Word: fats
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...stickiness of the childhood-obesity problem begins with a simple truth: most of us just don't think our kids are fat. It's right there in the stats; one study found that only 36% of parents of overweight or obese children ages 2 to 17 identified them as such. An Australian group found that only 11% of parents of overweight 5- and 6-year-olds and 37% of parents of overweight 10-to-12-year-olds were aware that their children had a weight problem. And a 2005 British study found that fewer than 2% of parents of overweight...
Part of this blindness may come from parents' not really believing that kids--especially very young kids, swaddled in no-longer-quite-so-delicious layers of baby fat--can actually be obese. Part of it may have to do with our fears about using such pejorative terms about our children, especially if they were once hurled at us by playground bullies. And part of it may be that, in a society in which obesity is omnipresent, a slightly hefty child looks pretty normal, relatively speaking, says psychologist Susan Carnell, the lead researcher for the British study on parental perceptions...
...nutritionist and family therapist Ellyn Satter of Madison, Wis., considered by many a pioneer in the field of child feeding: "Even the most conventional people will say, 'Don't put kids on diets,' but then they'll go on to talk about how you should reduce their sugar or fat intake. There's an awful lot of dieting in disguise...
Then too there are the messages kids are bombarded with from well-meaning strangers ("Oh, he's a chunky one, isn't he?") and critical relatives ("Ah, she's going to grow up to be just like fat Aunt Sue!"). Schoolmates--at least those not yet claimed by the obesity epidemic themselves--may soon join in the chorus. All of this can hit a child's still developing ego hard. On the whole, overweight children are more likely than healthy-weight kids to be anxious, unhappy and depressed. The science is mixed on which kids suffer the most. One study...
...foods served or the time allotted for TV viewing should be made "at the family-wide level," Lowry says. "This will prevent the overweight child from feeling targeted." And new self-esteem standards should be applied to the whole household too. If you're walking around commenting on how fat your butt looks in your new jeans, not only is your daughter going to hear you, but she may also begin making generalizations about how she looks...