The guidelines encourage parents to set good examples for their children by eating sensibly at home, playing games or participating in other physical activities with their kids and limiting their television and computer-game time. As for eating, Sass suggests that parents keep mealtimes positive, relaxed and fun. Help children learn what hunger and fullness feel like. This can help reduce eating out of boredom or habit. A regular schedule for meals is important, she says.
Regular mealtimes can help children develop normal eating schedules.
This can improve hunger control, decreasing overeating. Parents should never use food as a reward or punishment, according to Sass. And she recommends that the family focus more on improving their health and less on what they weigh. Sass believes it's important for registered dieticians to work with both the parents and children. I have seen some parents restrict the intake of only one of their children, because he or she is overweight, and allow the other children in the house to eat whatever they want.