Overweight or obese children

[Moral Dilemma]

I'm a registered user logged out for privacy. Do you guys ever feel like you have a moral dilemma when you have an overweight or obese child in your care? I have a 3 year old boy who is "chubby"...I've always been concerned for his health because both parents are overweight, possibly in the "obese" BMI category, and the little boy sometimes has donuts in the car on the way to my house (and then I serve breakfast an hour later and he always eats everything). Today we did a math activity where each kid weighed themselves and measured how tall they were, and out of curiosity I put this boy's numbers into a BMI calculator for children: http://www.webmd.com/parenting/raisi...bmi-calculator

and it says he's either overweight or obese (depending on if I round his height up or down, since he's at a .5 increment). So that just got me feeling a little sad for this kid, because ultimately I don't think it's my business to bring anything up to the parents, and they have never mentioned his weight. But I just know how much being an overweight kid can traumatize someone, and I almost feel like I should somehow intervene and try to turn this kid's life around for the better.

I'm just telling myself that it's not my problem, not my kid, not up to me...but I just feel a little torn inside. I only do breakfast and PM snack (the parents bring lunches, which aren't terrible actually, usually this boy has a lunchable or chicken nuggets and some fruit, occasionally some milk or chocolate milk, but usually just water). We all know the snack program is kind of carb-heavy, and I usually do crackers/bread & cheese for PM snack, sometimes yogurt & fresh fruit, less often I'll do bread & canned veggies.

Anyone on the snack program decide to do healthier options for PM snack? Any ideas to save money? Oh well, thanks for letting me vent, there really wasn't a point to this post

[drseuss]

I'd do a little unit with the kids about healthy bodies. Teach them about proper and improper food choices and about the importance of keeping our bodies in motion. Keep on offering the healthy things that you are. That's what you can do to help dcb. Hope that some of what he learns by your influence will rub off.

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[SignMeUp]

Snap peas, steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots. Tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, green pepper, red and yellow pepper. Garden-grown veggies are the best Cantaloupe, peaches, pears, grapes, all kinds of berries. Whole grain when you use a carb. There are no-fat/low-fat tortillas. WG Pita bread. The whole grain & the fruit have carbs, but also fiber. Make a veg dip from yogurt or from blended cottage cheese.

Water, lots of water. Start out with water while you "prep" snack and most kids will drink it. It fills their tummies some before they eat. And on the food program here, we are required to serve water if not serving milk or juice (I don't do juice except at holiday parties and in my evacuation kit)


The chicken nuggets and lunchables are higher fat, but I guess you don't have control if the parents provide lunch. Cheese is high fat too though.

I have had only one overweight child in 30+ years of care, but I adjusted meals for him and the rest of us ate the same and survived just fine

[daycare]

as much as you care, trust me I get you on this. really there is nothing that you can do.

let the childs doctor deal with it, parents are going to do what they want no matter what you say. Some kids are just going to be large due to genetics no matter what they try to do.

I would just keep doing what your doing. Provide healthy choices with limits and offer plenty of opportunities to exercise throughout the day.

[Blackcat31]

as much as you care, trust me I get you on this. really there is nothing that you can do.

let the childs doctor deal with it, parents are going to do what they want no matter what you say. Some kids are just going to be large due to genetics no matter what they try to do.

I would just keep doing what your doing. Provide healthy choices with limits and offer plenty of opportunities to exercise throughout the day.

This ^^^

Plus, the people in his life that should care THE most are his parents but it doesn't sound like they are all that into healthy eating themselves.

What I would do is to continue offering healthy choices and provide lots of exercise for him. If you really feel the need to help more, I would find as many resources for healthy eating and hand them out to ALL your parents.

[debbiedoeszip]

Your breakfast and snack are probably fine, and you say his lunch is generally decent, so I wouldn't focus on the nutrition side of it. What I'd do is get him and the other kids (so that he isn't singled out) moving as much as possible. Running, jumping, skipping, chasing each other or a ball, climbing, and anything else that gets them winded.

As for telling his parents, either they already know or they don't want to know. If he sees his doctor for checkups and immunizations then he/she's likely mentioned something already. I'd keep quiet and just focus on making his days as active as possible.

[Josiegirl]

I've got the same problem with one of my dcks. And she loves loves loves to eat. I try to give everyone the same amount for firsts, then dole out heavy on the veggies after that. If we have something like Nutrigrain bars or muffins, etc.(which we have that kind of a treat once a week)they only get one and I always serve fruit to go with it. I buy lo-fat dairy. I try to keep her running and climbing outside but that can be difficult cause she tends to play sedentary activities.
Thankfully my group loves veggies/hummus so we have that too. LOTS of watermelon lately!

[daycarediva]

I have one right now that just had blood work done (after I pushed to get Mom to take him in to the drs to approve his food intake!) because even the drs are concerned about his weight/diet.

I really feel like food has been used as a pacifier and he doesn't know when he is actually hungry, or just bored. He eats VERY fast and will forget that he has eaten, too.

I serve a pretty healthy menu, he eats seconds of everything and will continue to eat plain salad FOREVER if I allowed it. Something is definitely up with this little guy and it makes me very sad for him.

[Lucy]

Coming from a "fluffy" person from a "fluffy" family with "fluffy" nieces and nephews, some of which have been in my care .... trust me, THEY KNOW.

They know that they, the parents, are overweight. They know that their kids are overweight, they know that the kids will go through school overweight just like they, the parents, did. If the whole family is overweight, it's a family culture, and they've resigned themselves to it.

I know your intentions are good, but you won't be telling them anything they don't know. And they might actually take offense at you butting in. (Just saying that might be what THEY think - I'm not saying you're butting in!)

I guess you could just try to have lots of physical activities to help balance things out.

But trust, me ... they know.