Obesness Awarness: Prevent Your Child From Suffering

*DISCLAIMER: The following advice and preventative measures have been provided by research and confirmed by my child's pediatrician. I am not a licensed physician. Please consult your physician before attempting or trying remedies provided in this article.
 
In our country our food proportion size has increased exponentially to keep up with our growing population, contributing not only to the obesity problem in our adults but most unfortunately it has trickled down to our children. Becoming more acceptable to eat bigger portion sizes.

I was driving into town last week and saw a very sad sight. A child that looked facially like they were six but weight wise they looked at least 8 to 9 years of age. It made me sad to see this. This inspired me to do some research on this issue. Here is what I learned.


One out of every five children in the United States are overweight or obese with no sign of slowing. Children do not have as many weight - related health and medical problems than adults but they still have them. If children remain obese or overweight they will be prone to or at risk of developing chronic diseases and diabetes. Also they run the risk of their childhood condition to carry into their adolescents and even adulthood. Let's take a look at some common causes of this epidemic.

The most common contributers to this are genetic factors, lack of physical activity or unhealthy eating habits. In rare cases is being overweight or obese a medical condition. Taking your children regularly for a physical exam and blood tests can rule out the medical condition as contributing cause. Keep in mind, if weight problems run in a family where the siblings and parents are overweight that child is at risk of becoming overweight as well. The children are observing their parents activity level and eating habits causing the typical 'monkey-see-monkey-do' syndrome. To that child, they don't know any better because of what they see their parents doing. My father always said to me "When all else fails, lead and teach by example." If you want your children to be healthy, reach for the apple instead of the cinnamon roll or reach for the water instead of soda and they will follow suit.

A child's total diet and activity level play an important role in determining a child's weight. Today, many children spend on average, four hours a day in front of the electronic babysitter. (AKA T.V.) But with the popularity of computers and video games rising our childrens levels of inactivity may increase. Here are some conditions that overweight or obese children are at risk of.

Obese children are at risk of a number of conditions, starting at but not limited to: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, early heart disease, diabetes, bone problems and skin conditions. These common skin conditions consist of heat rash, fungal infections and acne. The best ways of preventing/ knowing if your child is overweight is by consulting your doctor. Your doctor will measure your child's weight and height to calculate what the healthy body mass index of your child should be for their age while comparing the results to average standards. Your doctor will also consider your childs age and growth patterns to let you know how they are doing and what is normal for your child.

Ways of helping your child prevent/through, is to lead a healthy life style by being supportive.
Children's feelings of themselves stem from how their parent's feelings about them. If you accept and love your child at any eight, they will be more likely to feel good about themselves. Most therapists and doctors say that it is important to talk to your child about their weight, which offers them an opportunity for your child to share their concerns. It is important to be supportive of your children and let them know that you love them no matter what.

You should also focus on gradually changing your family's physical activity and eating habits. By involving the entire family, everyone is taught healthy habits and the overweight child does not feel singled out.

Best ways of making changes:
1.) Lead by Example
2.) Plan family activities that provide everyone with exercise.
3.) Be sensitive to your child's needs. Make sure they feel comfortable with the level of exercise and are enjoyable.
4.) Reduce the amount of time you and your family spend their time in front of the t.v. or playing video games.

I grew up in a household where my parents encouraged us to go play outside. My siblings and I enjoyed rollerblading, climbing trees, swimming, building forts outside, jump roping, running through sprinklers, chasing each other with water guns and exploring new places. On hot days our parents would give us $5 dollars to go to the local mini mart and buy small ice cream
cones. But my favorite memory of my siblings and I getting our exercise was our parents giving us money to walk to the local skating rink to go rollerblading. It was a great bonding experience for us.

My point is exercise does not have to be a chore. Make exercise time for your kids fun. Have a reward system in place. If your kids play in the yard for a certain amount of time let them have that extra slice of pizza or piece of candy for dessert. Instead of hours of mindless video games limit them to at least an hour with them learning something. My two favorite computer games to play as a child were the Nancy Drew computer games where I learned problem solving, riddles and exposed to other languages. Second was something called Mario Keyboard which was a game that helped me improve my typing skills. Have fun with your kids, by teaching them survival skills to get them outside or on rainy days read a book together by the fire. Some of my favorite bonding memories with my parents was sitting and listening to them read me a book. Now I have a deep love for books.

I remember a really fun time with my family during high school in Samammish WA. It was during a power-outage one winter. This snow blizzard was so bad that we went through, what my family referred to, as our colonial experience for two weeks. We were reading and playing board games by candle light, heating water for baths, cooking over the fire, using  our camping propane gas stove in the kitchen and even storing food outside in the snow as a refrigerator. We took out the most used foods and stored them outside so that we could preserve the cold air in our freezer and fridge to keep our other food from spoiling. No cell phones and no electricity what so ever. Even the Safeway, a ten minute drive away from our house, was out of power as well.

Needless to say it wasn't easy to go without electricity, but it was bearable because of the encouragement of our parents to find ways to entertain ourselves without the use of electronics came in handy. I believe the more you educate your child on moving and finding ways to keep them from wasting away on the couch in front of the t.v. will later benefit them in life.


Until Tomorrow Then!