More children than ever are overweight. In fact, the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 13.7 percent of America's children ages six to eleven and 11.5 percent of adolescents ages twelve to seventeen are above their recommended weight levels.

"This figure, of course, doesn't include the millions of kids who have already started to struggle on a day-to-day basis with weight issues, obsessing about food, sacrificing foods they like, or feeling guilty if they 'give in,' " says Vickie Champion, author of Change Your Relationship With Food.

Mary Kelsy has been struggling with how to deal with her eight-year-old daughter's weight gain. "Just recently, my daughter, Mindy went to a husky size dress," Kelsey says. "I saw that she was developing a problem with food and I didn't know what to do about it."

Many parents wrestle with this same question. Some parents may try offering constructive guidance and use daily reminders for reinforcement. Some believe that a simple look of disapproval when the child heads for a second or third helping or one more cookie is enough. This may temporarily relieve some of the surface symptoms, but the parent's constant effort usually ends with no earth shaking results.

According to Champion, there is a method that can help not only the child, but also parents, deal with their own food problem. With this approach, she says, children will not use food to distance themselves from their parents.

Simply put, she says, a way to help our children end their food problem is by "being a good example."
Champion points to six ways of playing our part as a role model:

• Avoid using food problems as a topic of conversation. Without realizing it, we make weight issues a big deal by keeping it on the tip of our tongues. We might find ourselves expressing how hard we have tried through the years to change our eating behaviors, or point out flaws in our bodies others might have not noticed. By drawing attention to our own flaws, children begin to focus on theirs. They see this as a way to get attention, even if it is negative. Instead, talk about things that have inspired and touched us.

• Quit devoting enormous amounts of time to food. We busy our days with hundreds of little food activities: counting calories, weighing food and reading labels for contents. We may also spend time trying to fix our problems with food, whether it's finding that miracle pill, having a little surgery, trying the latest exercise or attempting a miraculous new diet. This not only allows us to avoid doing things that nourish us, but also takes quality time away from our kids. The "quality" of life doesn't come from a diet drink, it comes from doing things we really enjoy.

• Re-focus the dependency on food for emotional help. Our society has encouraged us to rely on food for comfort, as a reward, to relieve boredom, to express anger, or as a punishment. When we use food this way, we teach our children how to literally stuff down life's situations. Be willing to turn to other more insightful sources for help.

• Stop comparing ourselves with others. This demonstrates that who a person is will never be quite good enough. Show kids that it doesn't matter that we are different, and that one's worth doesn't depend on the shape and size of our bodies.

• Don't believe happiness depends on a thin body. There is a tendency to put things on hold until we are satisfied with our looks. We may postpone a party because we are ashamed our weight loss isn't what we expected. Or we may force ourselves to say "no" to foods we enjoy because we think it will make us fat. Or we may not buy that bathing suit that we love so much, just because we don't look like Cindy Crawford in it. What better way to demonstrate to our children that happiness only begins with a perfect body? It would be better to help our kids enjoy life now and not to wait, hoping for some future change.

• Accept our children exactly the way they are. Try not to alter youngsters to fit the image society would like to dictate. This way, we're not attempting to change them or any of their behaviors. It's best to allow our kids to focus on developing their strengths, not punishing themselves for their weaknesses. In other words, we are giving our children "unconditional love."

"These six approaches not only help release problems with food, they also allow a better relationship with our children," says Champion, whose book looks beneath the subject of just "controlling" behaviors to reveal the underlying issues that make weight such a problem for everyone, including kids.

"Since I started being a better example, my relationship with my daughter has changed dramatically," says Kelsy. "We've even taken up a weekly hiking outing by Mindy's request."

Vickie Champion is a life/money coach and speaker committed to helping people listen and trust their intuition and achieve their dreams.

She has coached as many as 54 concurrent clients on a one-to-one basis and has given over 650 classes and workshops. Currently, she has six Nothing Is Impossible Program™ groups in process and is starting two more.

For more information on the Nothing Is Impossible Program™ contact her at Vickie@VickieChampion.com or call her at (602) 249-1912.