When adults want to lose weight what do they do? Usually they go on a diet. They get the latest diet book, read an article about dieting in a magazine, or join a dieting program. When those same adults are concerned about their kid’s weight the natural tendency is to put the child on a diet too. This is a big mistake. Several studies following teenage girls over several years found that dieters gained more weight than equally heavy girls who didn’t go on a diet.

Stop for a moment and consider what it would be like to be a kid on a diet. You are in the school cafeteria. All your friends are having pizza, what are you going to do? On the way home they stop at 7-11 and have a Slurpee. Pizza and Slurpees aren’t on your diet. If you stick to the diet you’ll feel left out, your friends might tease you, and you feel that it’s not fair. Your cravings for the pizza, Slurpee or any forbidden food increases. Sooner or later you’re going to give in, and if the cravings are strong enough, you might binge and get the supersized Slurpee. Now, how do you feel? Guilty and maybe ashamed; you’re certainly not going to tell your parents.

As this process continues the parents become increasingly frustrated because their child is not losing weight while the child becomes more secretive about eating. No one is happy and the child is gaining weight. It doesn’t have to be this way. Instead, banish the word diet from your vocabulary. Whenever you discuss weight and eating with your child, focus on healthy eating rather than dieting, losing weight, or being overweight. In future blog postings I’ll have some practical tips for encouraging healthy eating and my forthcoming book, It’s NOT Just Baby Fat will describe a complete program for preventing childhood obesity.