How Do You Feel About Childhood Obesity?

I would like to share my opinion and personal experience with childhood obesity, and encourage feedback about this topic. 

While I will admit that childhood obesity is on the rise, I am extremely disturbed by the attention its getting — mainly because I always had a child who was (and still is, to a small extent) obsessed with food.

Instead of falling into the latest “fad” of what we are supposed to be doing about our children’s health, I chose the path that I felt has always worked for generations

• Everything in moderation
• Keep them busy
• Distract them with something else when they start to go for a snack

I honestly don’t believe that what the kids are eating has as much to do with how often they are eating and the lack of physical activity.  My oldest daughter was born chunky, and stayed that way until about 11 when she started “filling in” and growing taller as puberty began.  She was always active, not “fat” but always on the top end of the doctor’s charts. 

Her father and I separated when she was 1 1/2 years old, and he took a different approach than I did:  he demanded she “eat healthy” and eat smaller portions — all the while, eating his food and the part of hers that he didn’t think she should eat (not a great example of avoiding gluttony).    In fact, it caused her to remain constantly focused on food and only made her want food more.

It soon became a pattern after visits with her father, that she would hoard her food and sneak snacks into her room to eat in secret.  Once when she was 3, I even caught her hiding in her room, eating a stick of butter (UGH).  Keep in mind, this very same child has never drank soda or eaten candy (she doesn’t even like it).

Her father pressed and pressed about her “obesity”.  Nevertheless, I stuck to my guns.  His approach didn’t work.  It caused stress eating and constipation, which he thought could be easily fixed with a prescription laxative. (I say NO to prescriptions whenever possible!).  Just so we are clear, this is not a dig against my ex-husband, its just an example of a person using  the current popular approach to food issues, without giving consideration to the individual child. 

I am happy to report that she is a very active, healthy and thinner 12 year old, who adjusted her eating habits on her own.  Her step dad and I have always encouraged her to exercise, and used other tricks to get her to think she was eating a lot — until she was old enough to figure things out for herself, in her own time.

Being a parent isn’t just about making the rules for your kids, it isabout understanding their individual personalities and issues, and making adjustments where necessary.   Every child is different, and I have never had food issues with my other two children.

If you have a child who is moderately overweight or obese, please consider all approaches to a solution.  Teaching them about food, health and portions is great — but encouragement and distraction work wonders without any damage to their self-esteem.

How do you feel about Childhood Obesity and the way it is being approached in our society?

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