It's important to focus on health, not shape. Kids today are bombarded with images of impossible-to-achieve bodies, at the same time as fast-food ads encourage them to consume as much as they can and candy bars tempt them in every checkout lane. Caught in the middle, many kids struggle with their weight. Childhood obesity doubled in children & quadrupled in adolescents in the past 3 decades. Today, more than one third of children or adolescents are overweight or obese.
And millions more struggle with the opposite problem: eating dangerously little. Talking about weight at any age can be touchy. And when a kid’s health and self-image are on the line, the stakes are especially high. So what can parents say to help kids get healthy? It’s helpful for parents to realize that “the weight of any family member is a family issue.” Kids don’t make decisions about diet and exercise alone,…
