saskskierAs a social worker, I'm busy enough dealing with parents who don't feed their kids enough (not to mention all the other forms of abuse and neglect). If we starting going after the parents of fat kids, my workload would probably double, if not more. That aside, I absolutely believe that childhood obesity is a serious issue, but like all things, there are a number of causes. Some are easy to deal with (stop letting your kids play COD for 5 hours a day and tell them to go outside for a while) and some are more complicated.
For example, one of the complicating factors that often comes with living in poverty is access to healthy food. Lots of low income neighbourhoods don't have grocery stores nearby. If you have next to no money to live on, deciding between walking to the local 7-11 and getting some snacks becomes much more realistic than finding someone to watch the kids, getting on a bus, going to the nearest grocery store and still not having enough money to get fresh fruits/veggies, actual meat, etc. If the option is crap from 7-11 or nothing at all, 7-11 wins every time.
That's just one of (of many) real world example I've encountered at work.
I used to work in a school in the poorest borough of London where 75% of the kids were living under the poverty line and access to healthy food was a real issue. Most of the kids survived on junk food for the reasons that you state however, obesity wasn't an issue.
On the flip side, I now work in a private school in the richest country in the world (Qatar). The average household income of the kids at my school is $250k+ p/a and obesity is a massive problem. I teach phys ed and the youngest age group I work with are pre-schoolers. I see 3 year olds that are already morbidly obese and can't play games for 30 mins without getting tired complaining that their legs hurt. These kids are coming from families where for 2 and 3 generations obesity is all they've known. All this money has brought about a junk food culture - it's seen as 'normal' to park up outside a McDonalds/Hardys etc and honk your horn and wait whilst someone brings your order. It's easier to order take out every night instead of cook. Walking is a strange concept and in the height of summer even 50m journeys are taken by car. So in a country where money and healthy food are in abundance obesity is seen as normal - something like 70% of the population are obese.
Personally, I don't see it as child abuse but I do see it as neglectful. It's a massive issue which has led to an unhealthy nation but here education as opposed to poverty is the mitigating factor.
Chubz.i dont see how you could blame the parents for "letting" a child become fat. Even if they stop at mcdonalds every day on the way home from school or buy nothing but junk food the child doesn't HAVE to eat the stuff. The child doesn't HAVE to stay inside and sit on their ass all day. They have their own capabilities of going outside and playing/ choosing healthier alternatives when picking out what they eat.
Not sure how many young kids you know but 3 year olds can't make educated choices about what they eat. Neither can 10 year olds. If you're a kid and hungry and your parents say to you 'eat your Happy Meal or you get nothing' you're going to eat the happy meal. 5 year olds don't think 'Oh, I'm getting a bit chubby I'll eat a salad and go out and run around and burn some calories' they don't know what calories are. They don't understand the concept of weight loss/gain or the different nutritional content of a burger vs salad. It's not something you understand until you are much older by which time it's too late, the precedent has been set. So yes, the parents are to blame. They might not see it as a problem or understand why it's an issue but the blame does not lie with the child.