Word: weight
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...national poll from C.S. Mott Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan asked parents to report their oldest child's weight and height and then gauge whether he or she was a healthy size. "About 40% of parents of obese children ages 6 to 11 perceived their children's weight status to be 'about the right weight,'" says Matthew Davis, the University of Michigan pediatrician who directed the poll. A further 8% believed their child was actually underweight. "It's almost as if parents don't know what obese looks like in that school-age group," Davis says...
Adding to the quandary, doctors may be reluctant to raise the issue in the first place. Checkups are typically too brief to allow a doctor to broach the topic tactfully and work out a detailed, practical weight-loss plan. Some doctors fear they will worsen the problem by embarrassing the child and instilling shame instead of empowering him or her to get healthy. And doctors worry about turning off Mom and Dad as well. "Every parent feels guilty that their child has a weight problem," says David Ludwig, the director of the Optimal Weight for Life Program at Children...
...Ludwig reminds parents they are not solely to blame for their child's weight. Many other environmental influences - from fatty school lunches to fast-food ads - are simply outside parents' control. That doesn't mean they can't make a difference at home, though, by getting junk food out of the cupboards, limiting TV time and - most important - being good role models. "The tragedy that so often occurs is that parents, out of fear for their kids' health, make a bad situation worse by using coercive parenting practices," Ludwig says. In his book, Ludwig writes that forcing certain dieting rules...
...reinforcing good habits instead of punishing bad ones. He tells pediatricians to relay a "message of hope" when they talk to families with overweight children. Obesity is not destiny, and in fact, because kids are still growing, they may have an easier time getting back to a healthy weight than adults do. "Most of the time, we're not talking about kids losing weight. Most of the time, we're talking about kids maintaining their weight while their height catches up," says Michigan's Davis...
...decided she had to try something different. Diets hadn't worked, and she wanted Molly - soon to enter the fifth grade - to be able to make good decisions on her own. In June, mother and daughter left their home in Birmingham, Ala., and traveled to Camp Shane, a weight-loss camp for kids age 7 and older in New York's Catskill Mountains. There, in an idyllic rural setting, kids like Molly try out new sports and activities and learn about calories, how to read food labels and, of course, the importance of eating three balanced, portion-controlled meals...