How Obesity Affects Children At School

Although obesity is not tagged as a disease at your doctor's office, it is termed as a condition which needs immediate attention to prevent a lifetime of complications as your child gets older. Usually, in most cases, childhood obesity is considered a condition of poor lifestyle choices. If you can get positive changes made early, the child will grow up under these positive reinforcements.

But at school, obesity in nothing but a visual handicap. Most kids are teased and taunted daily by the other kids and even sometimes by the adults. The problems the teachers, the kids and the administration themselves must contend with include:

• The obese child is usually the tallest or largest individual in body size in a classroom. The furniture itself was made for an individual smaller in size. Often a large child can not even sit comfortably all day.
• In gym class, ridicule is the norm because many of the activities are very difficult, some impossible for the obese child.
• The locker room, often the haven for the rest of the class, is a continuous case of friction for the obese child
• During the picking of teams during the class schedule itself, the obese child is always the last to be drawn. Often, the snide comments even get made by both team leaders or another individual that we don't want him/her on our team.
• Every class has a group of individuals which just seem to be the "troublemakers". Bullying an obese child is a quick high for this type of individual. Unfortunately, for the obese child, this attention only brings on greater feelings of shame and embarrassment, often curtailed by more food to release the depression.
• Socialization skills are grown and nurtured during the childhood years. Learning patience, sharing and the importance of being a "team player" are vital for knowing life's social skills. Often though, the obese child will not even attempt joining a sports team for fear of failure. If the attempt is made, the obese child is generally the first to be "cut from the roster".

So, obesity in school is often a condition of inconvenience, not only for the child but the school system itself. This particular child often gets caught up in a cycle of insecurity and self-destruction.  The original weight gain escalates to further problems as inferiority and self-loathing escalate. This leads to a destructive cycle of using food as an escape. From there, more weight gain.

Stopping this chain of events and leading this child back to a normal healthy life is a long, slow ,hard process but the value you can place on the chances for this child to lead a productive life in his/her future far outweigh the inconvenience of attempting the impossible in the here and now.