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Very Overweight Children: Advice for Parents

Last updated on September 12th, 2016 at 03:59 pm

If your child is very overweight, there’s lots you can do to help them become a healthy size as they grow.

advice for very overweight childrenIf your child is very overweight, there’s lots you can do to help them become a healthy weight as they grow.

Very overweight children tend to grow up to be very overweight adults, which can lead to health problems such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers.

Research shows that children who achieve a healthy weight tend to be fitter, healthier, better able to learn and are more self-confident.

They’re also less likely to have low self esteem and be bullied.

As a parent, there’s lots you can do to help your child become a healthier weight. Getting them to be more active and eat well is important.

Here’s practical advice to help you.

Listen to your child’s concern about their weight. Overweight children often know they have a weight problem and they need to feel supported and in control of their weight. Let them know that you love them, whatever their weight, and that all you want is for them to be healthy and happy.

Steps for Success

Here are five key ways to help your child achieve a healthy weight. You can read this whole page or click on the links below to go directly to the topic you want to know about:

If your child has a medical condition then the advice in this article may not be relevant and you should check first with their GP (*pediatrician) or hospital doctor.

Be a Good Role Model

One of the best ways to instill good habits in your child is to be a good role model. Children learn by example. One of the most powerful ways to encourage your child to be active and eat well is to do so yourself.

Set a good example by going for a walk or bike ride instead of watching TV, or surfing the internet. Playing in the park or swimming with your children shows them that being active is fun.

  • Any changes you make to your child’s diet and lifestyle are much more likely to be accepted if the changes are small and involve the whole family. Here are 10 ways to get healthy as a family.
  • If you’re not sure what activities you’d like to try as a family, use this What’s your sport? tool to find out what you’re best suited to.

Get Active

Very overweight children don’t need to do more exercise than slimmer children. Their extra body weight means they will naturally burn more calories for the same activity.

All children need about 60 minutes of physical activity a day for good health, but it doesn’t need to be all at once. Several short 10-minute or even 5-minute bursts of activity throughout the day can be just as good as an hour-long stretch.

For younger children, it can take the form of active play, such as ball games, chasing games like “it” and “tag”, riding a scooter, and using playground swings, climbing frames and see-saws.

For older children it could include riding a bike, skateboarding, walking to school, skipping, swimming, dancing and martial arts.

If your child isn’t used to being active, encourage them to start with what they can do and build up to 60 minutes a day. They’re more likely to stick to their new activity levels if you let them choose the type of activity they’re comfortable with.

Walking or cycling short distances instead of using the car or bus is a great way to be active together as a family – and you’ll save money too.

Child-size Portions

Try to avoid feeding your child large portions.

A good rule of thumb is to start meals with small servings and let your child ask for more if they are still hungry.

Try not to make your child finish everything on the plate or eat more than they want to. And avoid using adult-size plates for younger children as it encourages them to eat oversized portions.

Beware of high-calorie foods. Calories are a measure of the energy in food and knowing how many calories your child consumes each day and balancing that with the amount of energy they use up in activity will help them reach and stay at a healthy weight.

Eat Healthy Meals

Children, just like adults, should aim to eat five or more portions of fruit and vegetables everyday. They’re a great source of vitamins, minerals and fibre.

Getting 5 A DAY shouldn’t be too difficult. Almost all fruit and vegetables count towards your child’s 5 A DAY including fresh, tinned, frozen and dried. Juices, smoothies, beans and pulses also count.

Discourage your child from having too many sugary or high-fat foods like sweets, cakes, biscuits, some sugary cereals and soft drinks. These foods and drinks tend to be high in calories and low in nutrients.

Aim for your child to get most of their calories from healthier foods such as fruit and vegetables, and starchy foods like bread, potatoes, pasta and rice (preferably wholemeal). And switch sweet drinks for water.

Less Screen Time and More Sleep!

Help your children to avoid sitting and lying around too much, as it makes it more likely for them to put on weight.

Limit the amount of time your child spends on inactive pastimes such as watching television, playing video games and playing on electronic devices.

There’s no hard and fast advice on how much is too much, but experts advise that children should watch no more than two hours of television each day – and remove all screens (including mobile phones) from their bedroom at night.

It also helps children stay trim if they sleep well. It’s been shown that children who don’t have the recommended amount of sleep are more likely to be overweight. The less children sleep, the greater the risk of them becoming obese. Lack of sleep can also affect their mood and behaviour.

Getting Support

If you’ve received a letter about your child’s weight after they were measured in school you can use the contact number on the letter to speak to a health worker and get more information about what you can do and what support is available in your area (*UK-specific advice).

Your GP (*pediatrician) or practice nurse can give you further advice.

They may also be able to refer you to a local weight management programme for children, such as those run by the Weight Management Centre, MEND and More Life.

These programmes are often free to attend through your local health authority (*in the UK), and typically involve a series of weekly group workshop sessions with other parents and their children.

At these workshops you’ll learn more about the diet and lifestyle changes that can help your child to achieve a healthy weight.

Editor’s Note: *clarification provided for our US readers.





 

September 7, 2016 | Filed Under Community | Leave a Comment 

Ways to Track and Boost Your Baby’s Developing Vision

Last updated on September 12th, 2016 at 04:02 pm

Baby with GlassesOne of the many things new parents of an infant struggle with is an inability to communicate with their new little bundle of joy, especially on a verbal level. When they cry, are they hungry, need a diaper change or is there a realistic medical problem happening with their health and welfare that needs our immediate attention … sometimes it’s difficult to tell.

When it comes to their irreplaceable eyesight, monitoring these formidable years are vital when it comes to recognizing possible vision development problems that could affect them in the future. With a myriad of different types of diseases, conditions and terms to deal with when it comes to their valuable vision, it’s almost always difficult for parents to know where to start with this important process.

Early AOA Recommendations

The renowned American Optometric Association (AOA) is all too happy to guide parents on this important pathway. They offer valuable advice on developmental processes and better vision for growing eyes, from birth to the toddler stage. After they’re born, although their environment is full of visual stimulation, infants have not yet developed the ability to recognize two objects at once.

Their primary focus is on something 8 to 10 inches from their face, which is usually mirrored by their parent’s face in front of their own. After a couple of months, they should start tracking objects, but don’t be overly concerned if they have difficulty focusing, their eyes appear crossed or seem to wander since this is completely normal at this stage.

Five, Six, Seven, Eight – Is Everything Going Great?

After three or four months of age, babies should start to track objects and reach for them with their hands. The perception of color should start developing further now and although it’s not as advanced as their older parent’s eyes, there’s still a general consensus that these tots start to disseminate different shades, colors and start to develop better depth perception. To help boost their perception skills, at this age, parents should:

  • Give them plenty of toys, blocks and other objects for them to grasp
  • Play patty-cake and other games that use eye-hand coordination
  • Make sure they have time to explore by letting them crawl around frequently

Nine and Ten – Let’s Do It Again – Getting To Year One

Baby with remoteAt nine months, babies will start to pull themselves up and while they’re continuing to approach their first birthday, they should be grabbing and grasping objects firmly. Once they’ve reached twelve months of age, they should be walking, but also encouraged to continue to crawl to heighten their depth perception and advance coordination skills. More ways to improve their developing vision during this time is to:

  • Play hide-and-seek with their playthings
  • Encourage them to continue crawling and entice them to go further distances
  • Name toys and objects to begin developing word association with vision

One Or Two – Before We Buckle A Shoe

There are still a few years before we begin teaching advanced techniques like tying shoelaces, but this time is when toddlers should be developing much better eye-hand coordination techniques. Rolling a ball to them and expecting the same in return for example. They’ll probably start throwing things on their own at this point without our help. Look for better aim as they continue to develop and participate with this process. To continue enhancing their visual skills, parents should:

  • Roll a ball back and forth to them
  • Read to them and show them pictures in the book
  • Give them balls, blocks and puzzle games to play with

If you believe your child may have possible or potential vision problems, take them to see an eye care professional as soon as possible. Eye exams are recommended initially at birth, at six months and then not again until they’re three years of age. But these rules aren’t set in stone and the majority of eyesight issues can be corrected, especially when caught early.

August 26, 2016 | Filed Under Community | Leave a Comment 

Video: Dealing with Burns and Scalds in Young Children

Last updated on August 22nd, 2016 at 04:31 pm

In this short video, health visitor Melissa Green talks about the things you can do to deal with burns and scalds.

https://youtu.be/qDM1HeJ8Mk4

Editor’s Note: Video Highlights

  • Children’s skin is much thinner than adult skin, so it’s very important to treat their burns and scalds quickly for the best chance of healing
  • Most important is to run cold water over the burn for no more than 10 minutes
  • Water should be cold, but not ice-cold
  • The next step is to place something clean over your child’s burn to protect from risk of infection – like cling film or a clean linen tea towel
  • If your child has something stuck to their burn, don’t try to remove it – leave it there and go to the hospital for treatment
  • risk of burns and scaldsAlso don’t put anything on the burn, such as creams or lotions
  • If your child has a burn larger than a postage stamp, take them to get medical advice from the hospital
  • If your child complains of pain after their burn, you can give them something like paracetamol (acetaminophen) or ibuprofen – don’t give them any aspirin
  • If the burn has a blister, don’t tamper with it – it should be left to burst naturally
  • Blisters that have burst may be raw and need a dressing – you may want to see your doctor or nurse for this





August 10, 2016 | Filed Under Community | Leave a Comment 

An Online Physical Education Course…No Kidding!

Last updated on August 10th, 2016 at 05:13 pm

As strange as this sounds, I’m not joking when I say that my 14 year-old son just completed his ninth grade Physical Education course….online!

Our state of Indiana requires two Physical Education credits for a High School diploma – PE 1 and PE 2 (normally taken in 9th and 10th grade, respectively). However, many incoming students who wish to participate in certain extracurricular activities are allowed to take PE 1 over the summer before ninth grade, as an online course.

Online-phys-ed-courseThis allows greater time in their schedule during the school year for their activities and, thankfully, this exemption is reserved for kids who are doing athletic-like activities. A large number of the students who do the online course are in the Marching Band, like my son. And after a summer of long practice days, I can attest that this is a very physically-demanding pursuit – especially when playing a large instrument, like the baritone saxophone.

But still….online Phys Ed?? Come on??!

Online Course Challenges

Everyone I’ve mentioned this to has had the same – “I don’t believe you..that’s crazy!” – reaction. And after having gone through the process, I tend to agree. Here’s why…

The content of the online course seemed sensible and useful to me – covering aspects of weight management, cardiovascular fitness, nutrition, flexibility and preventing injuries, and fitness plans. But a key aim of the course – based on the academic standards – appeared to be promoting fitness and physical activity to the kids throughout their life. Sorry, but I just don’t think an online phys ed class is likely to achieve this.

There were weekly physical activity logs the kids had to submit. Did they get out and shoot hoops or play tag or go to a dance class? They needed to do an hour a day for at least 3 days each week to meet the course requirements. But how can anyone really know they did it? They could have been couch potatoes lifting snacks to their mouths and calling them arm curls…. And they missed out on trying new types of activities or getting better at ones they may have only just started in middle school.

Information Not Enough for Healthy Behaviors

But more than that, my concern about this online approach to Physical Education is that it seems to imply that all people need to change their behavior and set them on a path to lifetime fitness success… is information. My recent public health studies (along with a lifetime of my own challenges) have shown this is not the case. There are many guiding theories and frameworks in health promotion that show how what we do regarding our health – like how active we are or how healthy we eat – is influenced by many factors, including our beliefs about the importance of these actions, our self-confidence in doing these actions well, the barriers we encounter around us, how our role models think and behave, and what our “circle” or society expects of us. For example, if in a certain culture playing tennis is considered “unmanly” – and a boy’s circle of friends all aspire to manly activities – then reading that tennis is a good lifelong physical activity probably won’t induce him to pick up a racquet.  On the other hand, my husband and I had great success getting our young (Star Wars-crazy) son to eat flank steak for the first time when we told him it was Luke Skywalkers’ favorite meat!

The course was clearly trying to influence student behavior, since a parent survey near the end of the course asked if your child had changed their eating or exercise habits. But, since most of the online course was geared toward learning information, doing small research exercises and writing quizzes, there really weren’t great opportunities to impact the other behavior influences – such as peer pressure and role modeling.  These are probably best done through conversation and interaction. Some online courses can have these elements. I took one in my public health program which required a lot of online forum work involving all the students in the class – but this took a lot of time and effort, which most teens are unlikely to commit to for a summer phys ed course!

Why the Concern?

In the end I’m glad my son will have a lighter load in ninth grade and I know he will continue to get lots of physical activity in the fall through Marching Band. But I also believe that Physical Education should be taught in schools – and is there for an important reason:  as a recent study (discussed in this New York Times article) has shown, physical activity (especially aerobic activity) is one of the most critical factors for a long and healthy life. If we think Phys Ed is needed, we shouldn’t kid ourselves that children are getting the desired benefits when we sub-optimize the teaching method. So, in the end, it’s once again up to parents to ensure that our kids are well set for a lifetime of healthy exercise habits – and we should try to address the behavior change drivers beyond information.

August 5, 2016 | Filed Under Community | 1 Comment 

Two Minutes until Tantrum: Kids, Technology and Transitions

Last updated on August 5th, 2016 at 01:35 pm

If you are like most parents today, a common refrain you find yourself saying is something like this, “two more minutes and iPad time is over.” We parents give these kinds of warnings frequently—for time on the playground, for time to get ready for school, etc. We think they are helpful because they give the child some warning that a transition is about to happen.

Technology-transitions-and-toddlersWell, it turns out, that in the case of technology and preschoolers, these warnings of the end of tech time, may actually make matters worse. A recent study examined just this issue to see if the “two-minute warning” helped or hindered kids’ transition to another activity.

The study was small (28 families) but it considered quite a lot of detail of how families of toddlers and preschools managed screen time (including TV, iPad, phones, tablets). One notable finding was that families reported that the majority of the time (59%) transitions away from technology actually went quite well, with the child responding in a neutral way. Parents reported that about 22% of the time, children had a negative reaction to the end of screen time.

The research clearly showed, however, that these negative reactions occurred most commonly when the parent gave the “two-minute warning” regarding the end of screen time. The researchers examined the data many ways and controlled for other factors and this finding still held true.

Interestingly, when the end of screen time was part of a regular routine, it was met with less resistance from the child.  For example, if the child knows that the iPad always goes off once breakfast is ready, then they were much less likely to resist this transition. This information is very helpful as a parent. We all know that kids usually respond best and thrive in the context of routines. It turns out that routines regarding the use of technology seem to work best as well.

The other situation in which children resisted the end of screen time least was when it was in the content of a natural end or transition in the video or game they were using. So, for instance, if screen time was stopped at the end of a TV show or after the finishing of a game, children tended to respond much more positively.  This is also informative for both parents and technology developers. If parents can time the end of screen time at a natural stopping point, transitions will likely go much smoother. Similarly, if technology developers could add features to allow parental control options to time at the end of a show or game, this could turn out to be a very useful feature.

In the end, children in the toddler and preschool age often struggle with transitions of many types. They are at an age, when their burgeoning independence is developing and they have limited self-control. As a parent, this is difficult at times, but it’s helpful to know that routines, in many forms, can help ease the struggle. Kids of all ages have to learn when and where it is appropriate to use technology and routines can help with this learning process. Just as children eventually learn to eat with utensils, not to put their feet on the table, and all number of other household rules, they will eventually learn (with parents’ help) the guidelines for your household’s technology use as well.

See the full study here:

http://media.wix.com/ugd/a0f093_d8ef5b72642c43279e3a2bc09187bd5b.pdf

July 29, 2016 | Filed Under Community | Leave a Comment 

A Perfect Picnic for Family Health and Fun

Last updated on July 11th, 2016 at 12:27 am

Picnics are a great British tradition and a good way for you and your family to eat a healthy meal together.

If you combine a picnic with some physical activity – such as games or a brisk walk – you can have a healthy and fun day out that doesn’t have to cost much.

perfect-picnics-for-family-healthYour Picnic Basket

So, what’s going in your picnic basket?

Start with foods that contain carbohydrates (carbs), as these are an important source of energy. Foods that have carbs include breads, pasta and potatoes.

Choose wholegrain or wholemeal varieties where possible. For example, try wholegrain bread for your sandwiches. A wholemeal pasta salad also works well in a picnic.

Next, think about including protein, which is not only filling but helps to promote growth and repair in our bodies. Protein can come from lean meat in sandwiches, such as turkey or chicken breast, as well as from beans and pulses in salads.

Don’t forget to bring plenty to drink. Take a flask of water or 100% fruit juice without added sugar, instead of a bottle of sugary, high-calorie fizzy drinks.

Find out more about healthy eating.

Get Your 5 A DAY

A picnic is a great chance for the whole family to hit their 5 A DAY fruit and veg target.

Try a multicoloured salad with peppers, tomato, cucumber, carrot and lettuce.

Swap sugary and high-calorie treats, such as chocolate and cakes, for a fruit salad. Also, why not pack a piece of fruit for each member of the family to eat while on the move?

Fruit juice also counts towards your 5 A DAY, but it only counts as one portion no matter how much you drink. Fruit juice can be high in sugar, so look out for the ones without added sugar.

Get more 5 A DAY ideas in 5 A DAY and your family.

Get Active

Once you’re outside, use the opportunity to get active. Physical activity is important for the health of children and adults, and is a great way to spend time together.

A picnic is always welcome after a brisk walk, bike ride or energetic ball game.

When lunch is over, try playing a gentle game of frisbee or badminton.

Anything that raises your heart rate counts. It could be something as simple as a game of tag.

Find more ideas for getting active with your kids.

Stay Sun Safe

Remember to protect yourself and the children from the sun while you’re outside.

Use a sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 15. Learn more about sun protection.

Bites and Stings

Don’t let wasps or midges ruin your day out. Make sure you pack the insect repellent and cover up if necessary.

Find out what the 10 UK insects that bite or sting are. If you or someone else gets bitten or stung, find out how to treat insect bites and stings.

 





 

July 6, 2016 | Filed Under Community | Leave a Comment 

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