Parents Might Underestimate Their Child’s Obesity

Your child isn’t obese, right? It’s just “baby weight” that will go away on its own. He’s big for his age, just like his dad was. She has inherited the big bones that run in the family. But, your child certainly couldn’t be obese. Are you sure? A study shows that parents can underestimate their child’s obesity. A study was published in the British Journal of General Practice in April of 2015. It was called “Child obesity cut-offs as derived from parental perceptions: cross-sectional questionnaire”. The purpose was to compare parental perception of their child’s weight with objectively derived assessment … Continue reading

Vermont has the Healthiest Kids

We all want our kids to be healthy! It appears that the state of Vermont is doing very well towards making that hope a reality. Data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control about the Green Mountain State shows that Vermont has the healthiest kids in America. How does what Vermont is doing compare to your state? The Centers for Disease Control’s Data Resource Center released a survey called The National Survey of Children’s Health. It took the results of the survey and presented them in a way that made it more accessible to parents (as well as other researchers … Continue reading

Study Connects Allergies to Bullying

Two recently published studies connect bullying to things that parents might not immediately think would make a child a target for a bully. The studies found that kids with food allergies, and kids who are overweight, are especially likely to get bullied. You might want to talk with your kids to see if this is something they are experiencing at school. Much has been said of the negative impact that bullies have on the peers that they target. It happens at school, on the playground, and across the internet. Sadly, there have been several stories in the news about teens … Continue reading

Special Needs Children and Obesity

I have heard a lot of talk about obesity in children. Advice to prevent that ranges from “feed your child better foods” to “turn off the video games”. Parents of kids who have certain special needs require more tools than those pieces of advice. Your child’s medications could be affecting his or her weight. Kids that are extremely overweight, or obese, face certain health risks. They may develop insulin resistance, hypertension, or type 2 diabetes. These kids could be experiencing sleep apnea, which means that they are unable to get restful sleep. Some children who are overweight will begin puberty … Continue reading

Ways it Get Children Involved in Nutrition

To get your child involved in nutrition and a healthy lifestyle it needs to be relevant to their lives and made to be something important. Children are egocentric and if they think a topic has no place in their lives then getting them to make life long changes will not happen. Since children are driven by wants it will be hard to break the sugar habit if they do not understand the reason why. They also need mentoring and examples to help make any lifestyle changes occur. Here are ways to get your child to take nutrition and healthy eating … Continue reading

A Whopping 25% of Children on Diets in America!

Research on the subject of children dieting was found on an unlikely source, a coupon code site. Apparently, a trend had been noticed and www.CouponCodes4U.com, polled Americans to get their input on Halloween candy. To their surprise they found that 19% of parents did not allow their children to go “trick or treating” due to the amount of candy they would consume. The poll also revealed that 26% of children under the age of 12 were on diets. Now you may ask just how many people responded to this poll on this coupon site. That is a valid question and … Continue reading

Fat Babies = Unfit Adults

According to a new study, infants who gain too much weight as babies are more likely to grow into obese toddlers, and later, obese adults. The research was conducted by doctors at Harvard University and Children’s Hospital-Boston and concluded that early eating and exercise habits are extremely important in shaping healthy adults. The study found that parents need to watch for cues from their children about when they are full, encourage them to drink plenty of water, and have them participate in activities that promote movement. The Harvard researchers noted that obesity rates among U.S. children have doubled in the … Continue reading

Prospective Parents Health: Possible Impacts on International Adoption

My last blog began to address a reader’s questions about whether health conditions would disqualify someone from adopting. In that blog I talked about possible impacts on domestic infant adoption and adoption from state foster care. This blog will talk about possible impacts a health condition could have in pursuing international adoption. For international adoption, someone with a serious health issue may very well be disqualified by certain countries. Other countries can set their own standards on who is eligible to adopt. They often do not have the same anti-discrimination laws we do. Various countries have set conditions that their … Continue reading

How to Get Your Kids in Shape

In a previous blog I detailed Olympic gold medallist Michael Phelps’ efforts to motivate kids to get moving. As part of his new mission to get kids interested in physical activity the swimming super star is making trips to community pools around the nation to highlight the value of fitness. Of course, the 23-year-old swimming phenom won’t be visiting every public pool in the United States so if you want to get your children off the couch and outside to burn off calories then you’re going to have to do some of the work yourself. This might be especially challenging … Continue reading

New Exercise Program for Kids

My daughter was a chunk of a baby. (See for yourself.) But she has since shed her baby fat and grown into a perfectly sized preschooler, who can outrun all the girls and all but one boy on her soccer team. When I watch her sprint after the ball I often reminisce about her former Michelin Man legs. Man, was she chubby (though, very healthy, according to her doctor). I’m not afraid to speak about my child’s hefty beginnings, but perhaps I should since these days the tide seems to be turning against baby fat. In a recent article published … Continue reading