Helping Kids Have a Healthy Relationship with Food

Nutrition: How to create a healthy relationship with food for your children

This article from the Los Angeles Daily News talks about how to help kids develop a healthy relationship with food and includes advice such as not using food as a reward and not talking about dieting in front of kids. There are positive tips too, such as eating meals together, exploring foods and letting kids feel they have a sense of control over the foods they eat.

Speaking of Sweets: Experts Warn Against Using the Phrase 'Too Much Sugar'

This article in the U.S. News and World Report talks about what happens when we label foods as either all good or all bad. Thea author of the article, a dietitian, shares thoughts from other dietitians and eating disorder specialists about what can happen as a result. Labeling foods as bad may lead to kids wanting more of them and that can lead to imbalanced dietary choices.

Trauma in early childhood boosts the risk of teen obesity, study says

This news story published in the Philadelphia Inquirer describes the study that was done at the University of Minnesota School. The researchers talked to over 100,000 8th, 9th, and 11th graders in Minnesota and compared their experiences with body weight.

They found that kids who had experienced trauma as younger kids were a little more likely to be overweight or obese and the more experiences with trauma they had, the greater the risk. The authors of the study suggest that more screening to identify or prevent childhood trauma could be beneficial.

Childhood bullying linked to suicide risk for teens

This Reuters Health news story talks about a study that finds teens who endured severe bullying before they were 13 years old were twice as likely to be depressed and three times more likely to think about suicide compared to kids were weren't bullied.

What can parents and teachers do?
• Ask kids about bullying and if they are being bullied, let them know they're not alone.
• Build self confidence in the kids who are being bullied.
• Use interventions at school so bullying doesn't become routine.

Parents often don't know when teens have suicidal thoughts

Another Reuters Health news story describes the study that involved over 5,000 teens along with one parent. While most kids didn't have suicidal thoughts, of those who did, only about half realized their kids had these thoughts and even fewer knew when these thoughts were occurring.

The findings of this study highlight the importance of open communication between par-ents and kids, as well as knowing the signs - sadness, lost of interest in things and social withdrawal.