Ironically, albeit America is arguably the richest nation on earth, the word poor is very commonly used. This word defines members of the lowest echelons of the social stratum and comprise of the working poor and the underclass (Suchdev, 2017). When members of these groups build families, they will more often than not lack basic amenities including food, clothing, and shelter. Children brought up in such conditions will therefore suffer having a poor diet. In the common definition, a child has a poor diet when the child does not have enough food to eat or the food fed to the child is not balanced (Suchdev, 2017). Balanced food in this case refers to the three basic types of food necessary for proper growth and includes proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates and necessary minerals.
Poor Diet as Child Abuse
Child abuse is a legal term albeit it has gained common usage to describe scenarios that do not relate to legal issues. From a legal perspective, child abuse entails acts of commission and omission that are detrimental to the overall wellbeing of a child physically and psychologically (Girardet et al., 2016). Acts of commission involve things actively done to a child while acts of omission involves failing to carry out duties reasonably expected as the parent or guardian of a child. America is a capitalist nation which places the burden of feeding a child to a parent or guardian of the child. In the current definition of poor diet, a child who is a victim of a poor diet will be suffering malnutrition and other diseases related to nutritional deficiencies (Suchdev, 2017). These include Marasmus, Kwashiorkor, rickets and many others (Suchdev, 2017). Currently, when a child is seen to have one or several of the aforementioned conditions arising from poor diet, the law considers it as an act of child abuse. Such allegations are normally investigated by the Child Protective Services with or without the help of the police (Girardet et al., 2016). If the outcome shows that the child has been having a poor diet, then the child may be taken away from the parent or guardian and under extreme circumstances the parent prosecuted and possibly incarcerated (Girardet et al, 2016).
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Poor Diet not considered as Child Abuse
In the contemporary times, a new definition of poor diet has come up which has a meaning that is almost the opposite of the traditional definition of poor diet. The irony of America being a super rich country with a large number of very poor people also includes the fact that millions of Americans are either financially secure or living in affluence (Cunningham, Kramer, & Narayan, 2014). These people can afford any type of food they want at any time for themselves and their children. Unfortunately, it is within this group that children suffer the worst kind of poor diet. This poor diet includes food laden with unhealthy fats, too much sugar or salt and/or too much calories (Cunningham, Kramer, & Narayan 2014). Indeed, America is one of the centers of fast food in the world which include doughnuts, burgers, hotdogs and fries. Normally, these fast foods are accompanied by carbonated beverages that contain too much sugars. Finally, processed foods ordinarily contain a high amount of salt (Cunningham et al, 2014). This salt intake is over and above the raw table salt eaten with deep fried fast foods. Children who eat these foods, mostly in large quantities due to the good taste end up being obese thus developing low self-esteem. They also have a high propensity for suffering long term effects such as high blood pressure. This form of poor diet, which is an active form of child abuse is however not recognized by the government as a crime neither is it ever investigated nor any consequences undertaken upon parents and guardians who either perpetrate it, encourage it or allow it (Cunningham et al, 2014).
Discussion
The health of a child is not a relative concept under which political correctness can be applied. An obese child is indeed unhealthier than a child suffering malnutrition since the latter is easier to treat than the former. Further, malnutrition can result from circumstances beyond the capacity of the parent. No one would willingly elect to be poor and in many cases happens because of reasons beyond the control of the parent or guardians. A good example would be a single mother who got three children in her teenage and is struggling to raise them then another family member falls ill. With this major burden, it would be understandable to fail in catering for a child. The law is however unforgiving to such a parent and instead of offering assistance, the children may be taken away from the parent and put in the system. Yet feeding a child with the wrong kind of expensive food is a matter either of choice or negligence. Parents have become so occupied with their careers and choices that they assuage their guilt by doing anything the child wants or are not available to superintend the feeding of the children. This is the real child abuse for which parents should be held responsible.
The foregoing creates two parallel versions of poor nutrition. The first is nutrition that is poor for the reason that the parent cannot afford better. The second is nutrition that is poor because the parent can afford expensive foods that are bad for the overall health of the child. Both poor nutrition versions however are detrimental to the health of a child and can be considered as child abuse. However, the law only recognizes one as child abuse and provides for drastic adverse action against parents who commit it. For the parents whose children are languishing in obesity emanating from poor nutrition, there are no adverse legal consequences. This is clearly a form of discrimination against the poor.
References
Cunningham, S. A., Kramer, M. R., & Narayan, K. V. (2014). Incidence of childhood obesity in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine , 370 (5), 403-411.
Girardet, R., Lahoti, S., Bolton, K., & Kellogg, N. (2016). Characteristics of cases submitted to a statewide system of child abuse experts. Children and youth services review , 67 , 198-202.
Suchdev, P. S. (2017). What pediatricians can do to address malnutrition globally and at home? Pediatrics , e20161666.
