How to Talk to Kids about Weight and Obesity

In today’s culture, weight can be a sensitive subject, especially for children and teens. The desire to be thin is reaching school-aged children, as girls as young as 6 years old express concerns about their body image and gaining weight.

Deciding how to approach weight issues with young people deserves careful attention; how you handle the topic can have serious and lifelong implications. Here are some tips for discussing weight with kids, and what to do if a child brings up the topic.

1. Encourage open dialogue. Go ahead and talk with your children about weight and encourage them to share their thoughts and feelings about body image whenever they arise. When children discuss feelings about weight with you, be sure to listen and acknowledge that the feelings are real. If you have had similar experiences, it may help to share them. Explain that people come in all different shapes and sizes and you love your child no matter what.
2. Don’t make negative comments. Judging your own body or your child’s can result in lasting detrimental effects to your child’s body image and relationship with food. Set a good example for children in the way you talk about your own body as well as others’.

3. Avoid the blame game. Never yell, scream, bribe, threaten or punish children about weight, food or physical activity. If you turn these issues into parent-child battlegrounds, the results can be harmful. Shame, blame and anger are setups for failure. The worse children feel about their weight, the more likely they are to overeat or develop an eating disorder.

4. Focus on health over weight. The key is to consider your child’s overall picture of health, not their weight. Compliment your children on positive changes in lifestyle behaviors, such as choosing to play outside more often than playing video games inside, rather than on the loss of a few pounds.

If Your Child is “Overweight”
Weight loss among children can interfere with their growth and negatively impact their body image and relationship with food, so it’s important to work with your pediatrician and a registered dietitian nutritionist. Choose a few specific changes that you can make in your family’s eating and activity habits, then set realistic goals.
Be mindful that every family is different and change occurs slowly, so be patient and remember there is much more to health than weight.

By: Taylor Wolfram, MS, RDN, LDN

Source: Eatright.org

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