Feeding Children Fast Food Is Child Abuse

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The question referring to is feeding children fast food child abuse, is a topic that I think is debated frequently in today’s society. I chose this topic because I think that some people make the fast food industry look very bad and I disagree with how the industry is sometimes portrayed. There are many opinions about how fast food affects people, especially children. Yes, too much fast food is not healthy. However, too much of anything in my opinion is not healthy. Therefore, my position on this debate is feeding children fast food is not child abuse. This paper will discuss the different opinions about whether or not feeding children fast food is child abuse. Also, research studies and other sources will be used to examine the opinions of …show more content…

In an article from the Elephant Journal, a blogger named Tom Grasso focuses on the question about whether feeding kids fast food is child abuse. He considers today's society as a society that is fat even though there is a fear of being fat. He puts the blame on parents for kids who are obese and eat fast food and other unhealthy foods. (Grasso-Gyandeva, 2011) Fast food is not just considered foods like hamburgers, hotdogs, tacos or french fries. The food that is found at home can also be considered fast food and is unhealthy. He also discusses the issue about whether obesity in children is abusive. The statistics show that 1 in 5 children and adolescents who live in the US are obese. (Centers for Disease Control) Also, the Institute of Medicine reports that rates of excess weight and obesity in children ages 2-5 have doubled since the …show more content…

I think that video games can be a form of child abuse. These games cause children to have aggressive behavior and become somewhat mentally unstable. Some children become so addicted to playing video games to the point that it controls their behavior. In an online newsletter from Ask Dr Sears, it discusses the extent of how video games affect children. Video games are full of violence and statistics show that 80% of the most popular video games feature aggressiveness or violence as the primary themes, and in 20% of these games the aggressiveness or violence is directed toward women. I found the following statistic the most alarming: by the time typical American children reach the age of eighteen, they have seen 200,000 acts of violence and 40,000 murders on some sort of screen. (Ask Dr Sears) Also, research from Lieutenant Colonel David Grossman shows that willingness to kill another person is not a natural behavior, but one that has to be taught by repeated desensitization and exposure to violence. (Crown Publishers, New York, 1999) He considers violent video games as "murder simulators". As I stated earlier, parents should be more responsible at what video games they allow their child to watch or play. If parents do not monitor their children then there are many problems that they child will probably face.

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