The increase in childhood obesity over the past several decades, together with the associated health problems and costs, is raising grave concern among health care professionals, policy experts, children advocates, and parents.
The major problem with children is the imbalance of their intake and expenditure of calories. The children who eat more but expenditure of calories is less have greater tendency to suffer from obesity than those who eat and expend at equal levels.

THE CHALLENGES-
In low income group families mostly mothers are responsible for taking care of their children and hence mothers face various problem such as they are focused on surviving their daily, life stresses, use food to cope with these stresses and as a tool in parenting, have difficulty setting limits with their children around food, lack knowledge about normal child development and eating behavior, are not committed to sustained behavioral change, and did not believe their overweight children are overweight.
There is another problem related to health care professionals i.e. the perception of doctors towards the problem.
Doctors feel that they might offend mothers when talking about weight, counseling is driven by protocols, and their nutritional advice often conflicted with the advice from the mothers' relatives, friends.
The few suggestions that are offered by various prime health professionals are promoting a more client-centered approach to counseling, establishing behavioral change goals that are small and endorsed by the mother, and working with primary care physicians to create a more uniform approach to counseling on obesity.
Therefore it might be concluded that state administration should provide staff training in counseling skills that educate parents on child development and child-rearing and that can educe the client's social context and personal goals, prime health care institutes/organizations should collaborate with primary health care providers and community agencies that impact childhood obesity, more emphasis should be given to counseling of parents so that they can tackle this problem in a proper way.
One more solution that can be suggested is the introduction nutritional courses in school which is very important for the children of primary and middle class students. Like parent teacher meetings schools should also organize health meetings in which they can counsel parents about this disease and other related problems in their children. Parents are more likely to hear their child’s teacher than from any other source.
This is also advisable because it is the school where a child is frequently exposed to various junk foods and the peer group also influence their eating habits.

Myths about childhood obesity
Obesity in children occurs because of various factors and is a complex disease. Myths are the factors that distract patients from the underlying behaviours that contribute to the disease or may deflect the blame perceived by obese patients and their parents.
Myths that suggest that the obese are inactive, eat differently, or eat more junk food suggest that obese individuals are socially deviant and justifies the intense discrimination directed against them. The myth that obesity represents an untreatable disease helps free health-care professionals from the responsibility to understand and care for obese children. Dispelling the myths about childhood obesity represents a critical step in prevention and treatment.
One of the greatest unfortunate things that Indians face is the problems of myths that dominate their most spheres of life. Leave alone rural areas even urban population is inflicted by this dreaded problem.
No mother is interested in hearing that his child is gaining fat rather she would encourage her child to eat more and this is where the obesity results.
Obesity in itself might not be a great problem but the other diseases related to obesity like diabetes, cholesterol problem and heart attacks are the dreaded diseases which is frequently found in an obese person.

The perception of mothers
I would like to clear this that here we are discussing the problem of obesity in low income group children where mostly mothers are responsible for upbringing of child but it is not only in this group where the problem of perception exist but it is present everywhere.
Mothers never believe that their child is fat instead due to their love they ignore this and take it as if nothing is happening and never take their child to physician. In high earning group father and mother both are busy with their professional life they either get very less or no time to spend with their child so whatever their child does is acceptable to them.

Solutions
Children are innocent, they can not be held liable for their mistakes, it is the responsibility of parents to take care of their child’s eating habits and encourage their child to accept good and nutritious food habits. This requires parents to spend more and more time with their child.
Schools have much larger role to play in this case because children are greatly influenced by their teacher and their friends. So courses in health and nutrition should be included and a watch should be kept on the food items available in school canteen.
In the last I would request parents and teachers to take proper care of their children because they are the future of our country and “no country can afford to have an unhealthy future”.

Taxila Business School,
Jaipur