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Defining Obesity

Gaining an additional 2 to 3 pounds does not classify someone as obese. Although if a person gains weight easily he or she is at risk of obesity and should start thinking of diet modification and exercise. A child will be considered as an obese if he exceeds 10 percent of his recommended weight based on his age, height and body type. A person who is obese as an adult has most likely suffered from being an obese in childhood.

Causes of Obesity

There are many factors causing obesity and can range from genetic, behavioral, cultural and biological. However an individual doesn’t get obese in a short time therefore it is the lifestyle and eating habit of a person that influences obesity the most. In children, if the parents are not practicing or promoting a healthy eating lifestyle the kids may adapt it till they grow up to be adults. Here are some specific causes that can increase children’s obesity.

• Overeating or binging – the body is already full but the child continues to eat
• Lack of exercise – couch potato lifestyle, children who watch tv or play video games all day
• Family history – there is a 50% chance of child obesity if both parents are obese
• Low self esteem – frustration and unsolved feelings of conflict is displaced through eating
• Medical illness – 1% of obesity in children is caused by some other endocrine or neurological medical condition

Teens are prone to obesity because they undergo series of changes in their body emotionally and physically. Some adolescents who cannot cope with peer pressure and stress from school tend to fall into depression thus causing overeating or binging. Children who grow up without proper nourishment from healthy servings of food on the dinner table may grow up to be obese adults.

Parents play a significant role in preventing children obesity. What parents do and serve to their children determines what their children’s eating habits. Serving healthy snacks such as fruits and yogurt to replace chips and fried French fries can definitely make a difference. Planning meals on a weekly basis will avoid the need to grab take out or order pizza for dinner. Increasing physical activity will also help in losing those excess pounds from an increased caloric intake. Parents should encourage their children to play outdoor sports or join summer camps to avoid the couch potato lifestyle.

If a child’s obesity is caused by an underlying medical condition then consult a doctor to best manage the disease and work around being on the normal weight appropriate for your child’s age to avoid other complications such as heart diseases and diabetes.

Learning a new skill:

Your child may feel frustrated and disappointed, especially when he or she doesn’t get a particular skill right. He or she may also withdraw when overcome with failure and guilt for not being good enough or not learning quickly. Here are ways you can address this issue:

• Help your child get organized. If your little one seems to have trouble keeping up with his or her belongings, help him or her by creating labels and color coding items in the closet or drawers. Organizing helps your child gain more control at his or her own pace.
• Take it slowly and know when to stop. You want to encourage your child, but learning a skill requires a lot of patience, an example you should be providing. Don’t push it – stop before he or she starts getting frustrated. Remind your little one there’s always another day to practice again.
• Remind your child that it’s okay to make mistakes. Do not be rigid especially if you don’t want to see your little one melting down or giving up altogether.

Getting dressed:

This can be power struggle, especially for very young children. It’s not just about getting the buttons in the right holes – it’s also about picking their own clothes.

• Give your child control. Hang a few outfits for him or her to choose from.
• Help out. Get your child to zip up and button up the right way, so you don’t have to redo everything and waste time. Say something like, “I’ll do the first button, and you can do the next one.”
• Choose clothes carefully when shopping. Don’t make your child’s life difficult with complicated bows, zips, pins and the link. Choose clothes with zippers or Velcro.

Sharing and playing:

Young children may be selfish, even when you teach them to share. When bringing your child to the playground or to a play date, negative emotions may arise from fighting with other kids, accidents, and having to share.

• Don’t humiliate the child. When your child fights with another, don’t shout at him or her because this will only embarrass the child and make him or her think that you aren’t on his or her side. Instead, sit your child down and talk it out, gently reminding him or her to be nice.
• Plan in advance. Pack your child’s bag with extra toys and snacks, so there will be opportunity to share.
• Set boundaries. Tell your child that if he or she acts up, then you guys are immediately off the slides and homebound.

Banishing Bad Mood:

It doesn’t matter what ticks your little one off. It may be waking up on the wrong side of the bed, a tummy ache, or not getting what he or she wants. Whatever the cause of a pout is, here are some ways you can deal:

• Acknowledge. Getting your child know that you are understand his or her feelings will make it easier for him or her to talk it out. Verbalize your observations and offer something comforting. For example, you can say “I can see that you are a little grumpy today, can a kiss from Mommy make it better?” to get started.
• Be funny. Pull on silly faces, funny songs, and goofy ideas to get your sour-faced child to smile. It’s a great distraction, as well as a wonderful way to ease the tension.
• Reverse roles. Instead of finding solutions for your child, help him or her think it through. Say, “My day’s not going well, too. Can you help me think of something that can make it all better?”

No matter what season, it’s never a bad idea to switch off the TV and usher your kids outdoors. Below are fun ideas to help you raise a child who loves nature:

Play in the rain.

Forget about catching a cold for a minute, and let your child pitter patter in the rain. In reality, the real cause of colds and flu is dry air, because viruses travel better in it. Children love water, it’s an instinct. If it’s wet outside and there isn’t any sign of thunders and lightning, get your young ones into some rubber boots for some splashing fun.

Take the opportunity to enhance your child’s senses. Talk about how the world seems so different when it rains. Birds don’t seem to chirp, and clouds look like gray cotton. Help your child squish his or her toes into mud or run fingers through wet tree barks. Up their curiosity by asking questions like, “Where do you think the water from the rain comes from?” or “Why do puddles disappear when the sun comes out?”

When your child is done playing in the rain, have some warm and dry clothes and towel ready, but be sure he or she takes a quick shower first.

Get creative in the yard.

There’s nothing better for a young child than getting his or her hands deep in soil. Touching dirt shouldn’t scare you, so let your child play as much as he or she wants in the yard. Children can get creative in this area, plus it’s safe because it’s right where you can watch them while getting some work done.

The yard is a wonderful place for young scientists – they can observe how plants grow, and how insects move about. Give your child a magnifying glass so he or she can see everything up close in bigger size.

Plant something.

Raise a child with passion for planting. A child with a green thumb will also grow to be ecology-minded. You can start with herbs, or better yet, if you already have a place to grow vegetables, do so. A young child can help dig and older children can label plant pots and markers. There’s nothing like harvesting tomatoes and lettuce right from your garden and into your family’s dinner table. Your child will be so proud. Gardening is a wonderful way to bond with children. Moreover, it teaches children about patience, time and caring for living things.

Children who are exposed to a very clean environment are the ones who often get sick and acquire allergens from a lot of things as compared to those kids who are frequently exposed to the harmful elements in nature. This theory is referred to as hygiene hypothesis. This explains why those who grew up in barns and farms have fewer allergy and acquired diseases compared to those who are brought up in a highly urbanized and clean environment.

Having allergies is one of the most uncomfortable feelings one could ever have. During an allergy attack, you can hardly function well because you will be spending all day scratching your face, sneezing, and have teary eyes. In severe forms, there are those allergies that cause dandruff on the scalp and scaling of the skin. These are just some of the discomforts that allergies give to us adults.

Lucky for us adults we have ways in which we can get rid of having them and not be affected with their annoying symptoms. But with children, it is very hard for them to have allergies because their bodies are still fragile and they are more vulnerable to complications. When some areas of the body itch, they tend to scratch it until it bleeds. This can be harmful since the child’s skin is still very sensitive so they easily break and get wounded. When wound heals, it develops into a scar that can still be present until they become adults. With these scars, their self esteem can be affected and cause them to become insecure. Plus those who have allergies are not just bound to have skin imperfections; they are bound to asthma attacks which is a more serious condition.

Dental exam is routinely done in schools or during the child’s first visit to the dentist to check his teeth and oral cavity for oral problems such as inflammation. The teeth are also checked if it has tartar or cavities and whether a tooth needs to be extracted or not. When a dentist conducts a dental exam, he keeps record your dental record and this is very helpful in cases of emergencies or employment for identification purposes. The child will also be treated for dental prophylaxis during a dental examination to get rid of those unwanted tartar and cavities that can cause destruction to the child’s tooth.

Some parents may have a hard time in bringing their children to the dentist for a routine dental exam. This is because children often associate going to the dentist with tooth extraction as what they always see on television. Most often parents are faced with the challenge on how to remove the child’s fear with dentists. But with these easy steps, parents will be able to prod their children to submit for dental exams. Here are the ways how:

• Inform your child on the importance on seeing their dentists. Explain to them in a manner that they will understand. You can try to be creative like telling them stories on the importance of dental hygiene.
• Give your child a scenario on how it is like to be inside a dentist’s clinic. In this way he knows what to expect. And when he is already in the clinic it will prevent him from putting any tantrums.
• Tell your child to ask questions.
• Assure your child that you will be there for him during the scheduled dental exam. In this way he will feel confident that he will be able to do good during the dental exam.
• Use the reward system. Tell your child that if he behaves and cooperate during the dental exam, you will give him a present. This is much needed during a child’s first dental exam especially when your child is full of fears at this time.

Some parents think that when their child is heavy, it means he is healthy. On the contrary, child obesity is linked to a lot of diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and certain cancers. The earlier you control your child and correct his weight, the greater chances he has in preventing the occurrence of those diseases mentioned above.

Here are some of the ways on how you can help your overweight child to weigh normal:

• Weigh your child and tell him what his normal weight should be. When your child knows how heavy he should weigh, he will know how to control his appetite.
• Set realistic goals with your child. As much as possible let your child decide on how much weight he needs to lose and what diet regimen he should be into.
• In a calm and friendly manner inform your child about the harmful effects that obesity can do to his health. Make sure that your child understands your point without giving him fear.
• Prepare healthy foods at home. When you want your child to weigh normal, the foods served at home should be healthy as much as possible, fatty foods should be eliminated. Modify your menu so that your child won’t feel left alone thinking that he is the only one eating vegetables and other healthy dishes.
• Exercise together. Every day you can have a thirty minute walk around the neighborhood at a time where both of you are free. During weekends you can also plan different sport activities together with the rest of the family like cycling and having ballgames at the park. You are like hitting two birds at one stone by doing these; you are encouraging your child to exercise plus you are having bonding moments with the family.
• Prepare his lunch and snacks for school. Make sure that the foods you are preparing are less in fat. Try other food preparations that are healthy yet it still makes the food of your child tasty. Instead on frying, you can try grill or steam in cooking. In making sandwiches for snacks, use dressings that are low in fat.
• Limit dining out to fast food restaurants at least twice in a week. Yes the foods served at most fast food restaurants are unhealthy, but your child needs to have a break too. They also need to be like other children who miss eating burgers and fries. Just tell your child that eating these foods once in a while is okay just as long he doesn’t go for second serving and added dressings.
• Weigh your child weekly. In this way both of you will know if he is progressing in achieving his goals or not. If he is losing weight, give him rewards. A simple hug and words saying that you are proud of him will surely make him happy. If he did not lose weight, comfort him and tell him not to give up. Children can be depressed when their goals are not met so it is best to reassure them that they can achieve them next time.

Your role as a parent is really very important in having your child maintain a healthy weight. Your child’s health greatly affects how you advocate being healthy in the family.

The real challenge comes when the child is about to enter the big school. If the child refuses to eat healthily at home when you can supervise his meals then there would be a bigger problem during lunch time in school. But parents need not to worry much; feeding healthy lunch to young children is not that hard at all. All you need to do is to catch your child’s taste buds even if it means that you will be serving nutritious foods like fruits and vegetables.

The following are some of the healthy lunch box ideas for your kids:

• Plan your meals. Children do not like repeated food every day. Make sure that your recipes are up to date so that they will be excited to eat the food you have prepared come lunch time in school.
• Make sure that you don’t repeat the same set of meals in a given week. Children get bored easily and that is the same with food. See to it that the menu you had for Monday won’t be repeated the next day so that your child won’t get tired of the food you are preparing.
• All the lunch you should prepare should be complete with the food groups like protein and carbohydrates. You can prepare a sandwich with lean meat, mixed with vegetables and dress it to your child’s preference. That is an example of a complete meal that is healthy. When there is dressing the child won’t be able to notice that there is vegetable so he is able to eat together with the sandwich.
• Children love finger- foods because it makes them think that they are eating chips and other crackers. Make small sized meatballs so that they can eat using their fingers while chatting with their friends. To make your meatballs healthier, you can grate vegetables like carrots and mix on the ground meat before forming them into balls. This will be a healthy meal that they will love to eat during lunch time at school.
• Ask suggestion from your child on what types of food does he like to have for lunch. In this way you are sure that he will eat what you have prepared. If your child likes a not so healthy dish, then bargain with your child. Tell him that he will have the food that he wants to eat when he also eats vegetables or other healthy dishes you have prepared.

Practice with Your Child at Home

Like adults, most babies feel uncomfortable when visiting the doctor. This is because all the babies think about is getting poked, and you will find it very hard to make the baby calm when you are already at the clinic for some checkup. But you can make him more comfortable doing these visits with you by practicing what is going to happen in the clinic at home. To make your baby more comfortable, you can perform what the doctors normally do during a checkup like pressing his belly, looking inside his ear with a pen light, and opening his mouth for you to take a look at. After doing your part, you can ask your baby to do the same to one of his favorite toys. It is recommended that you keep practicing for three days prior to the scheduled visit so that your baby could get used to it.

Schedule the Appointment in the Morning

If you think that waiting for your turn at clinics is stressful enough, you will not imagine the inconvenience of doing it with your impatient child. At first, your child might not get all cranky, but certainly, he will do so when he gets bored. Chances are, when it is your turn already, your child is already put off from waiting a long time. In order to avoid this from happening, make sure that you schedule your appointment early in the morning. This is because during the morning, everybody else is busy at work; hence there is not much waiting time for you and your baby.

Plan Your Visit

After your child has been examined, and if in case he gets some shots, it is very certain that he would want to go home immediately. When this happens, you will not get the chance to organize your thoughts and ask everything you want to know. You can make your visits to the doctor worthwhile by planning ahead. Before the day of your scheduled appointment, list down all the things that you want to ask and start the conversation before the doctor begins his examination. By doing this, you are giving your child the time he needs to get comfortable with the place and your child and his pediatrician are going to have a little bonding time before doing all the tests and checkups which is good for the child, and to make all his fears go away.

The following are some of the effects that divorce bring to children and what you can do to help them:

• Children may blame themselves on what happened with their parents relationships. You should tell your child that he has nothing to do with the divorce. Tell your child about the reason why you can’t continue with the marriage and why it is the best option for your family.

• Children may lack self confidence and think that they are inferior. Encourage your child to be the best that he can be. Tell him that you believe on his talents and the things that he can do. Let your child feel that both you and your partner will always be there to support his endeavors even if one of you has to go from home.

• Children may think and feel that they are abandoned and not loved. It is normal for children to feel this way especially when they are used to having the both of your partner together at home. Assure your child that he is loved even if you and your partner are having a divorce. Tell him that their role and love as parents does not stop with divorce.

• Children who have to deal with parents on divorce will have feeling of sadness, pain, frustration, and anger. No matter what happens between you and your partner make sure that you treatment to your child will not change. Express and tell your children that you will love them. Encourage him to ventilate his feelings and do your best to give him assurance that only your family set-up will change your child will always remain the love of your life.

Divorce will always be a hard part in all of the family member’s life, but your children will still grow up normally just as long as you do extra efforts to make things as normal as possible even if you are no longer a couple with your partner.