22 August 2011

A very disturbing video

 

The incident that happens at 1:30 appears inadvertent, but the response is inappropriately cavalier.  And the child's morbid obesity suggests an ongoing problem with nutrition.  I feel like I'm watching child abuse.

Via Nothing To Do With Arbroath.

22 comments:

  1. yes this is awful. I'd consider a warning for it.

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  2. Wow, I feel like anyone who knows these people should immediately call CPS.

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  3. The smaller child obviously had some kind of disability--not just a problem with obesity. The two older ones are a precious pair and frankly need a little discipline. I would ccall it abuse just because of their callous treatment of the little boy. Too bad there isn't some way to do something about them.

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  4. It is very sad to see it nowadays in this planet.

    It upsets me.

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  5. "I feel like I'm watching child abuse."

    You are.

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  6. I agree with Mamafrog. My first thought was the child was developmentally impaired and the other two do not constitute appropriate supervision for him.

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  7. I beg to differ (I am literally begging): This is clearly not the first time the kid is puling this, and the causes are obviously more psychological than physiological (unhelpful obesity notwithstanding). Teenage sisters are the last people I would expect to show much pity. I don't dispute that we are probably not looking at a display of model parenting though.

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  8. Yeah, after the build-up (I read the post and comments before I watched the video) I found the whole thing to be anticlimactic. The kid didn't fall hard and they engage quite a few times in playful behavior (tickling, kicking is diaper). Even the obesity isn't obviously a case of parental negligence as the two sisters (presumably) don't appear more than slightly above average.

    I assuming those calling it abuse are actually serious and not just engaging in hyperbole. That kind of overreaction is why the public should have absolutely no say in parenting.

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  9. Sorry, but this is highly inappropriate behavior on the part of both older girls. I also thought that the younger child is developmentally impaired. The fall is not the issue; allowing the child to lie prone on the floor is. Kicking the child and clapping/snapping hands in the child's face is disrespectful and callous behavior toward the younger child, and given how the child moves to the opposite end of the sofa after getting back on it suggests that this is not the first time the older girl has behaved in this manner. Agree with getting parents/legal guardians involved, with CPS as needed.

    CCL

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  10. Outsiders can say whatever they want.

    The two teenagers obviously are used to the boy's behavior, as is the boy apparently accustomed to theirs.
    To say this is child abuse is to demean the term abuse. No where did I see cruelty or neglect. The girl checked on him after he spilled off the couch - it seems like an everyday sort of 'oops' moment that righteous people want to sink their teeth into and criticize.

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  11. "I feel like I'm watching child abuse."

    I felt the same thing

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  12. I have four children of my own and have dealt with DHS a few times after someone call in for abuse, so I don't make an allegation lightly. To me this borders on abuse or neglect. Teenagers being what they are it might not be, and I realize I'm making a judgement based on not enough information. It's just what I feel is going on. Either way it shouldn't have been posted as it is. Though there is freedom of expression, of course.

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  13. It is not the teenagers' job to stop being teenagers every time they are faced with an everyday manifestation of the little boy's developmental issues. Otherwise this would open the door to much more resentment down the road. Actually, a little kick in the diapers seems like a perfectly good response to spoiling a perfectly bad dance performance. Going only by this video we have no way of telling whether the child is or isn't receiving the proper treatment for his problems.

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  14. Teenagers being teenagers? Really? Not in my house with my girls. There is such a thing as dignity of person - not much in evidence in popular culture today. Neither of these girls exhibit that and just 'being teenagers' doesn't cut it for violating that principle.

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  15. Based on their "dancing" and choice of music, I'd say they all have a learning disability.

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  16. Wow. Just wow.

    They were trying to engage him in their dance. He has a stumble and starts throwing a fit... by staying down. They light-heartedly encourage and prod him to still join. He gets up when he pleases and goes back and still bounces to the music.

    What was the problem again? CPS shows up and what exactly are they going to find? What are they going to actually act on?

    Yeesh, I hope you abuse-callers can't find your phone when you see me with my kid. He fell today, hard, on some concrete. I did not immediately pick him up and go give him ice cream and a new toy... maybe I should be locked up, too.

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  17. The child abuse I see is the fact that the child so morbidly obese. Barring some kind of other health issue, there is no excuse for your child being that overweight.

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  18. The kid is hard to read. Doesn't seem traumatized to me. He just rolls around, lies there a bit, then gets back on the couch and starts rockin' again. Maybe there's some shame about being too fat to dance. To me he seems energized by the girls dancing by him (if it is a him). Y'all are misreading the situation is my guess. One would need to see his face when he was lying on the ground to know for sure. Mostly a good energy situation.

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  19. I agree with those who say there was NO abuse shown.

    He rolled off the couch, the girls tried to engage with him in his new face-plant orientation to the show, and he then clambered back up the mountainous couch.

    I work with kids. Abuse is serious. This was good-intentioned play. You guys are nuts if you see abuse in this video.

    The obesity is another issue, though, like someone else already said, if the kid is related to either of the girls, obesity seems to be limited to just the kid, the girls look fine to me.

    Silly to call this abuse. More than silly, dangerous because is makes everything abuse.

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  20. TFT, Brad Williams, and "Anonymous" right above Brad Williams are right on target, IMO.

    But seriously, how much does that kid eat to be that big? Shouldn't kids WANT to be active? I don't understand childhood obesity. The only abuse here is unseen off-camera neglect by the parents or lack thereof

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  21. I agree with an earlier comment that the child appears to live with a disability -- very possibly something like Prader-Willi syndrome which affects both mental development and appetite - two of many signs and symptoms.

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