There is the ever present hankering of kids to eat junk food, and yes, it is understandable because of their age.
However, there is also an ever present snag to this; kids becoming obese. Studies have shown that one in every three children in Dubai is obese, and this doesn’t just have health snags. Obesisty in children also makes them insecure among their peers, subjects of bullying, both verbal and physical, and face segregation from their peers.
Kids becoming obese may not be fully attributed to constant intake of junk food but also lack of exercise and constant playing of unedifying video games.
This article outlines 7 ways to prevent your child from becoming obese.
#1. Be the example to your kids.
Kids do as they see. If you want your kid to eat healthy, the best way to start is by eating healthy yourself and not looking obese. If you are, start exercising as well. It’ll be weird to expect your kid to be in a the proper body shape when you’re not at least making an effort to be.
#2. Be firm. This is in general.
As a parent, you need to be generally firm about your dealings with your children. This, however, does not mean that there should not be a jovial relationship between you and them, but there should be boundaries and rules your children know to adhere to.
Being firm with your children will make the following tasks easier.
#3. Watch their food.
As mentioned above, most kids have the urge to always eat junk food. As much as you may want to give in to their desire, you must understand that it simply is not good for their health. Kids at younger ages need increased protein, vitamins and calcium for their development, of course they also need carbs and a bit of fat, but they need to be more watched in these areas. This is because most junk food that kids enjoy fall in this category. Donuts, fries, ice cream, whipped cream, burgers, and the like.
#4. Exercise with them.
Look for exciting and interesting ways to get your kids to exercise. Perhaps playing a game like ‘hide and seek’ and trying to get them to run more. Another exercise game suitable for kids is ‘musical chairs’, a game where the kids gather round say 10 metres from the chairs and have to keep moving and dancing till the music stops. When it stops, they run to the chair to get a seat before their peer. One kid is left without a seat and is eliminated, as the number of chairs are designed to be one number less that the number of kids playing.
You can even take your kids out to a playground in Dubai, where there are many fun facilities for kids.
#5. Encourage water over liquid calories.
Liquid calories take a shorter time to digest than solid calories. So when kids drink sugary beverages, they get a lot more calories without actually filling them up. The likely outcome is that your kids will eat just as much as they would without taking these sugary beverages. This is too much calories in a day! Instead encourage them to drink water.
#6. Limit their use of video games.
Video games have been shown by studies to make kids lazy, eat junk food more, less willing to do more physical exercise, and have mild insomnia. These games also have ways of becoming addictive, (which I can vouch to from personal experience).
#7. Make obesity undesirable to them.
This can be done using conditioning methods and mild reminders that being obese wouldn’t be the best for them. For example, “When I was your age, I used to work out with my dad because I wanted to feel strong”
Obesity in kids is a growing issue, especially in Dubai. There is so much junk and fun for kids, but despite this, it is imperative to maintain the health of children and save them the depression, and insecurity of being obese.
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