What Are We Feeding Our Kids? Today's Overweight Children

Healthy living is an extremely important lesson for children to learn. This includes the instruction of the many dangers involved in short- and long-term obesity. It is through education that the issues among children who are less physically active can become a thing of the past.

The key healthy living is eating nutritiously, and an appropriate amount of physical activity. Moreover, these elements should be daily habits, not just something done every now and again when you're feeling guilty for slacking off.

Eating too much, and exercising too little is a very common cause for overweight children, including many of the related health problems, which frequently follow these kids into their adulthood.

Fortunately, as a parent or caregiver, there is a great deal that you can do to help your child - and yourself for that matter - to learn new healthy eating and activity habits that can last for a long, healthy lifetime.

Since every child grows at his or her own rate, it is often difficult to tell if a child is overweight. The best way to know for certain is to talk to a qualified health care provider, who can measure your child's height and weight, while factoring in the child's age, and then tell you if he or she is within a healthy range.

The whole family can become involved in the development of healthy eating and activity habits. This way, everyone is benefited, and the overweight child is not singled out.

Great tips for helping your child are to:

•  Be very supportive

•  Encourage good physical activity on a daily basis

•  Encourage habits in healthy eating

•  Discourage and limit pastimes that are inactive

•  Be a good role model!

Make sure that your child always knows that he or she is loved and is special, no matter what the weight. A child's feelings and self esteem are often heavily based upon what their parents think of them. Let them know that they are accepted at any weight, and they will be more likely to accept themselves and feel good about themselves.

By Julie Campbell

JBC Online E-Publishing