How to Raise Healthy Kids

What were you like as a kid? Pudgy? Skinny? If you're over 35, chances are you were somewhere in between. In the '60s and '70s, only two kids out of 25 were overweight.

Now compare your childhood weight to your children's. Or, better yet, visit their schools. At least six kids in a class of 25 will be overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and the rest aren't far behind.

Overweight kids are on the fast track to diabetes and high blood pressure. In fact, doctors believe that kids under 10 may be the first American generation to live shorter lives than their parents.

If your children are "pleasantly plump," here's a final caution that should spur you to action: They get that way by watching you.

"Being a good role model is the most critical of parental roles," says Karen Miller-Kovach, chief scientific officer at Weight Watchers International and author of Family Power: Five Simple Rules for a Healthy-Weight Home (Wiley, 2006). The science is clear: In habits that lead to obesity, children mirror their parents. Active parents usually have active kids. "It's the parents' responsibility to provide a home environment that supports a healthy weight," she says.

Commonsense steps that parents take — limiting video games, buying a bike — often fail because they're half-measures. Create a well-rounded healthy home environment for your kids by making nutritious foods available, but allow treats in moderation to avoid temptation and over-compensation away from home. As for free time, limit non-homework "screen time" with the TV, computers and video games to two hours or less per day. Encourage your children to be active for an hour or more a day — and let them see you prioritize activity as well. The whole family is in this together. "Everybody in the house has to follow the rules," Miller-Kovach explains. "The skinny kid doesn't get to eat ice cream while the other doesn't."

There are other simple ways to make sure your kids live a healthy lifestyle:

Be lenient and complimentary
Children of overly strict parents are five times more likely to be overweight than those of parents who are slightly more lenient, according to a 2006 study conducted by the Boston University School of Medicine. The lesson: Don't punish every misstep, and reinforce self-regulating behavior through praise.

Expose, don't coerce
Children avoid unfamiliar foods, not just healthy ones. Keep putting asparagus on the plate, and don't get angry when he doesn't touch it for two months. You want to create familiarity, which will lead to experimentation one day, says Leann Birch, PhD, director of the Center for Childhood Obesity Research at the Pennsylvania State University. Your kids will become fans without resentment because eating the healthy food is ultimately their decision.

Don't demonize food
"Don't really talk about what's healthy; just provide healthy foods," says Miller-Kovach. Kids learn by watching you, not from lectures about saturated fat. And pushing a food because it's "good for you" will make them want something else. Don't withhold dessert until the vegetables are gone; you're teaching them that ice cream is the prize, and they can avoid green beans whenever you're not around. Most importantly, never go to extremes and say "no sugar," "no fast food" and so on; they'll make a beeline for them.

Use the DVR
TV advertising greatly contributes to unhealthy food choices in children, according to a 2004 study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in Menlo Park, California. Your kid sees an average of 40,000 ads annually, so fast-forward through the commercials whenever possible.

Control what you can
You can determine everything your 2-year-old eats. Your 12-year-old — no way. So don't try. "Once they get older, you shouldn't try to control what they're eating outside," says Miller-Kovach. They'll do the opposite. Walk the walk, skip the talk.

Don't talk diets
While it seems harmless to say, "You need to cut down on candy to get back in shape," this introduces the defeating notion of "going on a diet." They must not view eating well and maintaining a healthy weight as a destination, but as "something they'll be doing forever," says Molly Carmel, who worked with hundreds of overweight children as the former senior clinical director at the Wellspring Academy weight-loss boarding school.