Parents: Get The Skinny on Child Obesity

Obesity in children and adolescents has reached epidemic proportions. The number of kids who are overweight has doubled in the past two decades. One in five children are overweight. According to a recent report from The National Institute of Health says the primary culprits are the same as those for adult obesity; eating too much and moving around too little. Almost half the children aged 8-16 years watch 3-5 hours of television a day. It is no surprise that kids who watched the most television have the highest incidence of obesity.

Check out these facts:

• Obese children and adolescents have shown an alarming increase in the incidence of type 2 diabetes (adult onset diabetes).
• Many obese children have high cholesterol and blood pressure, the major risk factors for heart disease.
• One of the most severe problems for children is sleep apnea. In some cases this can contribute to problems with learning and memory.
• Obese children have a high incidence of orthopedic problems, liver disease and asthma.
• Overweight adolescents have a 70 per cent chance of becoming overweight adults.

What can you do about it?

The Cambridge, Massachusetts school system developed an innovative health and fitness report card. In a report in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, parents who received the cards were almost twice as likely to know or acknowledge that their child was actually overweight than those parents who didn’t receive the report card. They were also twice as likely to plan weight-controlling activities for their overweight child. This could prove to be a promising tool in the battle against the country’s childhood obesity epidemic.

You can help your children to maintain a healthy body weight by encouraging them to be active, learn to read food labels and to develop nutritious eating habits. Get your schools to say goodbye to sodas, candy bars and French fries in their cafeterias and instead offer salad bars, baked foods instead of fried and smarter beverage choices like non-fat milk and water.

Follow these tips to help your children maintain a healthy body weight.

• Be supportive. Kids know if they’re overweight and don’t need to be reminded or singled out. They need acceptance, love and most of all encouragement.

• Set firm guidelines for time spent on the Internet, playing video games and watching television.

• Plan family activities that involve exercise. Let you child choose which activities they like that offer a good aerobic workout like hiking, biking and walking.