Love Can Be Blind to Childhood Obesity
After studying data from 20 international research studies over the past decade, researchers have found that parents worldwide tend to fail to recognize the difference between what they think their kids weigh and what they actually weigh.
Moms everywhere are more likely to classify their daughters as overweight than their sons, and parents worldwide can closely estimate the weight of their normal weight children but usually fail to accurately guess the weight of their overweight children. And if parents can’t recognize when their child is overweight, they can’t take steps to help them stay healthy.
Today, with childhood obesity growing at an alarming rate, our kids need parents who understand the risks of childhood obesity and are willing to take steps to prevent these from being realized.
Researchers in the study are calling on parents to educate themselves on childhood obesity and learn to recognize its warning signs, before it creates health problems for their children.
