Parenting Your Overweight Teen and Improving Their Self Esteem
Teaching teens
the importance of proper eating habits, nutrition, and physical activity is the
first step in addressing the overweight problem.By helping them
become more selective with the types of food that they consume, and increasing
the amount of physical activity that they accomplish, it will only produce
positive results.
However, it
should be stressed that formal dieting, especially giving your child a severely
restricted diet, should only be attempted with medical approval and the
appropriate nutritional supervision.
Many pediatricians believe the best course is to hold an overweight
child’s weight at a steady level, and avoid losing large amounts of weight at a
time. When their height is at a healthier proportion to their weight, then a
dietary regime may be started.
The following 4
steps will help to facilitate healthier eating habits, and increase the amount
of physical activity your teen does.
1. Assessing the Health of Your Child
Before you make
any personal or environmental changes in your teen’s life, take a few minutes
to survey what your home life is like.
Do you allow them to lead a sedentary lifestyle? Are they given plenty
of chances to over eat at any time? If
they are, it's important that you introduce changes in to these areas of their
life gradually.
First, look at
just how many hours your teen spends either watching TV, or sitting at their
computer. A teen can spend up to 24
hours a week watching TV. Log any time
that they spend doing either, watching TV or on the computer, and try to reduce
this by half.
When you have
meals, does your family gather around a table, or do you eat most of your meals
sitting in front of the TV or computer?
Make it a family rule that, all food (including snacks) will be eaten in
the kitchen or in the dining room at a table.
This one small change has been shown to significantly reduce the amount
of over eating that takes place at home.
Next, you will
need to take a close look at your fridge and pantry. Which foods do you have that you are most
likely to eat when hunger hits? If the
foods are high in fat, sweetened or low in nutritional value, then find
healthier alternatives, such as fresh fruit and vegetables.
2. Do Not Shame your Child into Losing Weight
Neither adults
nor children can be shamed into losing weight, and an overweight teen will know
that they weigh too much. What a teen
doesn't know, is how they can achieve a normal weight, as well as increase
their self esteem. Teens like to know
that their parents love them unconditionally, whether they are fat, thin or
normal.
For any parent,
mastering the fine art of loving your child just the way they are, while
helping them to achieve a healthier body can be difficult. Any parent must learn to “give time” and
believe that the lessons we teach, will one day come to fruition.
This means we
can teach our youngsters to visualize a healthy meal, one that is half salad or
vegetables, a quarter starches and the remainder protein such as fish, meat,
poultry or soy. But you also know that
at some point, they will sneak either sweets or cookies, and upset the balance
that you have achieved.
A parent can
persist in teaching their teens to see their plate before any food is put on
it. This is helpful, as it creates a sense of portion control that is helpful
when the parent is not around. This portion control can also be practiced when
visiting a restaurant as well.
3. Physical Activity as a Family
Physical
activity should be practiced several times a week. The recommended amount of
physical activity for an adult is 30 minutes. For children it's 60 minutes.
However, if you are trying to lose weight, more physical activity may be
necessary.
A great way of
breaking the pattern is to arrange activities that involve plenty of movement
for the whole family. These types of activities burn calories, and serve as a
setting for parent and child communication.
It is especially important in a teen's life, since opportunities to
interact with your teen are at a premium.
There is little
or no financial cost involved in going for a walk or a bike ride. Many
communities now have swimming pools which do not cost to much to use. Just taking the family dog for a walk in the
evening will help to increase the family’s metabolism.
4. How to encourage the right sort of behavior in your teen
The best way to
help an overweight or obese teen is through your own behavior. Too often, teens will do as an adult does,
rather than what we tell them.
No parent can
ask their child to turn off the TV when they are watching it in another room,
or to stop using the computer when they are spending hours themselves surfing
the net. Nor should they restrict the
portions of food they eat, when they do not watch what they are eating. Why would any child want to drink water or
munch on fruit or vegetables, when they see the adults around them drinking
sugar laden soda or having a bag of potato chips?
When looking to
lead a healthier life style, it should be done one day at a time, and the end
result will be well worth the effort.
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