Parents often use food as a reward or as a way to deal with a problem. If their child is having a problem, they give them a nice piece of cake instead of dealing with the problem. So they turn to food for comfort or to food and TV to escape from what's really bothering them. We work with them to find a way to deal with the problem. One of the problems heavy kids have to deal with is being a heavy kid.
Children can be cruel.
It becomes part of their self-image and they see themselves as the fat kid. Once they get into this negative cycle, it's hard to break. Parents can also put pressure on their children, turning a minor weight problem into a more serious problem. And when she was younger, every week, they dragged her up the stairs and made her get on the scale and they announced her weight to the whole family. Now she's 17 and 380 pounds.