Obesity is an epidemic that affects all social levels and age groups, including children. Obesity can stem from serious health complications, such as strokes or heart attacks, diabetes, cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Obesity strikes on a larger scale because weight-related health problems can rack up sky-high bills.
It is worrying that today the rate of childhood obesity continues to increase globally. Approximately 43 million preschool children worldwide in 2010 were overweight or obese. In addition to this, children’s life experiences such as sleeping too little, not breastfeeding, and watching too much television can lead to a higher risk of obesity later in life. For that reason, early child care providers must play a role in staving off the obesity epidemic.
Early childhood is a crucial period for the prevention of obesity. During this period, children establish taste preferences, learn to talk and walk, and enthusiastically imitate the healthy and unhealthy habits of the people around them, particularly their caregivers. Although there are many factors that play a major role in causing childhood obesity, including genetics, there are ways you can help improve this situation.
1. Avoid the large portions often served in restaurants, as they are a major contributor to childhood obesity. Give your kids the right amount of home-cooked meals that are often healthier than restaurant meals, and avoid giving them sugary drinks. Instead, help your children consume more water or organic juices.
2. Teach your children to have a positive image of themselves. You should focus on the positive aspects of the child, not the negatives. It was found that children who have a poor self-image are more likely to develop obesity.
3. Avoid rewarding children with sweets. You need to find better ways to reward your children for their good behavior. Several healthier ideas for doing so include taking them on a trip, to see their favorite movie, to see a sports team, or to buy a new book.
4. Encourage children to actively participate in various school and recreational activities. Early start of school activities, including swimming, baseball, basketball, or softball, if possible, is required.
5. Limit the amount of time your children spend playing video games, watching TV, or surfing the Internet. An hour or less per day is enough to do all of these things. Allow your children’s free time to be devoted to healthier activities, such as helping with the housework or playing outside and riding bikes with their friends.
6. Support school feeding programs, so that their children can have healthier food options. For example, you can suggest to school administrators that they buy healthy vending machines that carry only water, healthy snacks, fruit juices, fresh fruits and vegetables.
7. Develop healthy daily meals and snacks. It is important to make a wide variety of healthy foods available according to the Food Pyramid rule for toddlers.
8. Practice a healthy lifestyle. If you want to encourage your child to eat a healthy diet and stay active, you need to set the same example. Remember that children tend to learn all behaviors from their parents, including healthy ones.
After all, for most children, childhood obesity is the result of too many calories in food and too little physical activity. Because these habits develop in early childhood, attempts to prevent obesity in children must begin early. However, for most very young children, their focus is on maintaining their current weight, while toddlers can grow normally in height.
