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Parents can influence what their children like to eat. Kids are born with a sweet tooth and a salty one, but they have to learn to enjoy other tastes. They often need repeated introductions to such healthy fare as beans and other veggies. Using dessert to bribe kids into eating nutritious food can backfire, says Birch. "If kids are given one food as a reward, they will learn to prefer that food," she says--and they will learn to feed the vegetables to the dog.
A better technique is to put several items on the plate and get kids to try a bite of each. Birch also recommends that parents learn to serve appropriate portions (two sites that provide excellent guidelines: www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines and www.cspinet.org/kids/index.html) Parents should limit the amount of treats and junk food in the house, she says, including soda and fruit juice. Restricting access to a pantry full of fatty snacks and sweet drinks can make forbidden foods seem all the more desirable.
The flip side of the weight equation is, of course, exercise, which American children are getting less of than ever before, due at least in part to television, computers and video games. According to a recent Nielsen report, kids between the ages of 2 and 11 watch an average of 20 hours of TV per week, an activity that doesn't burn many calories and tends to encourage snacking by exposing kids to all manner of food and beverage advertising. Simply turning off the tube can help kids keep off the excess weight.
In a landmark study published in 1999, Thomas Robinson, a pediatrician at Stanford University, compared the TV habits and weights of two groups of third- and fourth-graders. Half the kids, most of whom were of normal weight, attended classes that taught them how to monitor their television and computer time and to replace it with other activities. At the end of the year, kids in the special program had gained an average of 2 lbs. less than the control group. Obesity experts recommend that parents remove the television from their children's rooms and set strict limits on time spent in front of a screen, including the computer. Giving kids alternatives to zoning out in front of a screen is key, says Robinson.
Once a child has gained too much weight, it's time to get outside help. Many parents turn to weight-loss camps for kids, an industry that seems to be growing as fast as America's waistline. Camp can seem like the answer, especially when an overweight child comes home as much as 50 lbs. lighter--but beware. Kids who lose in the summer often gain it right back come fall.
Parents should look for a camp that teaches kids to make lasting changes in their eating and exercise habits. Lloyd Lamb attends Camp Vanguard, in Lake Wales, Fla., where he has learned to look at the labels on food for fat content and to walk after meals. He lost 40 lbs. last summer, his fifth at the camp. His parents have also learned to follow a healthier diet.