Overweight children according to Chunk from The Goonies

We love The Goonies in our house.  It’s one of those movies that can stop me and my wife from whatever we’re doing to sit down and watch.    In The Goonies Chunk was played by Jeff Cohen, who at the time was a very chubby, excitable tween.

If Chunk were transplanted from the late 80’s to today, he could be labeled obese.   Granted, Chunk is a fictional character, but the actor portraying him could either be taken away by the state, given a video guilt trip or have doctors that are scared of what parents think.

The Nanny State

The other week a 3^rd grader weighing 200 pounds was taken away from his parents and placed in the foster care system.  The child first popped up on radar because he went to the doctor for sleep apnea.  Officials put the boy on a program called “Healthy Kids, Healthy Weight”, but it wasn’t as successful as they hoped.

The boy is now in the foster care system and in December a trail will be held to see if the mother will regain custody.

The mother doesn’t come across well in the article.  She immediately defends herself and her ‘love of her child’, instead of addressing the issues.  The mother should’ve done more to have the child not weigh 200 pounds at the very young age of 8.  However, the government should not take overweight kids out of a family and place them into foster care.

Does the child have a legitimate medical issue that prohibits weight loss or poor metabolism?  In the initial article there is a similar situation of a 3 year old that weighted 90 pounds who was also taken away from her mother.  The child didn’t do any better in the foster care system and it turned out she had a genetic issue that was causing the weight gain.

The nanny state outcome for Chunk is the most unlikely.

The Guilt Trip 

This past spring a series of very powerful ads started ran on television in Georgia.

“Oh my”, was my first thought when I saw the advertisement.  It’s powerful, direct and makes you think.  It is a good advertisement, but does it do what it sets out to accomplish?

I don’t think that guilt directly helps any problem.  It’s possible that the advertisement might help some of the parents who ultimately are the role models for obese youth.  In the short term it may make the overweight kids more likely to be withdrawn and shy.  Are these ads tough love or too over the top?

Chunk would’ve ignored or laughed at the ads.

Blame the doctors who didn’t tell the parents

If the doctors don’t tell the parents that their children are too heavy do the kids still gain weight?  A study from the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine said that a majority of doctors from 1999-2008 failed to tell parents that their children were overweight.

Actually, that claim is backed up by the research done by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, which funded the guilt trip ads.

So are the doctors failing to tell the parents or are the parents simply forgetting that the doctors told them?  There is some ambiguity in the article that leaves the possibility open that parents are told, but simply forget.

As a parent, it’s sad that other parents can’t simply look at their child and determine if they’re overweight.  I don’t need to know their BMI.  But as a parent it’s my job to feed them a balanced diet and know their business.  If they aren’t getting enough exercise, then I need to find ways to make them get active.

Chunk would’ve denied that his doctor ever told him anything.

Hope for Chunk

Jeff Cohen, the actor that played Chunk is now a lawyer.  He’s fit, trim, in excellent shape and it’s most likely not due to the Truffle Shuffle.