on overweight children …

Published 2004, Rescuing the Emotional Lives of Overweight Children: What Our Kids Go Through — and How We Can Help is a book by Sylvia Barkan Rimm.

Dr. Sylvia Barkan Rimm (born 1935) is an American psychologist specializing in parenting, child development and learning. She has written books on raising gifted children, success for girls, and communication skills.

… In a recent study of 15 countries, including the United States, the U.S. had the dubious honor of being ranked first in the prevalence of overweight and obese adolescents. …

Overweight children were five times as likely to describe their self-confidence as poor compared to average-weight children. They were much more likely to describe themselves as lonely, sad, fearful, and different.

Overweight girls were less likely to describe themselves as popular or beautiful. Overweight boys were less likely to describe themselves as athletic. Overweight children were much more worried about almost everything, and very over-weight children were three times as worried about their futures than average-weight children. …

The Six-Step Healthy Rescue Plan

Be a coach, instead of a judge.
Go for the goal.
Recruit additional support.
Design a nutritional plan.
Organize an exercise effort.
Celebrate strengths.

Rescuing The Emotional Lives of Overweight Children

I’m dubious.

Things will continue to get worse before they get better. 😦

overweight boy

Some overweight children can handle the extra social pressures.

It may even be more normal to be heavy at a young age than it was in the past.

But best practice would be to get your children early into good exercise and eating habits.