If you are an adult over 30, the next time you take your children to the playground take a good hard look at the weight condition of the general youth population. Chances are, you will see several children at one time that are clinically overweight amongst them, and being in a place of activity, you are seeing the ones with at least some form of physical activity.

The fact is that the growth of obesity in children has become an increasing problem over the last 30 years in the West, and now in the East, due to a variety of environmental, social behavioral, and even economic variables. While the rate of obesity in children may be skyrocketing and seem like an inevitable fact, simply implementing a few of the following suggestions could save your child from a lifelong problem with obesity or unwanted weight gain that started in childhood.

1. Assign some of the physical responsibilities of the household to your children. Parents are not simply employed maidservants for their children. Aside from the character building and lesson in responsible behavior, the physical energy created by mowing the lawn can increase cardiovascular activity for 30-45 minutes, and even simple chores such as taking out the trash can help maintain muscle activity that YouTube just is simply unable to provide.
2. Put your money where your sports are. Simply finding a stick in the schoolyard can lead to hours of war or pirate play for some children, while others are drawn more toward organized and structured activity environments. Simply providing the tools, and toys, needed to play organized sports can spring into an avid interest and participation in a sport that they love.
3. Don’t leave yourself out, make it a family event. Take mountain bike rides in the mountains with your kids, or simply hikes along the beach. Your children will be much more interested in activities that provide a spirit or teamwork and companionship. Do not make it competitive, but enjoyable.
4. Take active vacations. Don’t just fly across the country to sleep in a hotel, or hide at home and watch television for two weeks. Get the family together and go do something. Go camping, take a walking tour, or simply hit a local water park. Make it fun, and make it physical.
5. Make sure to encourage, and not discourage. Self worth and image were one of the highest indicating factors found to affect chances of success in fighting obesity in already overweight children. Not only that, the population of persons found to have the lowest self image when overweight was the under 25 and female grouping.