Should You Tell Your Child They're Obese?

By Kai Colvin - Senior Medical Research Editor | April 12th, 2012

To tell or not to tell—that is the question.

The phrase ‘role model’ has come full circle.

Parental silence obliges only to make weight issues distasteful; potentially convicting our children to a long journey of obesity when in all reality parenthood should have no walls.

Adults understand potential weight gain and necessary weight loss, but these issues are not so ostensible to a child.

Deanne Jade, National Center for Eating Disorders Senior Psychologist, believes parents endure heartache and pain watching their children become obese.

In today’s society, the worldly pressures insist that adults critique their lives by failure or success. Children may acknowledge this behavior and incorporate it into their own value system.

Deanne states that “There is no simple answer. Childhood obesity is not simply caused by parents feeding their children junk food.” “As a society, we have to appreciate how hard it is for parents to refuse their child an ice cream if their friends or siblings are having one” Deane added.

Where do I start? How do I introduce obesity support to my own child?

Mary George of B-Eat, an eating disorder support organization, agrees that parents need more provisions to support their own children. “It’s tough love,” she says. “You have to make yourself unpopular. It’s key not to be judgmental but supportive.”

DEFINING THE PROBLEM

Children do not concentrate on the health concerns of being overweight. Children solely focus on being accepted in their small circles of life. Introducing the long-term effects of obesity is like asking a child to do their homework on Saturday morning. You are simply not going to make an impression nor provide motivation to lose weight with a technical approach.

Children need to be involved and valued. Making your child aware that being overweight prevents them from achieving powerful lives will only make way to a larger problem for depression and anxiety.

A long list of issues can arise including insulin resistance, high blood pressure, fatty liver, and a thickening of the left side of the heart.

ROLE MODEL RESOLUTE

Finding a sound resolution to childhood obesity requires a committed exertion. Parents have to be role models—supportive adults who will not only guide their children but pave the way for other parents who are struggling to reach a positive stand against this devastating condition.

The maker of the Lap-Band System — a popular alternative to gastric bypass — is seeking authorization from the Food and Drug Administration for pediatric use.

Like a tiny inner tube around a balloon, the Lap-Band cinches the top part of the stomach so it cannot hold as much food in one feeding. Gastric bypass surgery also decreases stomach capacity, and detours food around the first part of the small intestine so less will be absorbed.

Obesity can have serious consequences. Children outgrow their clothes, shoes, beds… but they will not out-grow obesity. Childhood obesity is a treatable condition, treat is as such. Above anything else, consistently model what you wish your child to witness in their eating habits, exercise and life-style.

Parenthood has no walls. Talk to your children openly and honestly.

To learn more about obesity, find a bariatric surgeon in your area.