Parents
Resources for Parents
- Helping Your Child: What Families Can Do
- Working with Health Care Professionals
- Working Towards a Healthy School Environment
- Breastfeeding Information
- Books
- Web Links
- Statistics and Related Links
Helping Your Child: What Families Can Do
Love and accept your child. Give your child attention, praise, support and respect.
Don't put your child on a diet. Instead,
- Serve healthy meals and snacks
- Include fruits and vegetables at meals and snacks
- Limit "junk" food, including sodas and juice drinks
- Enjoy regular meals as a family
- Let your child decide how much to eat. Teach your child to listen to the body's signs of hunger and fullness.
Get the whole family moving. Aim for 60 minutes of exercise or active play each day.
Limit TV and computer games to 1 hour daily
Helping Your Child: Health Care Professionals
Your child's pediatrician or local community clinic will review your child's body mass index, growth pattern and family history to assess if your child is overweight or at risk for being overweight. Your child's health care team can also provide you with information and resources to best help your child. Below are some local health care links.
Working Towards a Healthy School Environment
Work with your child, teachers and school staff to foster an active, healthy environment in your child's school.
CSPI School Foods Tool Kit: Working to Improve the Nutritional Quality of Foods and Beverages in the Schools.http://www.cspinet.org/schoolfood
Encourage school fundraisers to sell items other than candy.
If you bring treats to school for birthdays or celebrations, consider healthy snacks or party favors instead of candy or sweets.
Information about the school nutrition programs from the California Department of Education website http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/sn/
Breastfeeding reduces the risk of obesity later in life. If you are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, talk to your health care team to learn all you can about breastfeeding. Ask to work with a lactation educator if you need support and guidance.
AP's Guide to your Child's Nutrition: Making Peace at the Table and Building Healthy Eating Habits for Life. 1999
Berman, Christine and Jackie Fromer, Meals without Squeals: Childcare Feeding Guide and Cookbook. 1991
Friedman, S.S., When Girls Feel Fat: Helping Girls Through Adolescence. Harper Collins Ltd., 1997.
Levine, Judith, and Linda Bine, Helping Your Child Lose Weight the Healthy Way, New York, Citadel Press, 2001.
Satter, E. How to Get Your Kid to Eat...But not too Much. Palo Alto, Bull Publishing. 1986.
- USDA Food Pyramid
- Helping Your Overweight Child
Helping Your Child-Tips for Parents:
- California Dairy Council: A Family Guide to Healthy Eating
- Healthy Cooking for your Family
- Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention
- UC Berkeley Center for Weight and Health, Links to additional resources for parents, health professionals and educators
- Harvest of the Month
- California Center for Public Health Advocacy
- Statistics related to Overweight and Obesity
- CDC- Childhood Overweight and Obesity
Childhood overweight increases the risk of type 2 diabetes. Click here for more information about children and diabetes.
