As a parent, what do you do to keep your child from becoming obese?

Question

Statistics say that Americans have become more and more obese. There are plenty of ways for a parent to keep his child from becoming obese. What do you do?

Answer 1

Encourage exercise and lots of physical activity. As a parent it is also good for you to be active with your child.

Answer 2

We strictly limit junk food starting from day 1. My son is 19 months old and has no idea what a chicken nugget is. We don't elminate bad-for-you food....we just don't treat it as something we eat every day.

The worst thing a parent can do, in my opinion, is start feeding a child based on the notion that children will only eat certain foods. Many parents would be surprised to learn that children ate and grew healthy before the invention of hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and chicken fingers.

Start feeding your infant and toddler a big variety of foods NOW. Studies show that it can take 10-20 tries with a new food before a kid will accept it. Don't give up.

Don't make seperate meals for your children. Eat the same foods together as a family. When your child sees that you are all eating the same, they will be more inclined to eat the food.

Get lots of exercise and set the example. Go outside with your child. Don't just send them out to play. Go play with them.

Limit TV. Kids not need to be vegetables for hours and hours a day. Limit it to 1 hour a day on school days (or LESS) and no more than 2 hours a day on weekends. Better yet, start a rule that TV and video games are for weekends only.

BAN SODA. There is no reason at all ANY child should drink soda. EVER. I know I'm the minority opinion on this, but I really think more people will come around. Soda is full of High Fructose Corn Syrup which basically puts your body into a diabetes mode for hours after you consume it. There is nothing good about soda.

If your child is already addicted to soda, try substituting soda for 1 part juice mixed with one part club soda (unsweetened fizzy water).

Good Luck!

Answer 3

First of all, get the child out of the house and into some kind of spot activity - that should be the child's choice, seeing as the child will probably be enrolled in that activity for quite some time.
Another thing should be to act as a responsible parent and give the example. Ban the greasy foods from the house, make healthy meals wth everyone sitting down in the table at the same time, and establish a reasonable period of time without eating fast-food...let's say, the 1st and 3rd saturday of the month the family should go eat at a fast-food restaurant.
Hope it helps =)

Answer 4

I was the Long-Term Single parent of TWO disabled children -- and they were NEVER obese -- because ...

1. Look for sports -- ANY SPORTS at all -- it does NOT matter what their capabilities -- as long as they move and are active they will stay in shape and be able to burn off excess calories -- this includes Basketball, T-Ball, Swimming, whatever.

2. Look for After School Activities -- any activity -- JROTC in the High Schools is a good choice -- also any thing -- including Academic Team -- because even with the Academic Team -- there were some good sponsor/teachers who took the children on walk-abouts around the school, had them exercise their minds with their bodies -- and given that one of my Children had Asperger's Syndrome (High Functioning Autism) -- this worked really, really well with that disability -- because the child would rock themselves, walk around, and do physical movement while answering.

3. Take day trips -- and give them small, cheap digital cameras that they can use to 'record' what they see -- this can be to the zoo, to local historical sites, to museums or galleries -- parks, nature trails, geo-caching, whatever -- and all of this is LOTS of movement, walking around, and activity -- and what is more important -- it is FUN!

4. Take them on Bicycle Trips, Roller Blading, whatever interests them -- I would place my children in a Bicycle Trailer as toddlers (I was on Active Duty in the Military at the time) and go to the nearest Bicycle Trail -- and do 20-30 miles each day on the weekends -- start from different points, but each time -- they LOVED the sights, we would stop and picnic along the way, they had their little cameras (35 mm at the time), and had fun. After that, when they finally could manage bicycles, then I would take them for bicycle outings and do smaller distances with them, then they would once again get in the bicycle trailer and (as they put it) go "Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!"

5. We go to the Local Parades (and walk around), go to the local Events (and walk Around), go anywhere -- everywhere -- as long as it is a family activity -- do it!

6. Also ... Outdoor chores -- Raking, pushing a lawnmower (when they are old enough), bagging the leaves, running around the outside of the home ... all this is exercise.

7. Bowling -- not only is lifting that ball/shoes/bag into the Bowling Center from the car quite a workout -- they don't even realize that they are exercising even doing something fun like LaserStorm Bowling every month on the weekends.

8. I ALWAYS (for the most part) fixed HEALTHY Meals at home -- even their School Lunches I made at home myself -- because if you see what the children are fed (and how much of it is GREASE and FAT and empty calories) .. then you would do the same. It didn't take that long each night to set up everything and pre-make what I could -- then before they woke up -- I would finish packing the school lunches, put them already in the backpacks and THEN awaken them for the morning rituals before the school bus showed up (you know -- eat, brush teeth, clean clothes, etc).

Answer 5

Lots of running around!
My daughter is only 19 months old, but she has healthy food and if I am in town shopping, I put her reins on her and have her walk as much as I know she is able to.
She goes to mother/toddler groups everyday in the week (unless she is ill- I don't want to pass germs on to other children) and that gets her pretty active.
We play music everyday and she can dance along to that.
(And by the time she is three, we will stop using the pushchair altogether).

Answer 6

Encourage their natural amazing amounts of energy. We live very close to a park and go often.
I don't keep a lot of junk in the house. But I do have fruit and healthier options laying around for them to grab.
And I tell them NO. When they want a snack five minutes after dinner or another bowl of ice cream.

Answer 7

Its such a big responsibility but we do lead by example. My small piece of advice is start with the healthy eating straight up. My daughter (no3) would only eat sweets as a baby - yougart, jelly, fruit, custards and I let her rather than persisting with normal balanced meals.

Now as a 10 y.o she still would prefer dessert and doesn't like to eat her meals.

Answer 8

I cook my children healthy home cooked meals and limit the time they spend in front of the tv they don't have any playstations or other electronic games. They play outside ride their bikes and rollerblade we have a big enough backyard. We also walk to school every day 10 minute walk even when it is raining.

Answer 9

My child is still very young, but my plan is to always have the house stocked with healthy foods, and to only let her have junk food on special occasions. We also try to stay active with her, take her out for walks, etc. Also, I think the best thing is to lead by example: If you eat junk, your kids will copy you, so it's best to lead a healthy lifestyle yourself, if you want your kids to have one.

Answer 10

dont reward them with food or candy feed them more fruits and vegies and not so much starchy foods such as pastas and potatoes and more fish and chicken not so much red meat and make sure they are active get them envolved in after school programs dont let them sit in front of the tv and play video games all day