[kiran_patil]

Yesterday i visited my aunt who has a 10 years son.....i last saw him 2 years ago and he was perfect in shape according to his age...but after 2 years he has put on a lot of weight....my aunt was complaing that he doesnt listen to much and eats a lot of junk food...so how can my aunt persuade him to loose weight...plsss help

[jayant]

Take walks with your child after meals
Take up sports which the whole family can do
Teach kids how to swim and ride bikes at an early age
Don't encourage kids to watch TV and limit computer time

Here are some tips for parents whose child are overweight:-
1.Don't forbid any foods, simply limit them. If your kids want to go to McDonalds occasionally, fine. Just don't make it a regular occurrence.
2.Don't force your child to eat if they are not hungry. Children's appetite vary and often during a "growing spurt" they lose their appetite. Don't worry when this happens, as soon as their growing spurt is over you will find they eat extra to make up.
3.Encourage them to snack on healthy carbs like whole grain cereals with low-fat milk, whole grain bread with a light spread of peanut butter and jelly, or fruit spread or fruit breads.
4.Encourage them to eat fresh fruit regularly(keep it on our dining table or on your fridge).
5. Make salads more interesting by adding fruits like grapes, sections of mandarin orange, chunks of pineapple, sliced peaches.

[Samual]

Your Aunt needs to practice what she preaches, encouraging her son to be more active and to eat less junk will be useless unless she follows it herself. I'm not keen on bribery but I do use it for a few things, my brother was quite chubby as a teen and he really wanted a new bicycle, so for a certain amount of weight loss he earned a new part of his bike, the front wheel for example.

[alexis12345]

Healthy habits are developed when the child is young. Teach your child as soon as possible how to live a healthy life.

[RyanDaniels]

Remember that kids are influenced heavily by your actions and belief system. If they see healthy habits reflected in your daily activities, then they are more likely to make a mental note to be sensitive to it.

[karenfjensen]

When I noticed that my 10 and 12 year old daughters were becoming overweight, I was really disappointed in myself, not just as a parent, but as a Registered Dietitian. I turned these concerns into a family project. We had been considering a trip to the grand canyon, so I discussed with them the rigors of hiking partway into the canyon and explained that we would need to train for this or we would be a bunch of limp noodle tourists collapsed at the rim. We started by going to the forest preserve each weekend and walking a couple of miles. We tried different trails to keep it interesting. By the time we went to the canyon, we had logged nearly 100 miles and we made it two miles into the canyon and two miles straight back up. It doesn't sound like much, but we were very proud.
Of course, not everyone can drop everything and go to the Grand Canyon. However, there are a lot of short 3,4 and 5 K walks and runs across the country. I found that asking the kids to help me get in shape was much more effective than telling them that it was time for them to get in shape.
Start with walks around the neighborhood and work up to longer walks on trails. It's tough to get started, but once you do, the behaviors will become part of your lifestyle.