Not only can they do that, but according to the Daily Mail, they can also tell you that your kid is not fit enough.
"Parents of children deemed unfit are to be sent warning letters from schools.
Secondary pupils will be forced to take an annual fitness test.
If they fail, their parents will be told they are at risk of heart disease, brittle bones and obesity. The scheme was outlined yesterday by the Government's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson.
He warned that lack of exercise is placing a greater burden on the economy than smoking - costing 8.3billion a year compared with 5.2billion. But the initiative was criticised by campaigners as yet another example of Labour's 'nanny state' interference in family life."
Yes, the "Nanny State" is alive and well, with government bureaucrats nosing themselves into how you raise your kids.
Yet for some reason, I'm of two minds on all of this.
Yes, I oppose everything the "Nanny State" stands for, and I don't like the government getting involved in how parents raise their kids. As I said in my previous post about this, I'm not against campaigns to raise awareness about health issues. But how soon do we move from strongly-worded letters to actual government intervention?
Oh yeah, that's going on now too.
Anyway, you may wonder why I'm of two minds, especially considering my earlier rants about this sort of thing.
The crux of the matter is, when you start getting the government heavily involved with health care, this is the kind of thing you're going to get. As long as the government is paying for it, why shouldn't it have the right to come in and say "your behaviour is costing us (and the rest of the country) money, so stop it." Of course, this leads to the slippery slope of the government controlling everything in your life, but as long as they're making your life easier, is that a bad thing? Some people don't mind being drones of the government, welcoming the government telling them how to live because the actual act of living is too hard for them to figure out.
They want the government to be the ultimate parent. If parents want to say to their kids "we're paying to feed you, so you'll eat what we bring into the house," that's their prerogative. If parents can say that because they're footing the bill, why can't the government say that because it's now footing the bill?
It's just a few steps from this to allowing the government to do all of the caretaking for your kids. After all, it does take a village to raise a child, doesn't it?
Of course, given my history here (if you've been following it), you can probably guess which side of the fence I'm on.
The fact that some people are ok with all of that scares me, to tell you the truth.
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The media here is obsessed with the whole obesity issue, with tv show like celebrity fat club and other equally awful shows. We even have tv adds telling us to eat our 5 a day.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog you have here Dave, some good information. I found your through AB and I am now following you.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the documentary Food Inc. and realizing how infiltrated government has become with the food and agriculture corporations, I feel it hypocritical to go after ordinary individual citizens for poor health conditions when a lot of the condition is coming from the available food and pushed on the public through very aggressive marketing.
Thank you for starting the topic of conversation, it is important and there is a need for continued exposure and dialogue on this issue.
Aine
http://theevolvingspirit.blogspot.com
Thanks for the comments!
ReplyDeleteJames: We have those shows over here too, though they might not be quite as prevalent. Since I don't pay attention, I don't know for sure. :)
Aine: Thanks for the follow and the compliments!
I can certainly see your point on the hypocrisy angle. Personally, I think they should all stay the hell away from our private lives, but I would love to hear from those who favour the government paying for health care on the resulting intrusion into how you live.