Mother neglected 14 y.o. son?

[IDrinkaRum]

Mother of 555 pound son speaks out for the first time about her son.

Local government has stepped in, arrested mother for neglecting her son and allowing him to get to 555 pounds by the time he's 14.

Mother says the treatment that has been recommended costs more money than they have.

[BlaqueKatt]

Mother says the treatment that has been recommended costs more money than they have.

considering we aren't told what options were offered r what the cost was-we don't know enough to make a decision on that-however I want to do some math, because I like math(so sue me)

ok kid weighs 555 pounds-being generous as we aren't told his height I'll estimate about 160 pounds should be close to a healthy weight-or at least in the ballpark so that leaves 395 pounds of excess weight-the average adult needs 2000 calories per day and although this is a not an adult I'll use that for reference. It takes 3500 extra calories to make a pound of excess weight. So we have 1,382,500 excess calories consumed above the daily needed amount.

A macca's cheeseburger is 300 calories, large fry is 500, and large coke is 310=1,110 calories that's 1245 meals like that to make up the excess caloric content-it does add up to be only 270 extra calories per day when divided by 14 years; however I doubt he started gaining weight that early-especially because small children just can't eat that much. so if we assume it started around age 5 it's 420 calories per day. one hour of general house cleaning at his weight would burn 880 calories, one hour of roller skating would burn 1764 calories, and one hour of slow walking would burn 660 calories-so 1 hour of walking at a slow pace 6 days a week would take about 5 years to rid all the excess weight not instant but putting the weight on wasn't either. If caloric intake was lessened as well as adding physical activity it would take less time, or possibly take less walking(and therefore less strain on the joints.

reduce calorie intake by 490 and walking to 20 minutes a day 5 days a week and you'd get roughly the same results. I replace one meal a day with ensure-6 bottles for $8 and 250 calories per bottle. That's $1.30 per replaced meal-how is that more expensive than a fast food meal-a 3 pound bag of apples (at around 47 calories per 100 grams-and yes for me an apple can be my lunch) is under $5 a veggie stir fry takes under 10 minutes to make, is cheap and low-fat.

[MaggieTheCat]

As far as whether the mother should have been jailed or not, I personally don't think she should have been. Yeah, it's terrible what happened to the boy, and obviously part (some might argue, all) of it is the mother's fault, but throwing her in jail isn't the answer. As one of the comments on that webpage stated, she's now spending money on bail, lawyers, etc that could instead be going towards the kid. (Then again, another comment said that if she had $50,000 for bail, why didn't she have enough money for some kind of treatment for the kid, or at least decent food? Good point.)

Anyway, if authorities are gonna go after her 'cuz her child is obese, what about the other million or two parents who have obese children? Is it just the kids who are over 500lbs that are the problem? I don't agree with singling her out.

[AFPheonix]

We get after parents that starve their kids. 500+ pounds takes some serious effort to get to. I'd call starving and feeding your kids until they weigh a quarter ton both abusive. His health I suspect he was suffering some seriously deletrious effects to his health at that weight.

And I'm not sure that I totally buy her story, either. If we pretend this kid is, say 5'8, he's got a BMR (basal metabolic rate) of over 3000 calories. That's simply the amount of energy you need to expend to simply exist. It doesn't account for exercise.

If this kid went to Carl's Junior every day, had a breakfast burrito, hash browns and a coke for breakfast (=1110 cals total) and had a Western Bacon cheeseburger, fries and a coke for lunch and dinner (1140), he'd be just maintaining his weight. That wouldn't account for any walking between rooms or the days she actually does fix the kid something.

Something else is going on.

[Nyoibo]

Anyway, if authorities are gonna go after her 'cuz her child is obese, what about the other million or two parents who have obese children? Is it just the kids who are over 500lbs that are the problem? I don't agree with singling her out.

I think it's more likely the morbidly obese first, but this may not be singling out so much as making a start and sending a message to other parents.

[BroomJockey]

but this may not be singling out so much as making a start and sending a message to other parents.

I think you're right. This might be seen as a test case. It's neglect to not feed a child, so now they want to see if they can term in neglect to not ensure the child is, I dunno, fed properly, or kept healthy, or something. It depends on how the situation unfolds, I suppose. But it makes sense to start with an outlier case, since there can't be many cases of 500 lbs teenagers. If they can make the theory work, they'll move on to cases less cut-and-dry.

[Daskinor]

to maintain a body weight of 555 pounds at 14 years old and a height of 60 inches. You need to eat about 5012 calories a day.

[BlaqueKatt]

Then again, another comment said that if she had $50,000 for bail, why didn't she have enough money for some kind of treatment for the kid, or at least decent food? Good point.

she bonded out -which means she did not pay $50,000.

Anyway, if authorities are gonna go after her 'cuz her child is obese, what about the other million or two parents who have obese children? Is it just the kids who are over 500lbs that are the problem? I don't agree with singling her out.

the other children that are obese don't have doctors calling CPS because they're severly concerned about the child's health. Should she have just been allowed to feed her kid to death? There are young kids having heart attacks due to diet, diabetes is another health risk-she was offered options and did nothing claiming to be too poor(newsflash: going for a walk outside costs a grand total of $0)-when it's your child's health at stake there is no such thing-trust me. You work out payment plans, anything to get your child healthy if you care at all as parent.

Also saying she worked second or third shift and wasn't home to cook-who was taking care of him?

[AFPheonix]

to maintain a body weight of 555 pounds at 14 years old and a height of 60 inches. You need to eat about 5012 calories a day.

Is he only 5' tall? I was giving the benefit of the doubt with my calculations. If he's truly that short, then imagine how many calories he's having to put away to not only maintain his weight but to gain!

[Rapscallion]

Anyway, if authorities are gonna go after her 'cuz her child is obese, what about the other million or two parents who have obese children? Is it just the kids who are over 500lbs that are the problem? I don't agree with singling her out.

I don't really see it quite that way. There's a difference between obese and 'fuck me drunk' obese.

I'm knocking on the door of forty years of age, and I'm a touch below 250, and that's hefty. My only consolation is that I've got a reasonable amount off and I've got a fair amount of muscle. That lad's over twice my current weight - a reasonable weight for me would be about fourteen stones (I think - about 196 pounds) in UK terms. He's currently nearly forty stones in weight. My grandfather died when he was about thirty-six stones in weight. It took eight burly chaps to carry the coffin at his funeral.

We're not talking about puppy fat here. We're not talking about carrying a little extra weight. We're talking about someone who at the age of fourteen is weighing more than two hefty adults (I'm well into the obese category myself according to BMI, and he's over twice my weight).

Prosecutors may be aiming at this for a test case, but even in conditions such as lymphodema that cause people to retain water and increase mass, there's a relation between how much people eat and how much weight they gain. I think there's a clear-cut case for saying that the mother in this case did not look after her son correctly.

There's a huge difference between this case and most of the overweight people you can see around.

Rapscallion

[Rapscallion]

I've reread the piece. I'm watching the video right now. They've not claimed that there was any medical reason for weight gain. What I do see is the mother blaming her working pattern for her not being able to cook him anything 'healthy', an attempt to avoid blame. Had there been a medical reason, she would have been screaming about that instead.

Rapscallion

[boringscreenname]

I agree this is abusive and neglectful, reaching 555lbs doesn't just happen. She's putting her kid at risk for major health problems that he's probably going to have to deal with for the rest of his life.

Also her blaming her working pattern, is ridiculous. I work 3rd shift and I still manage to find time to make my kid healthy meals, and keep healthy foods in the cupboards. It's not that hard. If I don't want my kid to eat something it's not kept in the house.

Also if she couldn't afford the medical treatment for her son, then he probably would've qualified for state insurance which every state has and is provided free of charge to eligible families who have children under age 18.

I think this is just a case of really lazy and neglectful parenting. She just didn't want to be bothered with raising her son properly, and feeding him good nutritious meals, and let him eat what he wanted when he wanted and probably raised him on junk food and fast food. Now that the authorities are investigating, she's coming up with a sob story to save her from the repercussions of her bad choices, that her kid now gets to spend a lifetime dealing with.

[Rapscallion]

Medical treatment to stop him gaining weight is too expensive? Stop damned well buying junk food. It's far cheaper to not buy stuff than it is to buy it.

I could drive a double-decker bus through her arguments.

Rapscallion

[BlaqueKatt]

to maintain a body weight of 555 pounds at 14 years old and a height of 60 inches. You need to eat about 5012 calories a day.

where did you get your figures from? Just curious as when I calculated it out it only came to 490 excess calories a day for 9 years(to make a pound of fat it takes 3500 calories my total calculations are in my first post

[Flyndaran]

where did you get your figures from? Just curious as when I calculated it out it only came to 490 excess calories a day for 9 years(to make a pound of fat it takes 3500 calories my total calculations are in my first post

The problem isn't about excess calories a day per se, because the base to which they are added changes as the kid's weight changes over time. It's about how many calories are required to maintain 550 pounds. That number is not anywhere near as easy to determine as we would like to think.

I eat significantly MORE yet exercise significantly LESS than my girlfriend, but I weigh a full 35 pounds LESS.

I wonder if the mother's constant working does contribute to the kid's hella' obesity. But in a way of emotional neglect causing an emotional food adiction.