"My kid isn't fat! He just has some baby weight that he hasn't gotten rid of yet." Don't fool yourself. Your child is overweight or obese. Is he or she healthy? Maybe. Don't think that they will grow out of it.
Get your couch potato off the couch! Research shows that most parents can't judge whether their children are at a healthy weight. If they are overweight they tend to rationalize it which is the worst thing they can show their child. Don't teach them that being healthy is out of their control, not a choice, or not their responsibility. A recent study showed that most preschoolers don't move around very much. Is it just me or does that just not sound right? It showed that 89% of all their "activity" during day hours occurred while the kids were barely moving or sitting. Those children who had sports equipment available and could go outside were a lot more active.
They need to make lifestyle changes or they will never lose the weight and they will end up with some of the lifestyle diseases that are linked to obesity. Do you want them to have Type 2 diabetes or heart disease? Do want them to have a compromised immune system and end up sick or disabled from something that their body should have been able to fight?
The best thing you can do for your kid is to get him or her up and get them active. Limit the TV, computer, texting, and video games. Get them outside and having fun!
5 comments:
Kids, generally, are lazy slobs and the parents are the ones behind it. Kids will only do what they are allowed to do. Put crap in front of them and they will eat it. Let them sit around all day and they will do it. If you don't have junk in the house, they will eat what is there and they may gripe a bit during the adjustment. So what? Limit their TV and Facebook access and get them outdoors and do a little work. Get them to go to the gym! What a novel idea!
Some kids are chubby and they think that is alright. They are told to have a good body image but some are pretty fat. When did being fat be something to be proud of?
It is amazing how many parents enable their child's overweight state and they no better. As soon as the child complains, they shove junk food at them to shut them up. It is disgusting. What ever happened to good old fashioned discipline? Disciplined kids are happy kids.
Kids are the way they are because of parents, their friends, media, and schools. All of these influence kids and how they act and eat. We have to turn them onto a positive livestyle with good choices whenever we can.
Obesity is an epidemic in the US and it is rising in other developed countries. Underdeveloped countries eat better and not really less.
I always thought that there had to be programs out there to help the obese and to help the kids. They are few and under-funded and under-powered. It has to happen in the home but most parents are either ignorant or they lack the proper discipline themselves.
Sheryl
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