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Let's Get Physical
Helping Overweight Kids Get Active
By Alex Powell
She often recommends non-team sports like swimming, where children can set their own goals without worrying about slowing down their teammates. "One of the best is martial arts because in martial arts they earn belts, not necessarily for sparring, but for performance of forms or techniques," says Dr. Sothern. "Also, it's a sport that encourages self-discipline, self-control and endurance, strength and flexibility – what I call the 'triple whammy.'"
How should you initiate a dialogue with your child about the need to become active? Don't confront her about her weight. "If they've come to you and said, 'Mom, I'm overweight and I want to do something, that's totally different," says Dr. Sothern, "Then you can sit down with them, set some kind of long-term goal and get them working toward it."
Otherwise, just make it about fitness – not only for the overweight child, but for the whole family. "It's about redirecting, giving choices and praising them when they do something physically active," says Dr. Sothern. The parent's job, she adds, "is not to badger, but to encourage and remind."
What doesn't work? "Sarcasm," says Rimm. "Battles don't work. Expecting the overweight child to do exercise while the other children aren't expected to do exercise – that certainly doesn't work. Exercise is healthy for everyone so it just needs to be a way of life."
The biggest changes are often the simplest. According to Dr. Sothern, a recent study suggests that spontaneous activity – just getting kids out of their chairs – may help normalize weight.
Blake would agree. She and her husband began limiting Matt and his siblings' use of video games, and got rid of all but basic cable TV. "We kind of struggled for a while on getting rid of the cable, because we thought, 'Oh gosh, we're gonna miss it,'" she says. "And we don't. We actually have more time as a family now, because the TV is off and we have time to talk."
