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Is My Child Overweight?
A Parents' Guide
HE-509, Reviewed and reprinted 1994
Joye M. Bond, Nutrition Specialist
You may feel your child has a weight problem. Perhaps your
preschooler (3 to 5 years old) or school-age child (about 6 to 12 years old) appears to be
on the heavy side. What used to be cute is becoming a concern and you wonder whether this
is just baby fat or the sign of eating too many calories. What's a parent to do? With
compassion and patience, you can treat this growing problem.
What's the "Right" Weight For My Child?
Although your child may look too fat to you, his weight may be perfectly normal. It's
natural for parents to want their children to be as perfect as possible, but when it comes
to weight, "perfect" has to be broadly defined -- not easy in our thin-conscious
society. Children grow at different rates and may have body structures different from
their siblings and friends. Children are not supposed to be shaped like miniature adults,
either. Generally, compared to adults, children have longer legs and waists in proportion
to the rest of their body.
To tell if your child's weight is too high, make an appointment with a doctor, nurse or
registered dietitian. Your child's weight and height will be recorded on a standardized
growth chart which is used with an examination of weight history, body build and past
growth pattern to determine if your child's weight should concern you.
The ways children become overweight are as different as the children themselves. For
some, being heavy is genetically determined. Research with twins who were adopted before
the age of one showed that there was a strong link between the weight of the adopted
children and their biological parents, while there was no relationship between the weight
of the adoptive parents and adopted children.
Overweight kids are not necessarily overeaters. A child doesn't have to eat huge
amounts of food to put on weight. An extra 200 calories a day (the amount in a small bag
of corn chips) can cause your child to gain almost one-half pound a week.
Overweight children tend to be less active, but it's hard to tell which comes first,
the inactivity or the overweight. Some research shows an association between increased
television viewing and over-weight children. Watching TV doesn't require much energy and
is often accompanied by snacking on high-calorie foods.
Infancy and early adolescence are two periods in a child's life when they gain fat
faster than muscle. This is normal, but overeating and underactivity during these times
can make children vulnerable to excess weight gain.
What are the Dangers for an Overweight Child?
Overweight children can face serious problems. As youngsters, they are likely to suffer
social and psychological stresses because they appear "different" from their
peers. There are potential health problems as well, including increased risk of type II
diabetes, high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol.
What Can Parents do to Help a Child Who is Overweight?
If your child is defined medically as overweight, a special challenge is presented to
manage his weight, while maintaining growth. This can be done by encouraging exercise and
healthy eating habits.
No Diets! Rather than encouraging weight loss, help your child grow into his or her
current body weight. Weight loss in growing children is not healthy, and diets are not
generally recommended for children. Children need calories to grow and develop
normally. The idea is to keep your child's weight steady until he or she grows to the
height appropriate for his or her weight. When that happens, your child's weight can
increase to keep pace with normal growth.
A weight reduction diet may be perceived by the child as a form of punishment. It asks
them to ignore feelings of hunger, and may lead them to believe that there is truly
something wrong with them for wanting to eat more than their parents want to give them
(see the box on page 6, "Building Self-Esteem").
Make exercise a regular and fun part of your child's life. Get the whole family
involved in a variety of physical activities (see the pull-out section on "Family
Activity Ideas"). For many children, activity means countless hours watching
television or playing video games. Neither of these diversions burn many calories.
Commercials for high-calorie, low-nutrient foods may encourage children to eat more than
they would otherwise.
Participation in organized sports can help children master new physical and social
skills, gain recognition and improve self-esteem in addition to becoming fit. To avoid
burnout the emphasis should be on doing one's best and having fun -- not on winning or
losing.
Parents also can promote child fitness by being an advocate of community efforts to
develop a safe environment for children to play in, and encouraging efforts to make
physical education a component of school curricula from kindergarten through grade 12.
Most of all, parents can serve as role models while introducing children to a variety of
physical activities.
Help your child learn healthy eating habits. Prevention is the best cure for
overweight. Parents can help their children learn to recognize their own feelings of
hunger and to choose appropriate nutritious foods to satisfy that hunger. Here are ten
actions that parents can take to help their children learn good eating habits.
- Be enthusiastic and positive about eating a variety of foods. Talk more about the
healthy food choices you and your child are making instead of dwelling on the negative
aspects of less healthy choices. For example, tell your child you're serving spaghetti
with tomato sauce because it's good and also happens to be a nutritious choice.
- Introduce new foods gradually. Offer the child a small portion but do not force the
child to eat it. Offering the food over and over will make the food more familiar to the
child -- and more likely to be eaten.
- Sometimes humor will encourage a child to try something new. Say something like "I
bet you can't eat just one pea."
- Be creative. Rename food so young children will want to try it. For example, "Today
we're going to pretend that we're bunnies -- this is bunny food."
- Plan and provide regular meals and snacks for the family. Parents set a good example by
practicing healthy eating habits themselves.
- Mealtime is a time for pleasant conversation, not discussion of problems.
- Serve realistic portions. The appropriate serving size depends on the child's age and
size. One possible guideline is to offer 1 tablespoon of meat, fruit and vegetable per
year up to age 5. Physical activity and growth spurts will influence appetite. Plan meals
to include some lower calorie food items that can be offered for second helpings.
- Buy fewer high-calorie, low-nutrient foods. Encourage children to think of such foods as
occasional foods, not regular fare.
- Take your child to the grocery store and decide together on some low-calorie,
high-nutrient foods that are OK for snacking. Have a special area in your cupboard or
refrigerator for these foods.
- While it's sometimes difficult, it's important not to use food as a reward or
punishment. Children learn quickly that something that is a reward or punishment must be
very important. This may lead to strong negative emotional associations and eating
problems later.
Your overweight child will benefit from eating foods that are rich in nutrients and
moderate in calories -- the same kind of food the entire family is eating. There is no
reason to put an overweight child on a special diet different from what the rest of the
family is eating. A simple way to assure that everyone in the family gets the nutrients
for growth, repair and good health is to include a variety of foods from the Daily Food
Guide. Children need a variety of foods, but may need smaller servings.
Daily Food Guide Pyramid for the Whole Family
(click here for Daily Food Guide Pyramid drawing, 32KB
b&w gif)
Looking at the Pieces of the Pyramid
The Food Guide Pyramid emphasizes foods from the five major food groups shown in the
three lower sections of the pyramid. Each of these food groups provides some, but not all,
of the nutrients you need. Foods in one group can't replace those in another. No one of
these major food groups is more important than another – for good health, you need
them all.
Here are Some Healthy Recipes
You Can Make With Your Child
Adventureland Dip
2 cups plain nonfat or lowfat yogurt
2 tablespoons orange, grapefruit, tangerine juiceor lemonade
- Mix together.
- Use as a dip for pieces of raw fruit -- peaches, strawberries, kiwi, bananas.
Peanut Butter Nerf Balls
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 to 3 cups crisped rice cereal
- Stir together peanut butter, honey and vanilla.
- Stir in cereal.
- Wet hands and form the mixture into balls.
- Place on waxed paper and chill. Store in covered container in refrigerator.
For parents:
Check at your library or ask at a bookstore for the following books:
Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense, E. Satter, Bull Publishing Co., 1991.
(About infants and toddlers.)
How to Get Your Kid to Eat...But Not Too Much. E. Satter, Bull Publishing Co., 1987.
(About preschoolers and older.)
A Healthy Head Start: A Worry-free Guide to Feeding Young Children., M.A. Hess,
A.E.Hunt and B.M. Stone, H. Holt, 1990.
The Stop-Light Diet for Children. L. Epstein and S. Squires, Little, Brown and Co.,
1988. (This book offers an eating plan based on red-light, green-light and yellow-light
foods. It is not a weight loss plan.)
Meals Without Squeals. C. Berman and J. Fromer, Bull Publishing Co., 1991.
Walking for Little Children. R. Sweetgall and R. Neeves,1987.
Once Upon a Recipe. K. Greene, New Hope Press, New Hope, PA, 1987.(50 delicious,
healthy recipes for kids of all ages)
Off to a Good Start. C. Romaniello and N. Van Domelen, Wildwood Resources Inc., 1989.
To read with your child:
Albert the Running Bear's Exercise Book. B. Isenberg and M. Jaffe, Clarion Books, 1984.
The Berenstain Bears and Too Much TV. Stan and Jan Barenstain, Random House, 1984.
Calico Cat's Exercise Book. D. Charles, Children's Press, 1982.
Dinah and the Green Fat Kingdom. I. Holland, Lippincott, 1978.
I Like Me. N. Carlson, Penguin, 1990.
Gregory the Terrible Eater. Mitchell Sharmat, NY Scholastic Books, 1980.
Building Self-Esteem in the Child with a Weight Problem
If your child is overweight, it is especially important to focus on her self-esteem.
She may be the target of other people's -- especially peers' -- opinions about being
overweight and this could damage her self-concept. While most children outgrow being
heavy, some don't. It will be important that she feel good about herself as a person,
regardless of her body size or shape.
Here are some ways to build your overweight child's self-esteem:
- Never make fun of your child's weight, even when your intentions are good. As a special
and unique person, she does not deserve to be made fun of.
- Allow your child to wear clothes as other children her age do. Don't complain about the
special sizes she needs to wear.
- Avoid unfavorable comparisons between your child and thinner children. Other important
adults in your child's life may need to be tactfully reminded to express only positive
messages about children's bodies.
- Treat your overweight child the same as your other children. Don't make your child eat
special lowfat foods while her friends and siblings eat whatever they want.
- Emphasize things she does well and is interested in to focus away from her weight.
- Most of all, let your child know you love her unconditionally, and your love has nothing
to do with her weight.
Material adapted from "Tots at the Table," Newsletter,
University of Wisconsin Extension; and "A Parents' Guide to Children's Weight,"
NCR 374, Iowa State University Extension Service.
Playing with your child can relax you and foster a sense of closeness. And it's fun. So
get up, get moving and play with your child!
- Take walks with your child. You can easily turn a walk around the neighborhood into a
"safari" and hunt for "wild" animals--squirrels, dogs, cats, or cars
with animal names.
- Play basketball, tennis, badminton or volleyball. See how many baskets you can score or
how long you can keep a volley going.
- Share activities from your childhood and teach him some of your favorite games, like red
rover, hopscotch or hulahooping.
- Have the whole family take turns pretending to be favorite animals or cartoon
characters.
- Move furniture out of the way, turn up the music and dance!
- Get out the forgotten frisbee, jump rope, roller blades, or baseball and bat. The whole
family can join in!
- Take a picnic lunch and ride bicycles together to your favorite kite-flying spot.
- Get the family pet involved. Take turns being "official dog walker" -- while
the rest of the family goes along.
- Start a family, neighborhood or town walking club. Children can be involved in
developing a walking club logo that could be put on T-shirts. At the end of the year,
award each member a certificate showing total hours or miles walked.
- Set up a "par trail" with several stations. At the first station, do 2
somersaults and 1 cartwheel. Station 2 -- do 20 hula hoop twirls. Jump over 4 cardboard
boxes at station 3 and finish up by jumping on your bike, riding down the block, touching
a light post and riding back.
List your own ideas!
1._______________________________________________
2._______________________________________________
3._______________________________________________
4._______________________________________________
5._______________________________________________
6._______________________________________________
7._______________________________________________
8._______________________________________________
Fun and Games
Max is bored. He doesn't know what to do. Find and circle the 8 hidden objects that he
might use to have fun and stay fit. If you were Max, which would you play with? What else
could Max do to have fun?
(click here for Fun and Games drawing, 47KB b&w gif)
HE-509, Reviewed and reprinted 1994
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