Is Your Child Facing Weight Challenges? 4 Ways to Help at Home
Weight is a concern that people can experience at any age. However, for children, the concern is not only one of physical health, but also healthy self-esteem. Some kids can be mean to others with weight challenges. And no parent wants to know that their kids are being ostracized because of their weight!
If your child is heavier than other children are at their age, your first mission is to reassure your child that they’re just as special as any other child and they’re not loved any less because of their weight.
However, you also want to ensure that your child is physically healthy. Having excess weight is usually an unhealthy state for anyone, and kids who are troubled by excess weight have a higher risk of developing more serious health issues later in life.
Fortunately, due to the high metabolism of growth, children who implement healthier eating habits early can achieve a healthier weight faster than adults can.
Implementing the following tips can effectively help your child win the battle against excess weight:
1. Healthy vs. unhealthy snacks. Even though many unhealthy foods taste better to your child than healthy ones, you can still find healthy snack alternatives that your child will enjoy and benefit from.
Replace fried chips with baked ones.
Avoid snacks with artificial ingredients; only choose snacks with natural ingredients.
Encourage your child to eat veggie bites by allowing them to use their favorite dip in moderation.
Replace sugar-filled sodas and juices with natural alternatives like whole fruit or homemade fruit juices.
2. Schedule meal times. While it may be difficult to control how and what your child eats away from home, you can still have order at home. Schedule meal times for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Allow snacking twice a day in between meals and cut down on any other snack time they’re currently allowed to have.
Eliminate bedtime snacks where possible. However, avoid sending your child to bed hungry.
Sticking to a meal schedule will train your child to be a disciplined eater so daily caloric intake will be consistent.
Even though you’re working at cutting down your child’s weight, feel free to include a treat every now and then so they don’t give in to cravings as easily.
3. Work out together. If your child is facing challenges with weight, sending them to work out on their own might cause them to feel there’s something wrong with them. By working out together, your child will understand that exercise is a healthy part of anyone’s routine, regardless of what your weight is.
4. Encourage video games with exercise themes. Recreation is an important part of any child’s development, so you shouldn’t aim at taking away recreation in exchange for exercise. Instead, try video games that require players to engage in significant physical activity. That way, your child will be participating in healthy recreation!
These techniques are an excellent start to helping your child overcome his or her weight challenge. It’s important that you’re consistent because, if you don’t take this seriously, neither will your child. If you’re consistent, your child will transition well into a healthier lifestyle without feeling pressured.
Perhaps start with one or two of the techniques and eventually move towards accomplishing the entire list. After some time, your child will automatically choose the healthier lifestyle because it has become second nature. Moreover, when they see the marked physical benefits and improvements, they’ll be even more motivated to continue along a healthy path!
