A Sign of Things to Come?

An overweight eight-year-old British girl who already wears size 16 clothes has been taken away from her parents and put into care.

Parents say: "Our daughter doesn't overeat and she's active. She's always been chubby but she's always out playing. The only bad thing we have given her is fizzy drinks."

Authorities say: Cumbria County Council, in England's far north-west, has taken the girl from her parents because of fears she could be a victim of neglect, The Times reported.

Neglect? Arguably something to do with over-indulgence, parents acceding to the child's wants and desires. An overly empowered child?

"Our daughter doesn't overeat and she's active. She's always been chubby but she's always out playing. The only bad thing we have given her is fizzy drinks."

It is to be hoped that endeavours were made to provide guidance and indeed oversight if this girl's weight did constitute sufficient a health problem and that removal only occurred after her parents refusal to recognise this as a problem and act on it and there were possible life-threatening consequences ... if not then .... simply a further narrowing of what is deemed acceptable behaviour by those in positions of power.