What every family needs to know about childhood obesity

A recent study by FIT — a partnership between WedMD and Sanford Health — found parents would rather talk to their children about sex, drugs and alcohol than their child’s weight issue. In fact, the study found parents of children ages 8-17 admit to avoiding the weight conversation altogether.

Until recently, many parents didn’t think childhood obesity was a problem, said Kim Lederhaus, pediatric nurse practitioner at Affinity Health System in Neenah.

“I think that a lot of times they thought that this would just kind of cure itself as (children) grew up and kind of grew out of the condition and thinned out,” Lederhaus said. “I think it’s hard because a lot of parents didn’t really know it was an issue and now it is more of an issue, and a lot of the parents might be obese themselves. For them to start broaching the subject with their child makes them also have to take on the fact they may also have the same issue their child has.”

But, simply put, childhood obesity, which affects nearly one in three children, is dangerous and is a topic that needs to be addressed for the health of children and families.