Reply to Overweight kids - how to help my child understand that fine line between bullying and the truth

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I want my DS to understand that there are serious health risks to being overweight and that it is not "normal" to have a BMI above his healthy range. [b]I want him to understand that there is really nothing beautiful about being an unhealthy weight [/b]and that he (like myself and DH) needs to be active to keep weight under control (not skinny, by any means - I wish - but within a healthy range).

But I fear that if he knows that being overweight or obese is not good, he will recognize that kids he goes to school with are unhealthy and say something that is considered bullying by the new, overly-zealous bullying standards. In light of the obesity epidemic and the number of very young children I see now who are overweight, if not obese, I think it is likely that he will have to navigate issues that we simply didn't when we were in school and kids were much healthier.

Does anyone have any advice for how to strike the balance to make sure my child understands that although it is very serious and unhealthy for children (and really anyone) to be overweight or obese, he needs to be very careful of what he says (even if it's the sad truth) or else he may find himself in trouble?[/quote]

I understand the rest, but this part is weird. Also, how could kids these days be immune to the message that fat= stupid, ugly, lazy that is pervasive in our culture? How old is your child?

I'd also urge you to read the latest studies on weight and health if you are not that knowledgeable about this yourself-- for instance, the ones that show it is healthier to be overweight and exercise than thin and out of shape, etc. I think you are risking focusing on weight over general health. Why not trust that if you teach your child about healthy eating and exercise, and follow through, his weight will be a healthy weight for him? There are so many ways to talk about being healthy without focusing on weight, I wonder why you would want to impose this worry about physical appearance on a little kid.[/quote]

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