Childhood Obesity - Finding The Right Strategy For Your Child:

[Carol]

Obesity is a morbid situation in which a person keeps on gaining weight, which adversely affects his/her health. If a child starts gaining excess fats, he is said to be suffering from childhood obesity, which is not at all good for his healthy being. If a child gains too much fat unable to control it, in between 11 to 16 years it is very difficult for him to overcome this later on. Therefore, childhood obesity has always been an upsetting situation for the parents. Nevertheless, the child can easily overcome obesity in childhood because it is his growing age and the child is involved in many activities to keep him/her energetic.

This is a fact that growing capacity of every individual is different therefore you might not be able to identify exactly whether your child is obese or not. However, you can always find this out by consulting your doctor who will calculate BMI (Body Mass Index) of your child as per his weight and height to let you know his exact weight situation. Once you realize that your child is becoming bulky and unduly fat you need to find the right strategy for him/her to stop this situation immediately before it becomes uncontrollable.

Many researches have been conducted to find out how healthy practices can be developed in the children and they suggests simple ways which every parent already know like keeping a child active, encouraging sports, avoiding sugary and calorie-rich food items etc. However, a most recent study suggests developing following three habits in the child as a right way to control and get rid of childhood obesity.

Encouraging Family Unity: Family plays a vital role in shaping a child’s personality. A child takes influence from his/her parents and siblings. Therefore, it is highly recommended to involve your kids in family activities and discussions like providing them the opportunity to have dinner together, go for family picnics and encourage sports involving all family members. This will build confidence and the child will not feel like left alone due to his bulky body.

Taking Enough Sleep: Proper sleep is very important for every individual and it’s even more important when it comes to kids because kids are in growing age and they need proper rest for proper growth.

Limiting TV time: The children of ages between 4 to 15 and 16 are more towards physical activities like sports etc and they must not spend too much time in front of television. Sitting in front of TV for more than 1.5 to 2 hours is strictly not recommendable because this will make the child sluggish and inactive leading to gain weight. So avoid placing TV in your child’s room and try to limit screen hours.

Encourage these habits in your child even if he is not obese because prevention is better than cure. As being a kid, we cannot recommend heavy weight loss medicines and starvation diets to them, therefore we must take care of their diet and encourage positive habits in them so that they become confident enough to face the challenges of life fearlessly.