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Some parents ignore the child’s excess weight, hoping that with age he will leave. Others – noticing the extra pounds in their child, turn his life into hell with the help of motivation and inhibitions. Both are mistaken. The child does not need to be motivated, he needs help. Help implies not only interest, but also the direct participation of parents in creating a favorable and safe environment for losing weight.
Personal example for the child
Many parents believe that obesity is a genetic problem. If the grandmother is fat, the mother is fat, the child is fat, then this is definitely genetics. In fact, completeness is not inherited from generation to generation. The metabolic rate is transmitted by genetics. It gets laid during pregnancy. Irregular eating and weight gain of a pregnant woman increases the chances of a child to face the problem of being overweight in childhood or adulthood. It will not necessarily happen, but it will likely. Completeness is a behavioral problem. By acting in a certain way, the grandmother set an example for the mother, and she became an example for her child.
To help your child lose weight, you need to change yourself and serve as a personal example. Parents who do not change their own eating habits and restrict the child in food, reinforcing this with the words “you would like to lose weight” or “look, other children are thin, and you …” can traumatize the child’s fragile psyche, develop complexes. Do you want to help your child? Change the diet for the whole family and start an active lifestyle.
Change your child’s eating habits
Poor eating habits lead to excess weight and eating disorders. Let’s list the most common eating disorders:
- Strict rules of food intake – “For breakfast you must definitely eat porridge”, “Eat breakfast yourself, give dinner to the enemy.”
- Eating – “You have to eat everything”, “A spoon for mom, a spoon for dad.”
- Food prohibitions – “Chips are harmful”, “They get fat from sweets”, “Don’t eat after six.”
- Food rewards – a chocolate for an A, a candy for going to the dentist.
- Lack of entertainment and socialization – parents are “couch potatoes”, and food is the only pleasure.
When parents set strict rules for food intake and force a child to finish eating, they break his connection with his own body. The child loses the ability to understand when he is full and when he is hungry. If you’ve done this before, stop doing it.
Food inhibitions for children are especially painful. They create a persistent conflict between harmful and tasty, which can lead to bulimia. The child will always find a way to get the “forbidden”. For example, being capricious, eating furtively, begging for sweets from the father or other relatives. Each time, he will feel guilty for eating prohibited foods. If you spice up prohibitions with words about losing weight, a corrosive sense of shame is added to the feeling of guilt. It is necessary not to prohibit, but to replace.
Food encouragement teaches children to think that regular food is not tasty. In order for your child to eat well, do not make food a reward.
Lack of entertainment, going to the cinema, theaters, circus and visiting deprives the child of the opportunity to choose entertainment when he is bored. Having matured, such children suppress any desire with food. If you are a stay-at-home parent, change (calorizer). This also includes the holidays, when parents reduce everything to a feast instead of coming up with an interesting program for the whole family.
Today’s children spend too much time on the Internet and watching cartoons. Many eat at this time, so it is advisable for parents to teach their child to eat at the kitchen table. Lead by example!
Consider the interests of the child
Not all children love healthy foods. All over the world, mothers accustom their children to healthy food with the help of original sandwiches and colorful lunches. They are even creative in preparing porridge. It works because children love the bright and the unusual.
You are mistaken in thinking that your child does not like sports. He just didn’t find what he liked. Help him and support his endeavors.
Encourage your child to walk a lot. Playing with friends in the yard is great, but sooner or later he will grow up. The job of parents is to form a habit. Take a walk every night. Get him interested in an active game or communication.
Make time for an active family vacation. Time spent with parents is priceless (calorizator). A growing up child will not immediately appreciate this and will want to stay at home. Go for the trick – let him stay at home, and you take photos, how great you are having time. Next time he wants to relax with you.
You can easily motivate your child to lose weight if you become full participants in the process. A personal example is an effective motivation, but also the most difficult one. If you want to change someone, accept that you yourself will have to change. But these changes will be beneficial.