Overweight Thinking, Overweight Parents, Overweight Kids

I am dealing with a situation with some people I don’t know very well, so those of you reading that I DO know, it’s not you.

A friend has explained a problem – Their daughter’s best friend is getting very heavy and is only 14. My friend’s daughter said, “mommy, what can we do to help her?”

I explained that there is virtually nothing you can do for this young girl without the “buy in” from the mom. The mother is about 50 pounds overweight, so not terribly obese, but by no means at a healthy weight. And she is only 40. Just wait, and her weight will skyrocket closer to 50.

To try to get the 14-year-old to get the mother to comply is all but impossible as the mom is making the purchase decisions and also deciding where they go to eat our or take in.

It would take almost an intervention with the mother to help this young girl and that is very, very sad.

It won’t be until this 14-year-old is old enough to buy her own food or live on her own that she, alone, can make the changes. But the problem is, by that time, many of her habits will be formed. She will be mirroring her mother’s eating and that is a sad statement of fact.

What can you do in this situation? When struggling kids are over at your house, show them what you eat and serve by just doing it. Don’t draw attention to what you are doing. Just do it. That’s my behavior all the time.

Tough topic but it needs to be discussed.

Jim