With one in five American adolescents now clinically obese and many suffering serious health problems as a result, it’s clear that there is a serious crisis that needs to be addressed. Parents often feel helpless as they try in vain to change their children’s eating habits, persuade them to exercise or get them to take drugs such as Lipitor, which helps to control cholesterol levels. Sport is increasingly coming to the fore as a positive way to help children and young people achieve better health.
The impact of childhood obesity
Far from being a phase that children will grow out of, obesity can cause lifelong problems. 70% of obese children are at risk of developing cardiovascular disease, and this figure increases with age for those who don’t succeed in losing weight. Over a lifetime, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis are also elevated; they are more likely to suffer strokes, and they are at increased risk of several types of cancer, including cancer of the breast, colon, kidney, pancreas, cervix and prostate. They are also more likely to have obese children of their own.
A sad side effect of parents keeping kids indoors in an attempt to keep them safe is that they’re now less active than ever. This makes them a lot less safe in that the above problem can considerably reduce life expectancy.
Positive motivation
Obese and overweight children are highly likely to be bullied by other children and to experience related problems such as stress and low self-esteem. This means that attempting to change their behavior through pressure or punishment can be extremely damaging and is often counterproductive. Stressed children are more likely to resort to overeating as a source of comfort, or to stop eating and develop the opposite problem, which can be life threatening. In order to help them, it’s important to raise their self-esteem and find positive forms of motivation for getting in shape.
Sporting solutions
Many obese children are afraid of getting involved in sport because they associate it with being bullied, but if they find the right team – one where other children are experiencing the same problems or where the coach is good at making sure everyone is accepted – it can have quite the opposite effect. Being accepted into a team can make them feel much better about themselves and inspire them to achieve so that they can help the team get better results.
Kids who are unhappy about the idea of playing sport often enjoy watching it, and this can provide a good means of persuading them to try. Sport begins with games, so if kids love watching basketball, either live or on TV, making a game out of everyday things by throwing items like shoes or books instead of passing them can get them thinking of throwing and catching as a fun thing they can do. Parents can then compliment good catches and gradually coax them round to playing a game in the back yard. It’s a much smaller step from there to talking about joining a team.
Basketball
While all team sports have the potential to help like this, basketball is particularly good because it involves such a varied set of skills. Practice sessions can be adapted so that children with a low level of fitness are able to build up slowly, and it’s easy for them to keep up their skills in the back yard, putting in extra effort to impress their teammates. It doesn’t cost much to fix up a hoop and it’s easy to set solo challenges. Parents can help by working closely with coaches, not to push their children but to praise their successes and make them feel still better about their achievements. Taking them to watch games and buying them gear or just posters of their sporting heroes will help to maintain their enthusiasm.
Basketball is also a great sport to choose because many of its stars have directly supported campaigns to help kids get fit and lose weight – stars like Magic Johnson, Phil Ford and Yao Ming. The latter really knows what it’s like to face such struggles, having had to work hard to keep the pounds off all his life, but though he never acquired the svelte physique of his teammates his success made it clear that it isn’t necessary to be thin to be fit. Sport can not only help kids lose weight, it can help those with persistent problems to be healthy and happy even if they’ll always be a bit of the big side.
Soccer
While some kids are good with their hands, others are good with their feet. Professional soccer also requires jumping, but any kid who can confidently kick a ball can pick up the basics of the game. A match can be played with just five people per side and jackets marking the goalposts, and skills can be practiced solo. The different positions in the game mean not everyone has to be able to run fast or score goals, but everyone gets some exercise.
Swimming
Kids who just don’t have much confidence on land may surprise with their ability in the water. Overweight kids are often shy about going swimming but that’s why some pools put on special sessions when they don’t have to be around potential bullies. Swimming is a great exercise as it offers a total body workout and learning to conquer a new environment can really help with confidence.
Losing weight in a healthy way can be a slow process, so it’s important to focus not on this in itself but on other successes. Sport fits neatly into this space and helps children not only with recovering their health but also with learning to like themselves and love life. It gets rid of those nasty insecurities and gives them the self-assurance that will help them to maintain good habits in the years to come.