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Parents' Perceptions About Kids' Weight Often Off

As moms and dads, it's perfectly natural to want to see your kids in the best -- and absolutely healthiest -- light. The common rose-colored glasses of parenthood can make even the most apparent of problems seem nonexistent or like no big deal.

That's definitely what researchers recently found when they conducted a national survey of 2,000-plus adults. In fact, many parents had no idea -- or weren't at all worried -- that their kids were considered obese (based on their body mass index, or BMI, which estimates a person's body fat using height and weight measurements).

According to the poll:

* More than 40% of parents with 6- to 11-year-olds who were obese thought their kids were "about the right weight."
* Not even 10% of the parents of those obese children reported being "very concerned" about their kid's weight.
* Only a little more than a quarter of parents with obese children ages 6-17 were "very concerned" about their child's weight, though nearly 85% of these parents said it's "very important" for doctors to discuss weight concerns with adolescents at regular checkups.

Weighing in on Weight

Being overweight or obese is a serious and all too common medical problem for millions of kids these days. In fact, three times as many 6- to 17-year-olds are overweight now than 30 years ago. And the epidemic of alarming proportions is only getting worse -- some researchers project that nearly half of the kids in North America will weigh too much by 2010.

Carrying around too many pounds isn't just a matter of how children look. Kids and teens who weigh too much are also at risk for a wide range of physical, emotional, and psychological health issues that aren't as obvious to the naked eye: Jump to full text of this article here.