196 pounds. Unlike other children his age, he wears adult clothes. He can't wear his school uniform. His weight makes him a target for bullies and walking short distances leaves him breathless or makes him vomit. Connor's weight has caused him to break several beds, bicycles, and toilet seats.

According to his mother, he has chips with everything and snacks on junk food throughout the day while using the computer. She also commented that she gives him food whenever he asks. She said that "he was born hungry."

A report published by the Journal of Pediatric Obesity states that almost half of the children in North and South America will be overweight by the year 2010. Based on information gathered from medical reports on obesity and from the World Health Organization, researchers found that childhood obesity is rising. This is due, in part, to more sedentary lifestyles and availability of junk foods. The information gathered spanned the years 1980 to 2005.

Before computers, children used to play outside. I remember playing endless games of tag, dodge ball, and leapfrog. My friends and I had relay races, rode bikes, and jumped rope. When I was Connor's age, I ran more than I walked. I fell a lot, too. I have the scraped knees to prove it. Who cared about television? Television was good for Saturday morning cartoons. Who wanted to be indoors when all of the fun was outside?

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Learn more about Lashell Hoover

Lashell Hoover lives in Maryland with her husband, three children, and beloved pets. A former SAHM, she is currently a full-time university student. She enjoys writing, reading, music, art, and life.

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Katie-Anne Gustafsson (604) 02 Mar 2007 03:30 AM

I don't know how this come to be, but I do know the area involved. Not only do my mum, and sister live about 5 minutes walk from the boy's home (it's around the corner from where my gran used to live) but the boy himself is in my nephew's class. It's a very low income area with high unemployment. Chips in the UK are actually fries in the US - and they're cheap. However, I think it goes back to how you train your children to eat from the get-go. My nephew was made to eat vegetables no matter how many times he'd spit them out. Now at 8, he doesn't think it's a meal unless there are 4 different vegetables on his plate (not including potatoes/pasta or rice!). If you end up with a child that's almost your size, and perhaps heavier, it's going to one tough time to force them to eat a healthy diet. No matter how much she's responsible for the situation she's now in, I don't envy it!

On the flip side of this one, I had a preemie - and once he weaned I was constantly in the mental naughty momma's corner every time we went to the baby clinic for his check-ups because he wasn't gaining weight. The reason for this was that he adored fruit and veg, and hated bread, meat, and anything else that was high in calories! He was also on his feet and walking at 12 months and very active! I was at my wits end and at one point invited the ped. nurses to come and see if they could do better - which of course they declined. He's eventually gained weight but is still a bit under average.

Lashell Hoover (470) 05 Mar 2007 06:24 PM

Katie-Anne, I feel for the child. The Maury Show has done a lot of shows about overweight toddlers. It's really painful to watch them walk. The weight is just too much. You can hear their labored breathing. It's sad. They show the child eating stacks of pancakes or several fast food meals in one sitting. I often wondered how the television exposure affected their lives. On a happier note, I did read that Colin is losing weight and that's good.