Nanny State no substitute for parental responsibility

The challenges associated with raising children are no different today. What is different is the level of welfare dependence and the social dysfunction this leads to. The Nanny Stater’s concerted campaign also creates elaborate excuses that abrogate parental responsibility. As the Stanley doco maintained, parents aren’t responsible if their child is obese because it’s all capitalism’s fault. Bad parents aren’t pressured to get their act together, but are given an easy out when keeping kids healthy is transformed into a government responsibility.

Outsourcing parenting to the government is ultimately self-defeating. This approach not only diminishes personal liberty and accelerates the growth of government. “Big government” interventions, just like welfare, also end up encouraging irresponsibility.

Blaming childhood obesity on the failure of government to “help” families manage health risks creates a vicious cycle. The more government tries to intervene in the lives of families, the more parental irresponsibility is excused and encouraged, and the more licence this gives the Nanny State to keep interfering, to no avail.

Every move in the direction of government action is really a step backwards. There is no substitute for expecting parents to do their job. Looking to government to prevent childhood obesity only entrenches parental irresponsibility.