Can You be Contributing to Your Child's Obesity?

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Associated Content
By Beth Callahan
Published January 09, 2007

Childhood obesity has become a large problem in the United States and not enough blame is put on the parents for their child being this way. Their are some cases that do not apply such as medical problems or children sneaking food. However, even the sneaking of food could be a result of bad parenting from earlier in life. As a parent, it is important to teach your child to eat healthy and responsibly. Here are some tips that you should follow so that you do not affect your child's eating habit negatively.Clean your plate- I am sure that most of us have heard this at the dinner table at least once when we were young. However, this is a bad practice to enforce. Children go through different stages depending on their ages. Unless you are noticing a huge drop in weight or your child is refusing to eat any food at all, then you should not be concerned. For the most part, the child will eat until they feel full. When you force a child to eat after feeling full, you are teaching them an eating habit that can stay with them all of their lives. Even if they do not become obese as a child, it could be a small part of why the develop obesity later on in life. This can also make eating time a power struggle which the child will learn that they can get back at you for something by not eating anything.Watch your mouth- As adults, we all have habits of saying things to ourselves or under our breath. Children are curious creatures and pick up on just about everything. Adults who over eat at meal time themselves tend to make comments at the table such as " I am stuffed but this is so good" and then keep eating, or " I am stuffed" and then order dessert anyway. While these comments are just made in conversation, children are picking up that you should still have dessert even when you are to full and that if something is good you should eat it all. You may think that I am over analyzing this, but children over analyze everything. Even if they do not subconsciously connect the two, it is something that is learned by habit. Such as you always folding the hand towel after your done using it simply because your mother always did. You do not consciously make that choice, it was learned by habit.Exercise- Make sure that your child gets a least 30 minutes of physical activity every day. You can even get them on an exercise regimen. Kids will take to anything easily. A lot of children seem to enjoy Yoga or Pilate's. You can also try a dance aerobics class, This is a great way to fight obesity or maintain a healthy weight for your child. This also teaches your child that exercise should be a part of their everyday life and that it is fun!I am not by any means placing all the blame on the parents. Some children just decide on their own that they love food and want to eat it constantly. However, these tips will greatly reduce your child's chances of having childhood obesity or learning eating habits that could result in obesity later in life. If there is no reasonable explanation as to why your child is gaining weight, you should check with their pedestrian immediately since this may be caused by a medical condition. Hopefully, your child should never become obese because putting on the weight is a lot easier than taking it off.