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Overweight children are found to have low self esteem. These children are teased and taunted by their peers and so live in isolation. They become loners even as adults as they develop depression and fail to mingle with society. As overweight children develop as overweight adults too they fail to get good jobs as overweight people as seen as those lacking in self control.
In overweight children self esteem takes a beating as children have a poor physical appearance owing to their excess weight. These overweight children also do not make friends easily and their performance in school activities is also not up to the mark. Even the teachers do not select such children for group activities like dramas, plays etc leaving them with a poorer self esteem. Parents and teachers must encourage such children to mingle with their peers and also give them a chance to exhibit their talents. Those found teasing such children should be punished and should be made to look at such children with sympathy and care.
Try ways and means to remove depression from obese children:
Various methods should be conceived so that obese children do not get into a shell but interact with other children to improve their self esteem and worth. The low level of confidence among such children may also be due to stressful environment at home, parental conflicts and financial problems. Children resort to eating as a means of venting out their stress. Their ugly physical appearance is also looked down upon by some parents who do not take up steps to solve the problem. They only mock and insult the child which makes them isolated further. Most of such obese and overweight children suffer from loneliness and depression.
Children tend to compare themselves with their counterparts while in school and dislike the way they look themselves which adds to the problem. They consider their friends as superior to themselves and that adds to their poor self esteem. Parents and teachers must do all in their capacity to eliminate this problem among children. Teachers must identify the talents of such children and when they realize that they are capable of achieving in some field their ego gets a boost and they’ll be rid of depression.
Parents must also constantly look for ways and means to help children lose weight and promote their confidence. They must encourage children to join weight loss programs and must accompany them. Constant support and encouragement will help an obese child deal with his weight problem in a better way rather than advice alone. Obese children would also have a lot of talents which must be nurtured so that they have better self esteem. Parents must teach them healthy eating habits and develop a sense of self control whereby they do not get tempted to unhealthy foods.
Obese children also develop negative self image which continues through their adult life. This in turn affects their social adjustment, activity management and other areas like achieving their goals. These children are also not considered a part of the group and do not get invited to parties and other social gatherings. This also aggravates the feeling of isolation and lead to poor self esteem.
A root cause for the widespread obesity is the technological advancement that makes children stay put at home before the TV or computer instead of going out riding or playing with friends in the neighborhood. Obese children also like to shy away from company and hence prefer to stay isolated at home. This is to avoid bad remarks about their ugly physical appearance.
Various researches conducted in the U.S and Australia has shown the direct link between obesity and low self esteem especially among school children. Obese children generally stay to themselves and even if others treat them badly, they just walk off silently as if in submission to the snide remarks passed by the peer group. This shows the severity of the low self worth of such children.
A combined strategy involving the parents and teachers can only help improve self esteem among obese children. It is very important that corrective steps are taken so that such children will develop as self confident adults willing to face the responsibilities of the world outside.
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