Maury show - overweight children

purple_magada

purple_magada

Cathlete
I normally do not watch talkshows but I was flipping through the channels and could not believe what I saw. It was on the Maury show and he had on overweight children. The children that I saw were ages 2-4. I believe that the 2 year old weighed 79lbs, the 3 year old weighed 92lbs and the 4 year old weight 110lbs. And when he would bring these kids out on stage it was so sad. The boys (2yr old and the 3 year old) only had on shorts so you could see how fat they were, they were so large they could barely walk. And the 4 year old girl had on a "sports bra" and shorts. They were showing video clips and you should see the things that these children eat. Example was the one boy would drink 20 bottles of choc milk a day, eat ravioli, spaghetti, mac & cheese. Same for the little girl, mac n cheese, chicken tenders, etc. I did not see one fruit or veggie. The moms were crying saying that they don't know what to do, blah, blah, blah and that the kids sneak food and throw temper tantrums when they don't get what they want. How dumb are these people? Don't buy the crap and the kids won't be eating it. I feel so sorry for these children but wanted to strangle the parents. In my opinion, what they are doing to their children is child abuse. The one little girl has to sleep sitting up b/c she can't breathe when she lays down. I couldn't even watch the entire show. After 10 minutes I turned it off it was making me so angry. My son is almost 5 and weighs 51 lbs and I just couldn't imagine that little girl weighing 110 lbs.

I wanted to find the link on the website but I don't have media player so I couldn't search his site.

Did any of you see the show?
 
You know I really don't want to be critical anymore of those children, what seems like the parents don't know what to do could be for real, there is a disease in children that cause them to eat and eat and NOT feel full, and yes they do throw tantrums to get the food, now forgive me I can't recall the disease but it was on Dr.Phil once and it was so sad, for both the mother and the child, there is retardation with these children though, As for Maury not mentioning the disorder could be because to mention it would not give the audience a good show, There are so many things I think he does wrong there, to parade children in hardly no clothing at all to me is abuse and cruel, who would want to look back and see that the WHOLE world saw them fat and almost naked on Public TV, I feel for them, but I think that needs to NOT be televised for the whole world to look and gauk and laugh at them, or be critical, they are just young children and at the mercy of adults,
 
Yes, there is a rare disease that makes people hungry all the time. Sounds like these kids suffer from that. But I do think that too many young kids are overweight (not to these extremes perhaps).
 
I have seen a show like this a couple of times and I don't think theres a need for letting the child to come out on stage, barely wearing anything.We don't need these kids to be half naked in order to see that they are overweight.It is distasteful in my eyes and just imagine what this poor kid is going to think of this when they get older???? Something to be said for the parents to, who allow their kids to go around half dressed on t.v , for people to stare in awe when they come out on stage.Kids know more then they let on and I am sure they are well aware of their surroundings.
Lori:)
 
>We don't need these kids to be
>half naked in order to see that they are overweight.It is
>distasteful in my eyes and just imagine what this poor kid is
>going to think of this when they get older???? Something to be
>said for the parents to, who allow their kids to go around
>half dressed on t.v , for people to stare in awe when they
>come out on stage.

Yeah, kind of like "look at the circus freak!"
I always thought most people who go on shoes like this are exhibitionists and craving attention.
 
I agree with Dana - the parents of these kids, whatever their issues are (food, disorder, etc) should be charged with child abuse. Either they're overfeeding or they're parading their kids on tv? sad. And Maury should be ashamed of himself as well.
 
Considering most of Maurys shows are about paternity test and multiple fathers being tested, I think you may be on to something! LOL And some how they are always devasted when he says "your not the father" for the 10th time...then they run off stage like someone is chasing them with a gun and they drop to their knees crying! But low and behold...they will be back next month with 3 or 4 more men to be tested and go through the same thing again! LOL How much sex does one have to have to test so many men? LOL
Sort of got off track but if you want to go on tv and talk about your childs weight issues, you pick a show that doesn't embarass the child, and is there to help instead of showing the child in its diaper and videos of the child eating.
Lori:)
 
Maury Povich is interesting. He's married to a legitimate TV journalist (Connie Chung), and he has more of an air of a legitimate investigative journalist himself, and acts like he wants to help people, but he has many of the same schlock show topics as that other guy (who used to be a mayor? Whose audience chants, and whose guests usually end up wanting to beat each other up? Maybe I should be glad I can't remember his name, LOL!).

The show could have been informative (though how much do we need to know about a very rare disease?), and wouldn't have required bringing the kids out on stage.
 
Hey,the rare (and it's not really all that rare, there are 4 that I know of locally) disease is called Prader Willi Syndrome and my son has it. Check out www.pwsausa.org for information. My son has an uncontrollable appetite. All the food in our house is locked up. There are combination locks on the frig and freezer, locks on the bread box, the kitchen cupboard and the basement door. He will steal money to buy food and has gone into the neighbor's house foraging. He has behavioral problems associated with the syndrome. He is obsessive-compulsive, has oppositional difiance disorder, is arguementative and has learning disabilities. I could go on and on. Life with him is a challenge, to put it mildly. This is not an eating disorder. This is a very real genetic disability, just like Down's Syndrome. The idea of someone putting these people on a talk show for ratings and not giving the parents help makes my blood boil.
 
Jerry Springer...and they still beat each other up.Sometimes when I am working its the only thing that comes on at 5:30 in the morning! LOL They have also started taking their clothes off before they fight and even take their teeth out from time to time.
Lori:)
 
I agree with Melody - reading the website Robin posted was very informative and helpful. It helps us to remember that just because a person doesn't look the way we think he or she should look, that they deserve our critique or ridicule. And we can't always point a finger in blame, whether to the parents or the kid.
 
<snip>though how much do we need to know about a very rare disease?<snip>

Wow this line certainaly lacks compassion. I bet it's pretty important to the person who's dealing with it!! x(

But to answer the question - BECAUSE sometimes what we *think* is a rare disease or condition isn't really all that rare. For example - how much did we know about Autism 10, 15 or 20 years ago? Not much! Now that it's gotten publicity and funding for research, it can be properly identified and dealt with. We also know that there are more people dealing with it than many of us would have imagined.
 
Well spoken, Shannon.

As a mom of special needs children with a conglomeration of difficulties that spring from their "main" diagnoses (I hate the word diagnosis, but for lack of better), I add:

As with my children, there are so many difficulties (special needs) that children/people deal with that are not always visible to the human eye but only through living the lives of the children and their families. Therefore, society expects children/people to behave "normally" because they look "normal".

I know no one in this thread was posting anything malicious or intentionally thoughtless. And I know you will all be glad you read Robin's link.

As we say, hopping down from soapbox now.:)
 
Gayle, another well spoken lady.:)

I have a child who lives with autism & CP, as well as a child who lives with bipolar/FAS. It does my heart good to hear people open up and learn.
 
Kathryn-
I've learned that the disease is not that rare, and I think the more we as the general public know about it the better. Knowledge leads to understanding and acceptance. It's like autism or any other disease that affects children. Acceptance and understanding by the general public can make the lives of these kids and their parents just that much easier. And TV seems to be one of the best ways to disseminate information to the general public.

-Nancy

ETA: Looks like Gayle and I were thinking along the same lines! :)
 
I actually watched this while I was cleaning. I didn't get the impression that the kids were suffering from a genetic problem. The show seemed to take more of the angle that the parents were allowing their kids to eat whatever, whenever. I think a few of the moms had had their kids to the doctor, but nothing was found to be amiss, other than diet. At any rate, I agree 100 percent that these poor kids should not be paraded, for any reason. I can't imagine bringing a child into that 3 ring circus.

Discovery Health has done a few programs on Prader-Willie that I thought were very good.

Sparrow

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ‘Wow - what a ride!’ — Peter Sage
 
Robin, thank you so much for posting this site and sharing with us a little glimps of the unique and challenging situation your family lives every day. Reading 'Georgie's story' opened my eyes and wrenched my heart. The statistic that 80% of those with Prader Willi go undiagnosed is staggering. The constant 'tough love' required for parenting children with Prader Willi must be very difficult to reconcile, God bless you and thanks for informing us while expanding our minds and hearts.

Take Care
Laurie:)
 
Sparrow that is exactly what I thought. My heart goes out to these babies - these kids are in need of medical help. Something needs to be done before their bodies start shuttign down (diabetes, heart disease, etc). I honestly think that they have the kids parading around like that for ratings. So sad.
 
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