What can parents of overweight kids do to help?
Rosen: Parents are very frustrated. It’s very challenging to have an overweight adolescent. Parents have a lot of fears about telling a kid they need to lose weight they worry it will push a child into an eating disorder. We also have a strong fat-acceptance movement in the United States, and some parents worry that pushing kids to lose weight means their kid will think they’re not good enough, or not loved because of their weight. So parents walk on eggshells when they talk to teenagers about weight issues. They balance between “You need to lose weight, you have a terrible problem” and not providing any support at all, mostly out of fear. Parents need to come to terms with the fact that the home environment is a powerful influence kids aren’t going to eat better unless their home environments are cleaned up. For a lot of parents, that’s really hard to do, but you can’t have Mom and Dad sitting on the couch, munching on peanut M&M’s and saying no to their kids. There is good news: We’v
