The rise in obesity has created many problems among children. Parents are
concerned about their child’s future as they are aware of the fact that obesity is the root cause to heart diseases. Obese children usually hold a negative self-image and low self-confidence. Parents can cope with all these issues by engaging them in outdoor activities. Children usually spend their time in front of screens, be it TV, video games or computers. The major challenge for parents is to compel their children for outdoor play.

Ideas to Engage Children in Outdoor Play

Children need dire attraction to go and play outdoors. Their activities need to be changed constantly. Parents cannot push them outside but they can make outdoor activities attractive. Here are few ideas:

Treasure Hunt:

Children love treasure hunt. Parents do not need to spend time on hiding things at their garden. They can engage their children in finding sticks, pine tree cones, flowers, bird feathers, and oak leaves.

Physical sports:

Parents can engage their children in physical sports like football, hand ball, rugby etc. They can also play games like sack race, three leg races etc. winners can be awarded by homemade gifts.

Play dirty:

Children love to play in dirt; parents can engage their children in gardening. In this way, they will stay active and interested in this activity.

Splash game:

Car washing can be a fun activity for children. Children love to play in water during summers. Parents can get their car cleaned during this fun activity.

Walk the dog around:

Children can go out for walking their dog. Small children can go out with adults or their parents.

Go Cycling:

Hit the roads, children can go cycling. Cycling is the easiest and quickest way to reduce weight.

Parents can also engage their children in outdoor arts like drawing using chalks on road. Later on, it can be cleaned through water and their hands can be washed with minor soap. They can also engage their children in kite flying and other fun activities.

Teeth grinding is common among children at daytime. When children grind their teeth during sleep is a condition known as Pediatric Bruxism. This behavior is a constant worry for parents who are concerned about their child’s dental health. It is better to get to underlying causes of this behavior to solve it. There are two factors behind this behavior i.e. psychological issues and dental issues.

Psychological issues:

Parents can consult a child psychologist to figure out the underlying issue that troubles their child. Social insecurity, anxiety, and stress could be one of the reasons behind it. Parents can talk to their children about their school in general to reach at the root cause of this issue. Parents can share how they used to feel regarding things at school etc. Sharing can help children overcome their fears. Encourage children to talk about their anxieties and troubles they face. Parental guidance at right time can turn their children into healthier beings.

Sleep issues:

Parents should ensure that their children sleep in calm environment. Their bed and room temperature should be comfortable.

Control caffeine consumption:

Parents can control their children’s consumption of caffeine drinks like soda and chocolate. These drinks increase the reaction to any stressful event in daily lives.

Dental issues:

Parents can seek dental assistance for their children. They might be asked to refrain from chewing gums. Chewing gums as a habit makes muscles used to chewing in a constant movement. This thing accelerates teeth grinding. Parents can ask their dentist to get a night guard to prevent teeth grinding.

Parents should consult a child psychologist if their child’s anxiety does not reduce. Teeth grinding is also cause by de-hydration. They should encourage their child to drink a lot of water. Listening to children about their school activities help them to gain self-confidence and reduce anxiety.

The most common fear among parents during their children play is play injuries. They are more common among girls in sports like soccer and basketball. There are few safe sport that parents can fearlessly indulge their children in. They are:

Swimming:

If done under supervision, it is risk-free. Children love swimming during summers and it is a great way to burn excessive calories.

Hiking:

Not all children like to go for a hiking. They could be provided with a camera to photograph the things they liked and loved could be a fun activity.

Badminton:

It is a lost art at United States but it is a risk free activity. Parents can teach their children to play badminton with them. Badminton tournaments among parents and children could be a fun too.

Bowling:

Bowling could be hard for few children but it ensures that they play safe under supervision. It will induce a sense of tolerance and patience among children.

Mellow Martial Arts:

Mellow martial arts are a safe to induce children in physical activity. This type of martial arts is non-violent.

Dance:

Girls could join belly-dance classes whereas boys could indulge in break dance and hip-hop.

These types of activities are necessary for children to stay active and social rather than playing video games at home. Eating and snacking without physical activity contributes to childhood obesity among children. Parents should indulge their children in physical sports to keep them active.

One reason for growing obesity among children is excessive eating. Setting proportions will help controlling obesity among children. When children ate at proportions that are appropriate for adults, they became obese. In addition, at home children are pressurized to clear their plates that contribute to obesity. In order to end the trend of obesity, parents have to teach their children to eat in right proportions. Few tips can do a trick at this moment, these are:

1. When going out, people can take an airtight box with them. They can put half of their ordered food in that box and ate the rest of it to control their child’s obesity at initial level.
2. People need to teach their children to have a control over their nerves while eating. They should clear their mind of grabbing as much food as they can while eating and at parties.
3. They can even choose to buy their children a proportion plate. They should teach their children that 70 % of their plate should be filled with fruit and raw vegetable salad.
4. Plate size also plays an important role in developing healthier eating behavior. Children should eat in quarter plates and not in a rice plate that adults use. In a similar fashion, they should get started with a teaspoon and not a tablespoon.
5. Eating a salad before lunch and dinner will reduce child’s appetite for more processed foods like French fries and fried chicken.

Parents could be a role model for their children while eating. They can teach their children to eat more fruits and raw-veggies to satisfy their hunger pangs at unusual time. If they had taught their children to eat more food in past, this could be unlearned too.

Most of the American children are becoming obese with the passage of time. Parents who are health and fitness conscious knew that obese children when turned to obese adults are prone to heart problems. This is the reason that they want their children to attract towards healthier lifestyle. Starvation and dieting can result in weight gain that is why it should never be encouraged by parents. There few tricks and tips to counter obesity:

Monitoring Children eating habits

Parents should monitor their children eating habits. When they are in day care, caretakers gave them extra diet that makes them obese. Careful monitoring of children’s eating habits can help parents keep a check on their child’s calorie intake.

Alternate eating

Parents can teach their children about alternate eating. For example, they can teach their children to eat baked food instead of fried food. They can introduce natural sweeteners like strawberries and raspberries instead of artificial jellies etc. They can take chocolate shake in place of sodas etc.

Controlled calorie in take

Experts believed that abandoning one thing like an extra cup of mashed potatoes or ice cream can reduce 100 calories from regular consumption of children and may aid them to reduce weight.

Regular exercising instead of Play station at home

Regular exercising and drills can help children stay active and healthy. Many sports like rugby, football, and basketball are healthy and can indirectly help these children to reduce weight quickly.

Health experts believed that by abandoning eating out each day may help obese children reduce weight and develop healthy eating habits. Parents can role-model their children and teach them to prefer eating more green foods rather than drive-thru and take away meals.

Parents often complain that their children cause trouble in eating. Mothers usually get tired running after their kids. Even if mothers do not want their children to eat unhealthy food, they cannot make them to eat healthy and rich food. Children usually hate eating vegetables. They like fried chips and hamburgers with soda drinks.

Parents should discuss importance of eating healthy food with their children. Moreover, they should become role model for their children by changing their lifestyle of eating processed food to clean and healthy eating. It is not a matter of one day. It is a life style.

Here are few ideas to make healthy meal attractive for children:

1. Choose alternatives to unhealthy foods. Instead of consuming fried food, switch over to baked food.

2. Involve children in cooking. Make cooking a fun. Guide them to use low-calorie dressing in their meals.

3. Give incentives for replacing their soda with milk or milk shakes with meals.

4. Utilize cookie cutters to make funny meals like sandwiches of brown bread with low-calorie peanut butter etc.

5. Socialize children to eat raw veggies like carrots and tomatoes with their meals.

Mothers can utilize these tips to avoid and control obesity among their children. Parents should know that obese children turn themselves to be obese adults. Obese adults are more prone to cardio-vascular problems.

Some of the most common factors of bad eyesight are poor nutrition among children. Nobody wants their children to suffer from eyesight issues. Parents can recognize the symptoms if any of their children are suffering from bad eyesight.

Thirteen symptoms to recognize eyesight issues

Children should undergo eyesight tests after every two years regularly. Parents should keep a check on their children if their children are behavior in these thirteen ways they need to be checked. These symptoms are:

1. The child holds books and pictures too close to eyes.

2. The child is sitting too close to the TV.

3. The child uses a finger to follow along whilst reading.

4. The child makes constantly narrow eyes while reading.

5. The child rubs eyes a lot.

6. The child shows sensitivity to light.

7. The child complaints a lot about headaches.

8. The child’s eyes are extra teary.

9. The child closes one eye when focusing.

10. The child avoids all the activities that involve doing home works, sports etc.

11. The child watches TV very closely.

12. The child complains about hurting eyes.

13. The child shows bad grades.

Parents can take guidance while keeping the above points in their mind. If they find that their children are suffering from the symptoms shown above, they should immediately consult their physician for advice.

Recent statistics showed that around 15% of children around ages of 6-11 are obese. This rate is alarming in comparison to the statistics recorded three decades earlier. It is time to thinking of obesity as an epidemic and work over to find out ways to get rid of it.

Obesity as a problem

Most of the people are unable to think of the future problems of obese children. Obese children are not welcomed in society. They are being annoyed in schools by peers. In response to such behavior, they developed their negative self-image, lowered self-esteem and lose confidence. That in turn makes them isolated from the rest of the society and its activities like workouts and joining fitness clubs and they turn to eating as a self-pleasure.

Parents’ role

Parents can play their role by involving them in many activities. They should be aware of the fact that obese children turn themselves into obese adults. They are more prone to health diseases including cardio-vascular and diabetes-II in future life.

Creative intervention to end obesity

Parents are advised to find the creative language of their children. They might include activities like writing, crafting, performing and experimenting and promote themselves in front of public to retain their self-image and confidence. They are advise to watch their children if they do not know about their hidden talent. If they like to sing (performing), write stories (writing), like to make up things (crafting) and like to try new things (experimenting) encourage them. Parents should support them in their activities and aid them to divert their attention from eating and sitting for long hours to healthy activities.