Negligence:  Definition. A failure to behave with the level of care that someone of ordinary prudence would have exercised under the same circumstances. The behavior usually consists of actions, but can also consist of omissions when there is some duty to act (e.g., a duty to help victims of one's previous conduct). Action: feeding 20,000 kcal to a child daily. Inaction: not preventing the child from eating 20,000 kcal daily. Either way, that's negligence, and therefore, LEGALLY, child abuse. If I were a state prosecutor, I'd be up to my ass in cases, but my state would have #nofatkids.