What's the most scary program you've seen on TV lately? Perhaps you'll go for a horror movie or a sci-fi series.
But my vote would be for a program called `Honey, We're Killing the Kids'.
The Reality of Childhood Obesity In case you haven't seen it, the program features a family with at least two unhealthy children.
Usually they are already overweight going on obese, always eat the wrong things and don't take enough exercise.
To shock the parents into doing something about it, the backroom team use some very clever morphing graphics to show how, if nothing is done to change their lifestyle, the children will look as adults, and what age they are statistically likely to die.
The pictures are truly horrifying, and always shock the parents to tears.
(Of course, the program makers show only the people who do react to the pictures, but how many caring parents would not?) Fat Kids Become Obese Adults The basic principle behind the morphing is that an obese child has a 70% greater risk of becoming an overweight adult,and the risk is closer to 80% if one parent is obese.
Physical and Psychological Dangers of Childhood Obesity Physical dangers include:

• Type II diabetes
• Heart disease
• Joint problems -- overweight people are morelikely to get defects in load-bearing limbs
• Raised blood pressure and cholesterol
• Sleep disruption
• Breathing problems

And there are dangers to psychological health too.
Did you have a a fat child in your class at school? Do you remember how much the poor kid was teased? And even now, with more overweight children around, there is still a serious danger that an obese child will suffer from

• Depression
• Low self-esteem
• Lack of self-confidence -- though that sometimesmasquerades as over-confidence -- it's all too easy for anoverweight child to hide behind a mask of jokes and tobecome the self-selected class jester.
  

Helping Your Child to Grow Up Healthy The simple answer to these problems is to make sure your child eats a healthy, balanced diet and gets plenty of exercise.
Sounds easy, doesn't it? But anyone who has kids will know that it's easier said than done.
That's especially true if they have settled into a bad routine, or have friends with the same problems whose parents see no need to change.
You need help.
And the best place to start is an excellent book called Childhood Obesity: how to prevent it, how to deal with it [http://www.
capespear.
info/childhoodobesity/] This book will show you how to:

• Focus on health goals
• Set short-term and long-term activity goals
• Teach your child how to make good food choices
• Improve your child's sense of control over weight
• Do all this without starving your child

But it's vital to act without delay.
Each day that passes is another day lost in the fight against obesity, another day when your child stays unhealthy.
Every parent wants their child to grow up healthy, so start NOW!