Hey parents,

In the post below I want to talk with you about childhood obesity and what you should do about it.

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Childhood obesity has been rising continuously in the US–something that has been confusing and surprising professionals from all fields. Obviously it doesn’t help matters that most foods sold in the US are packed full of high fructose corn syrup. This, however, is another issue that we are not going to discuss in this article.

Obese children sometimes seem like they’ve never had an honest chance at life and this feels like a sad testimony about our culture. In addition to the bullying they have to endure from their peers, the kids also suffer from a variety of physical problems ranging from back pain and arthritis to Type II diabetes. There is a lot more to this and we are going to explore some of it in this article.

Obesity puts a lot of stress on all physical parts of the human body. If a child is overweight then this may cause them to have sleep apnea, which can be potentially dangerous. Normal breathing is also something that can be affected by being obese.

The obese young adult or child may develop asthma due to their weight condition. Other problems that face the normal breathing process are often called exercise intolerance. Overweight people often have trouble breathing, which you may have noticed. This is caused by the body having to work harder and breathe harder. This is just making it easier for you to have more stress on your cardiovascular system.

Almost everybody who suffers from obesity will also suffer from a wide variety of psychological issues too. Children who feel like they are being constantly abused by their classmates are more likely to suffer from things like low self confidence and self esteem, high stress and anxiety levels and might even hate themselves. There are all quiet problems that obese kids and teens typically try to handle all by themselves.

If the situation is allowed to go on long enough the person dealing with it could even develop sociopathic behaviors. We can’t find any honest data about the number of obese high school students who end up going to college. Our guess is that the number is relatively small and that there are quite a lot more obese high school kids than college kids. Would that really be surprising since so many are probably worried about enduring even more years of torture and abuse?

The socialization process and development of a person’s individuality and personality accelerates during the teen age years. The development of a teen’s body image is especially critical as well.

Obese teenagers have a really hard time developing normally in these areas. This means that when the teen leaves high school he or she will be at severe developmental disadvantages. Normal competition and success levels will be far more challenging for these kids.

Obviously, obese children are at tremendous physical and social disadvantages once they have reached their condition. We all know that it is difficult to lose weight and that the only way to truly make it happen is when you have a high level of determination and support to make it happen.

Parents and friends need to offer as much support as they can. Kids and young adults are resilient and have an easier time bouncing back once a healthy direction has been taken. Obviously, however that depends on what–if any–serious medical conditions have been made apparent.

I hope that these tips and information on childhood obesity and what you should do about it will help you and your children. If you are also looking for a complete parenting program to cope with your child’s behavior problems then have a look at this review on The Happy Child Guide.

All the best!