Helping your child lose weight around his or her midsection is just as challenging, if not more so, than doing it for yourself. As parents or guardians, we have to remember that we need to create the right atmosphere, be a proper role model, and incorporate fun when teaching our kids how to be healthier and more active. Without these components, we cannot successfully help them. Get involved in your child's physical activity and eating habits. Help them develop a holistic view of health instead so they don't focus on numbers on a scale, which most kids shouldn't be worried about.
Plan and Action
Step 1
Sit down with a pencil and paper. Planning will create a much greater chance for success. Write down what you can do as a family to increase your daily physical activity and what you can do to create healthier eating habits. For example, you could plan to go for family bike rides 3 days per week and only eat out once per month.
Step 2
Post the plan on the fridge so everyone in the family can see it each day. Children respond to role models and the actions of those closest to them. If their family, friends and relatives are becoming more active and eating healthier, they are more likely to do the same.
Step 3
Be a support network for each other as you implement your plan. There will be days where you and your child may not feel like being active. Help each other. Encourage each other. By showing you as the parent are going to do it, your child will tend to follow suit.
Step 4
Maintain a healthy environment. Eating healthy and being active as a family will create physical and emotional changes not only in your child, but everyone else in the family as well. Eating healthy and being physically active promotes increased energy, decreases risk of disease, strengthens the immune system, and more. As a parent, you inevitably decide what foods come into the house. This will have a big impact on your child's weight, mood and energy levels.
Tips and Warnings
- Have fun. Choose options that you and child enjoy. Try new recipes. Involve your child in the cooking of meals and snacks.
- As a parent, do not pressure your child into being active and eating healthy. Educate yourself and your child about the benefits, the options, and the outcomes of activity and proper nutrition.
Things You'll Need
- Paper
- Pencil
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