At sixteen years old I tipped the scales at two
hundred and sixty pounds. Considering
that I am only 5’8”, to say that I was a little overweight is a slight
understatement. Call me overweight,
obese, fat-use whatever word you want. I
had plenty of unnecessary weight that needed to go. If you had read many of my other blog posts
then you have learned a little about my mindset in that struggle; what attitudes
the person struggling with weight needs to have to successfully lose it. If you
have not, or, if you are a supporting someone who is on a weight loss journey,
here are some simple things that can done to increase that person’s likelihood
of success. For those parents of
overweight children, understand this: your involvement is crucial to your
children learning to live healthy lives.
Doing nothing, or worse, thinking that a child is
capable of correcting a serious health and weight-related problem on his or her
own, is poor parenting. I would go so
far as to say that it is wimpy parenting.
Wimpy parenting is lazy parenting and does only harm to the child. Kids
need direct support from their parents to achieve any semblance of
success. As a parent, if you want your
child to be healthy then direct and active involvement in necessary.
A healthy life is something that must be learned. If it came naturally, obesity would be
nonexistent and so would the ensuing health complications. As parents many things, health and fitness
included, we are the first place that children have an opportunity to
learn. There are two sides to this:
prevention and correction. Prevention of
childhood obesity is by far the easiest route to take. However, as someone that has successfully walked the
path of correction, I can tell you that while it is far more difficult, it is
possible. A loving parent will stop at nothing to aid a child in overcoming
adversity and challenge. An unloving
parent does not care and will do nothing.
What I share in this, is learned both from my experience of working with
people to achieve their fitness goals.
It is also learned by being the beneficiary of excellent parenting when
I needed it.
There are three approaches that parents can use
to encourage health and fitness in their children. We will begin with prevention and reversing
of excessive weight gain. Also, we will discuss ideas to encourage physical
activity. The important thing here is
not where your child begins but in what direction the child is going.
Preventing and
Reversing Obesity
1.
Model a healthy lifestyle at
home. Like it or not, as a parent your child takes his
cues from you. Monkey see, monkey do,
right? Children are going to emulate
their parents’ behavior. The food
choices you make and the amount of physical activity you engage in are going to
tell your children, far more loudly than words ever will, how important health
and fitness are to you. This will
directly influence the priority that your children place on health and fitness.
2.
Keep healthy snacks on hand. This takes a little planning but kids get
hungry and being unprepared with snacks is like taking a shower without soap
and water. No one will thank you for
it. Keeping fresh fruit like apples or
oranges is a far better alternative to anything that comes out of a box or a
bag. What if the kid starts throwing a tantrum because they cannot have a
cookie? IGNORE THE CHILD. Leave the
healthy food in a place where it is easily accessible. When the child gets hungry enough he will
eat.
3.
Don’t focus on restricting
the amount of food a child eats, just the types of food. Many parents make the mistake of telling
children when they have had too much or that they should not eat. Placing a
child on diet is more likely to create the impression that your child cannot be
good enough than it will improve the child’s weight. Children are constantly
growing; let them eat. Just fill them
with fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and whole grain breads. Avoid giving the
child food that comes from a bag, plastic wrapper, or box. If it grows in the ground, on a tree, or
comes from an animal let them eat until they choose to stop.
4.
Avoid the sugary drinks. The smaller body of child,
despite all of the growing, needs fewer calories than an adult’s body. But, most food companies do not take that
into consideration when making soda or juice.
In many juice products the sugar content remains the same even if it is
packaged in a “child-size” container.
Unless the package specifically says “no sugar added” then sugar has
been added in addition to the sugar that may already naturally occur in the
fruit juice. As for soda, why anyone
would put something in their body (or the body of their child) that removes
battery acid off of a car battery is beyond me.
5.
Keep your child active. “Turn off the TV and go
outside,” is a dying phase among parents. PE programs are often cut from
schools as budgeting becomes a problem and video games are the new form of
social interaction. Kids sit too much, eat
too much and play too little. My parents
had a simple rule for me as child: one hour.
One hour to watch TV, or play video games, per day. After that it was outside. Kids do not have to participate in structured
fitness programs, hit the gym, or play organized sports to be active. Neither do adults. Simple things like playing catch in the yard
or going for a walk with the dog will help kids be more active.
Encouraging
Physical Activity
1.
Let the child choose. As a parent, you may be like
me, and love hitting the gym. Or, maybe
running is your thing. But that does not
mean that your child will share your passion.
My dad loves running. He was an
All-American marathon runner in college.
I hate running. I would rather wash the dishes than go for a run. My dad did not force me into running with
him. I tried it a few times but, as an
obese teenager, running was uncomfortable and made my feet hurt. Wisely, my
father encouraged and supported my interest in weightlifting instead for
forcing me into something I did not enjoy.
2.
Give the child a
wide-variety of opportunities. One of the simplest ways to
increase a child’s willingness to participate in exercise is to get the child
involved in sports. This is something
that many parents do but often go about it wrong. I have had the opportunity to speak with and
train many parents who proudly boast of their six-year-olds performance on a
travelling “all-star” caliber team. It does not matter what sport it is; be it
baseball, soccer, football, or lawn darts.
Some parents think that because their kid made one really great throw at
four years old that the kid is the next Babe Ruth. So they enlist the kid in
high level training to focus on one sport for a kid that is still a few years
from puberty. Idiots. Puberty is a great equalizer when it comes to
fitness and athletic talent. Just
because a kid may show some sense of aptitude at four or five does not mean
that at sixteen he is still going to be a standout athlete. Before puberty, athletic involvement should
be in a wide variety of sports and activities, with the child having a say in
the selection of the activities. If the child does not enjoy the activity he
will not stick with it. Parents, not the
child, are often the deciding factor in enthusiasm and success.
3.
Be positive and encouraging. Children are far more perceptive than some parents
realize and excel on picking up on subtle cues to a parents mood. The parents who walk into the room, turn off
the TV, and say “that’s enough sitting around and being lazy,” are only going
to foster resentment in the child. An overweight child is going to hear “You
are lazy. You disgust me. You are a disappointment.” A far better approach
would be, “why don’t we go to the park and play?” This is far more positive because
the child hears two positive things: they can play, and more importantly, ‘we,’
as in you, the parent, value spending time with them. Being seen as valuable in
a parent eyes’ is always a win for the child.
4.
Install a strong work ethic
at a young age. One of the most important
things that my parents did for me was teaching me to give my best effort in
everything. It did not matter if I got a
“C” in school if that was truly my best effort. My father had me helping him
stack firewood and cutting the grass by the time I was ten. Taking out the trash started when I was about
six. Chores and hard work in school were
a normal part of life. Age-appropriate
work develops character in children. It
teaches them how to buckle down and get tough things accomplished. A strong work ethic is one of the most
valuable skills a parent can give a child.
Parents who do this are enabling their children for success in life. Parents who do everything without making the
kids lift a finger are not helping their children. These parents are handicapping their kids.
5.
Focus on progress not comparison. As a parent I can tell you that, like all parents,
there is a part of me that is constantly comparing my kids to others. My son is a toddler, but every time he is
around other kids, I find myself drawing comparisons. It is a natural aspect of
parenting and if controlled, harmless.
The key here is not let the child know that comparisons are being
made. If a child clues into the fact
that parents are constantly drawing comparisons with other children the child
will begin to do the same thing. This
leads down to a path to dwindling self-confidence and low self-esteem.
The principle is about
competing against yourself. It’s about
self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before.-Steve Young
The only positive way to draw comparisons is to
compare one’s self to of yesterday to today. “I am better than I was
yesterday?” is the only question that should be asked. If the answer is not “Yes!” than do something
about it.
Sources
·
ACSM Fit Society Page. American College of Sports Medicine Volume 15,
Number 1 April 2013
