From Amy, Child's Age 18 - 03/28/01Click here to reply
I read the message put on by the person who had the research thing to do. I do agree that just because you loose weight will not help the teasing at school. I have done a lot of research on weight problems. I have found web sites that say it is O.K to be over weight or "pleasntly Plump" as they like to call it. I am happy that people can learn to love their body no matter what. But the fact is that this is not a healthy way to live. Your child may be O.K now. Most of your problems are clothes, teasing, and friends. When their bodies are done growing at 17 or 18 the real adult problems set in. I was overweight my whole childhood till I started getting sick a lot. A doctor said "you know, a 5 lb. loss would help" That 5 turned into 25. I am hardly Kate Moss, but I am happier, healthly, and I sleep better, and have more energy. please, don't over look this problem. There is nothing wrong with saying your child has a problem with something. This is not a physical issue, this is also a pschological issue with children. And when they loss some weight, they will know they can do anything they want in life if they beat the hardest battle. Being over-weight
Reply from Sue, Child's Age 12 - 04/01/01 Amy, I totally agree with you. Like you say, we are all different sizes and no one is saying we have to be skinny. It is about healthy eating, education and knowledge, knowing what is good and bad for our bodies. My daughter is just 12 and in January she weighed 120 pounds, not drastically overweight but I could see that she was less fit than a lot of her friends and I had trouble finding clothes that would fit her. Well after 3 months of healthy eating she is now down to 99 pounds, which is about right for her height - 4 foot 10. She certainly isn't skinny and doesn't want to be, but she is a lot healthier and fitter than she was and hopefully we can maintain these good eating habits. Had she carried on as she was i.e. eating lots of fast food, chocolate etc then she would probably have just carried on gaining weight. As a parent it was my responsibility to gently steer her in the right direction, give her good advice and help her. It was actually very easy because she wanted to do it as well. I guess the problems come when a child just doesn't want to lose the weight. In the back of my mind was the thought of her coming to me when she was grown up and very overweight and saying: 'You could see I was getting bigger and you did nothing'.
