As the percentage of children in the United States who are considered clinically overweight or obese continues to rise to alarming levels, more parents are finding themselves having to impose a weight loss goal on their adolescent children.
The decision to consciously help a child lose weight should never be taken lightly, and should only be undertaken with the advice of the child's pediatrician. When the doctor and parents have agreed that the child in question is at an unhealthy weight level, caution and good judgment must be used to keep the self esteem of the child intact.
Maintain Rather than Lose Weight
A better way to address the overweight status of a child is really to help him maintain his current weight, rather than promote efforts to actually lose weight. Keep in mind that the child is still growing, and if he continues to gain height, but not weight, to overall goal of a healthier body will be achieved.
Keep the Goal Quiet
Since your children have little control over many aspects of their life, you can easily take charge of their eating habits without making it known to them that the intent is to help them with a weight problem. Simply substituting low-fat milk and yogurt for the original varieties will go a long way with many children in cutting calories. Eliminate, or strongly limit, sodas and fruit juices. Many children love the idea of drinking bottled water, and refills at the tap don't seem to bother them at all. Eliminate snack foods in favor of fruit or raw veggies. A little ranch dressing, although not in itself exactly healthy, will help you little ones appreciate raw carrots, broccoli and cauliflower.
Decision to Eat Healthy
To refrain from alienating your child in the quest for weight loss, make the decision to eat healthy a family affair. Make all of the limitations mentioned above apply to everyone in the family. Decide that the household will simply no longer have certain snacks or beverages in it, and promote these decisions to your children as "being healthy" rather than "losing weight". Our media already puts too much pressure on us to lose weight without parents projecting that goal onto their children.
Exercise
Be sure your child is getting plenty of daily exercise. Limit the use of tv and video games to a reasonable amount of time per day and encourage physical activity. Find out if your child has a particular interest in a sport and sign him up for a training class or enrichment team. These types of organized activities are usually not emphasizing the competitive nature of the sport, are more geared for having fun, and will encourage your child to push himself to impress other members of his team. If your child does not have a particular sport in mind, again make it a family affair, and go bike riding, or hiking, or swimming.
Know that most children grow out of the baby fat stage that they go through, as their bodies start to spring up in height. The important point may be to encourage good eating habits while they are young, to prevent them from having weight problems as they get older.
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