Three Mistakes Parents Make With Overweight Kids

Three Mistakes Parents Make With Overweight Kids

Most parents just feel helpless. They want the best for their kids, but in spite of everything we know about nutrition and exercise, most parents hope for the best and do little about their overweight kids.

My daughter Pari was small at birth, but quickly became a heavy baby. By the age of two, our pediatrician began intimating that Pari was putting on more weight than she needed. Until kindergarten, kids from our neighborhood, her day care or nursery school accepted Pari just as she was, and her size never came up. But when she started school, there was a whole new set of kids, and some would make comments about Pari’s size.

Some were innocent observations; some comments were just down right mean. In first grade she was invited to a slumber party of a new friend, and told me she would be uncomfortable changing in front of the other girls because she was fat. This was a shocking moment for me, because now I understood that she felt badly about herself, that she had been giving thought to her size, and comparing herself to other children. What could I do? In my case, there were few resources, but that has changed.

As the author of Seven Steps to Get Your Child’s Weight on Track and creator of The Pari Plan, it's clear to me that parents don’t understand the pivotal role they play in the solution to a child’s weight problem. In helping families across the country beat childhood obesity, I've identified the three crucial mistakes that parents make and the key actions parents must take to get control and start their child on the path to improvement:

Mistake #1: “She’s Not Heavy.” This is plain denial. Many parents refuse to be honest with themselves about their child's weight. They see the beautiful perfection of their child and turn a blind eye to a problem that is likely causing emotional pain in their child’s life lowering the child’s self-esteem and getting in the way of their child achieving her true potential.

Action Plan: Learn what a healthy weight for your child should be. Compare where your child is to where your child needs to be. Acknowledge this goal openly.

Mistake #2: “He’ll grow out of it.” If only parents knew: Studies show that 50% of obese school-aged children will become obese adults. Children WON’T grow out of their weight problem.

Action Plan: You don’t need to put your child on a crash diet, but you do need to get them on a healthy path with better food choices and exercise activities that will help them as they grow. Losing weight is not rocket science. But changing the habits and lifestyle of a family in today’s busy world is difficult. Especially when the emotional well being of a fragile overweight child is at stake, parents need a plan and they need perseverance.

The good news is that the easiest time to get your child on track is between the ages of 4-12 when they are growing and still totally reliant upon their parents for their food and activity.

Mistake #3: "I've Tried Everything." Most parents simply give up. They may try something but usually not the right things - in the right way. Then they give up.

Action Plan: The secret is that you must put it all together in the correct way and you must commit to being successful. You must acknowledge that you are the only one that can make the difference and you must rally your entire family around your child’s success. You can have a healthy child but only if you decide to make it the number one priority in your life.

As a mother of an overweight child, I made all these mistakes and more. I've experienced the helplessness and heartbreak a parent feels watching their child struggle with weight. But there is an important flipside to that pain: The joy of helping your child shed their weight, build their self-esteem and realize the potential you always knew they had.

BONUS : Thumb Sucking - A Common Problem For Children

Thumb sucking is a very common problem faced by many children. Many infants develop this habit even before they are born. It provides a level of comfort to the child. It helps the child to settle down as sucking denotes the idea of nutrition. Many a times mother' milk is more than enough to get through this phase of thumb sucking. Thumb sucking can be a very serious problem if not nipped in the butt at the right time. It becomes a habit which continues in your adolescent age. It turns into an addiction which is hard to let go. If this habit continues at the age of five or six it may prove to be very serious. The child can develop problem with teeth as well as fingers.

Thumb sucking is a safety net for the children. Sucking the thumb is very reassuring to the kids. It is being used most of times when the kids are bored, scared, and sick as well as during bed time. Nagging them and scarring them at a tender age of two won't help. When the child reaches an understandable age, the parents should use all the tactics to avoid the escalation of this habit. A toy or a finger puppet can be used to keep the child engaged. By involving the child in various activities you can keep the child focused and busy. Watching TV cannot be termed as an activity.

Due to the continuous thumb sucking the front teeth level is raised. This has to be treated by putting on the braces. This behavior can be easily changed by the initiative taken by the parents and doctors. Keeping the child active is a very important process of discarding this habit. It becomes very important to use and imply different methods and techniques to get rid of this habit. This act is usually given up when they do something interesting and comfortable.

Home Remedy

Applying lemon juice on your child’s finger may help to discard this habit once and for all.

You can also apply bitter gourd on the thumb which is not likeable by many adults.

A Band-Aid wrapped in castor oil and baking soda may also help to get rid of this habit.

Tying socks on your child's hand may also work.

Warning: The reader of this article should exercise all precautionary measures while following instructions on the home remedies from this article. Avoid using any of these products if you are allergic to it. The responsibility lies with the reader and not with the site or the writer.