Obesity has become a health epidemic in this country. Children are the fastest growing section of the population suffering from this condition. Follow a few tips to help your child if he or she is becoming obese due to overeating. We can help kids eat healthier.

There are fast food restaurants on every corner. Schools offer several meal choices-some loaded with fat and calories. The chance to overeat is all around your child on a daily basis.

Before you know it, your child will have put on extra weight. Once on, the challenge begins. What can you do to help?

A contributor to obesity is lack of exercise. The television and the video game console keep children occupied but provide no cardiovascular benefit. Sitting on a couch encourages unconscious eating. When your mind is engaged in other activities you don’t keep count on the number of chips you are eating out of that bag.

Some children overeat because of school and social pressures. The pressure to perform at a high academic level leaves children feeling like failures when they miss the mark. In order to cope, they turn to activities that give them the satisfaction that they could not achieve academically. The more they eat, the better they feel.

Pressures to fit in can lead to depression and overeating. Children who are shy and have trouble making friends look to incorporate things into their lives that will not reject them. Food is one of those things. A donut or a hamburger won’t tell you that they hate your clothes or your hair. Food becomes a hiding place that is safe from the outside world.

Parents can head off overeating by discovering the source of the problem. Talking with your child on a regular basis can clue you in on what is happening in his or her life. Don’t press your child, but let him or her come to you.

Exercising can be a family affair. After dinner during the week and anytime on the weekends, exercising with your child gives both of you a cardiovascular workout. Walking and bicycling are two activities that kids like doing.

Stocking your pantry with good low calorie foods encourages healthy choices instead of bad ones. Avoid closet eating by eliminating all fatty and high calorie snacks from the house. When stress gets high, children will go looking for these “bad” snacks and hide the evidence that they are eating them. This will undermine all of your other efforts.

Obesity is a condition that requires treatment not condemnation. Your child may already have to deal with teasing from classmates about his or her weight. If you have negative comments also, he or she will pull deeper into a shell and continue to overeat.

To learn more, check out the Mom’s Talk Guide to Raising Happy & Healthy Kids – Tips and resources address nutrition, exercise, sleep, routines, and much more.

Being an “almost” teenager is a difficult state of being. Their social life is beginning to develop and they are defining who they are. During this time, encourage them to choose their friends wisely.

Peer pressure is a reality for your tween. As kids struggle to figure out who they really are, they will always encounter someone who feels that they should follow their lead. Where they are leading your tween may not be a good place.

Kids speak their minds without reserve. Often, the result can be injury to another child’s self-esteem. As long as they are not affected by their own comments, they are unsympathetic.

Breaking this type of thought process is the key to helping your tween avoid the trap of gossiping and teasing others. Explaining to your tween that teasing is hurtful is a start. The reason behind teasing is important. Most people tease others because of jealousy, envy, peer pressure, or meanness. In an effort to feel better about your jealousy, you make fun of the item that another has that you want.

Some kids tease or gossip about others because they don’t want to be the topic of the conversation. It is a pre-emptive strike. Choosing friends that engage in this type of activity carries the threat that someday your child will be the victim.

How should your tweens handle these situations? Teaching them to choose friends with care will help. A friend will not join in when others tease your child. A good friend will also tell your child if they are getting involved in these destructive behaviors. Friends keep each other accountable.

Keep the lines of communication open in your home. Tweens may have questions about how to handle a situation in their social life. They may also want to confess that they were not so nice to someone and seek advice on making amends.

Condemning children for mistakes in judgment is never helpful. They already feel bad enough about what they have done. Reassure them that you will do what you can to help them.

Preparing your tween for the possibility that they will not be forgiven by the person they hurt is prudent. Because we want things to work out fine does not guarantee that they will. As long as your child has done their part to repair the relationship, this is all they can do. Chalk it up to a lesson learned.

Teasing and gossiping is no fun for the victim. It is also no fun if your tween is being pressured to do it. Make use of every opportunity to encourage your child to stand up for him or herself and refuse to hurt another.

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