Poll: Obese Children

If you are a parent of an obese child- (1) Are your kids taunted at school? What are they called? (2) Have you discussed the issue with your child? What did you say? What was your child's response? (3) Do you make remarks to your child about his/her weight? (4) Has your child's behavior changed because of kids picking at them? (5) What affect has this had on your child's self esteem? (6) What have you noticed about your child's eating habits? (7) What changes have you made in your child's diet? (8) How do you think you contributed to your child's obesity? (9) Why do you think your child eats more than he/she should? VAL

Val, While I am far from an expert in the area of child nutrician, I have to admit I am a mother of 7 and have a pretty good grasp onthings as far as childhood behavior etc. Let me give you a breakdown of my children and if you have any direct quesitons for me can post back to me........ 7 children; 3 birth children, 4 adopted children(the 3 birth children are all boys. the 4 adopted are 2 boys, 2 girls.) My birth children are of course Caucasian. 3 of the 4 adopted are African American. Of those 7 children 3 are overweight to obese. (All of those being caucasian, 2 of them are birth children) My children do not get picked on for being "fat". They are very much achievers in the area of drama, school grades, and personality. They are very much liked by their classmates and respected for their family name. (My children attend a small K-12 school, if you know one of the Bates kids you know them all) I am sure these facts have greatly helped with the taunting not being an issue. I have spoke with my childen aobut their weight and they usually get very defensive and dont want to talk about it. The main difference I see in my children from the underweight/normal children to the overweight/obese ones is 3 things: lack of activity (or desire to do any), food choices/cravings, and eating for reasons other than true hunger. (boredom, sadness, etc) While I beleive that gentetics plays a part in our weight as do many other health factors I beleive we are our own worst enemy when it comes to food and weight. As parents we offer terrible choices, food rewards, withhold food for punishment, set bad examples with eating and exercise. I am trying to undo all those things with my children and help set the tone for good choices and great expectations for life, but will admit it is much harder undoing those things than it was getting them started and set in stone!! Janelle