Is it abuse to overfeed a child?

I won't call it abuse. I think most parents who overfeed their kids do it out of love. But it's not a good example and is most probably out of ignorance.

This is a very interesting topic. I don't think that it falls under a kind of "abuse", but it's certainly wrong, and poor parenting to over or under feed a child, or intentionally set them up for a poor life in any way. A dependence on food is terrible, but having someone else impose it on you from childhood is insanity. I agree, though, giving this problem a label is simply reactive...

I kind of have mixed feelings on this one. On one hand, it does seem to be a form of abuse (when the children are very young) in the fact that the parents are supposed to be setting good examples and setting forth good eating habits. For a young child, it doesn't seem right that a parent is giving them tons of non-nutritious calorie laden goodies if their child is predisposed to being heavy. If you consciously knew that your childs heart health, etc, would come from excessive weight, non-nutritious food, and bad eating habits, would it be abuse to continue to let them eat this way? There is a definite rise in childhood onset diabetes because of the way kids of today are being fed, and directly due to being overweight (not talking about diabetes that is hereditary here). Abuse? Kind of a fine line I think. We all want the best for our children, and certainly that does not consist of becoming obese laden with health problems in their youth, or in their future. It's up to the parent to set the rules, and to lead their children wisely. Just my opinion as a former nurse...

I think it could be considered a form of abuse, because no one wants to be overweight right ? and children do not understand if they overeat, they will become overweight. Which would lead them to be possibly made fun of when they start school. . and that would be emotional abuse, even if the parent doesn't DIRECTLY cause the abuse, i would say if you overfeed your kids on purpose, its at the very least not very good parenting.