Desperate Housewives tackle childhood obesity

Kudos to Desperate Housewives for introducing a storyline about the struggles of having an overweight child.

It really showed in one episode something that parents across America, and globally are facing, childhood obesity.

Surprising, they hit a lot of key challenges face:

• A parent's denial that their child is overweight is not uncommon.
• How to handle the situation sensitively so that the child does not develop body image issues.
• Conflicts between parents on how to address the issue
• The resistance to discuss health with their child
• attempts to trick the child into exercising and the child's rebellion
• shopping for the overweight child
• parent's feelings of concern and doubt
• hearing other parents' comments about their child
• a parents need to protect their child

Changing a child's diet first starts with family changes. The focus should not be on the child, but on the family. We need to emphasize the importance of healthy living not weight and clothing size. And honest discussion as a family to agree and set goals for healthy STEP changes. Not dramatic life changes that will make it hard to succeed. But step changes, one step at a time.

We have healthy nutrition goal worksheets (we call them family agreements) and tracking sheets to help you work on one healthy change at a time.

Keep it simple, be patient and stay positive. If this becomes a negative experience for your child then they will begin to associate "healthy" with "NO fun". And let's not forget, the kids are hearing all about how much fun it is to eat the high sugary, fatty foods. We have to fight fire with fire or maybe I should say FUN with FUN.

We have to make nutrition and exercise fun to learn about. That starts with a positive attitude and family creativity.