Following my recent post about outdoor activities, I started thinking about topic that is somewhat related, mainly obesity in children. I have recently come across various articles and TV programs on children obesity. Have you watched latest ?The Hospital? about fat children? This inconvenient truth has finally reached some of us. We seem to ignore the problem and what is even worse we make people with obesity problems feel bad about themselves. I guess this is because there are a lots of myths about obesity. Therefore in this post I would like to list 5 myths about obesity.

1.Controlling your weight is more important than even at expense of other health behaviors.

This is one of the myth that we hear on a daily basis. 85% of teachers advice their pupils to cut strict calorie diets but what they are were aware is the fact that while controlling weight is important, cutting down on calories in the middle of the adolescent growth burst CANNOT be done at the expense of other heath behaviors.

2.Obese people are weak-willed, ugly, awkward, lazy, stupid, worthless and lacking in self control.

Often child obesity prevention programs and even some of the health education communication potentially can further hurt fat children. None, of those prejudicial beliefs that are documented among physicians are true. Nevertheless, teachers may often exclude overweight children from general participation in games and sports teams and even playing in a sandpit. This discrimination can be further extended to employment and health care.

3.Overweight people do not even bother to do anything about their weight.

Another hurtful myth about obese people. Overweight people are aware that they are fat and often feel that doctors are biased towards them. They often avoid health services because they do not want to be lectured again and again about their weight because it has been proved that the healthcare environment is not particularly ?fat friendly?.

4.Panic about child obesity will only help fat people

The current panic that we see on TV or in newspapers is focused on victim blaming approach and is something that we all should avoid. The current way of dealing with the problem is based on blame, guild and hopelessness on fat children and their parents. As mentioned before, fat people are well aware about their weight and they do not want to be lectured or humiliated about it.

5.Obesity programs should be aimed at obese children only

Prevention is better than treatment itself. Nutrition and physical activity are essential components for overall child health. Even using your outdoor sand pit to play in your garden has range of benefits for growth, development, brain development, cognition, immunity and disease prevention. However, this all applies to all children, despite their weight. Environmental model for increasing physical activity therefore suggests that focusing on changing the physical environment e.g. putting there more sandpits is likely to increase the benefits of obesity prevention.

It is important to approach obesity approach with a broad perspective and all the preventive efforts to deal with those issues must not do harm to children. So what are you waiting for? Buy a sand pit for your children today and make them feel better tomorrow. Fight the obesity in children today!