Not too many years ago you couldn’t walk along a sidewalk without seeing the faint remnants of a hopscotch pattern. Swings that once squeaked almost as gleefully as their riders now rust silently. The green grass of parks is allowed to grow mostly unmolested. Bikes sit in garages and mitts lie covered in dust and un-oiled.

Today’s youth are much more intent on setting a new high score on the latest video game. Some are enthusiastically building webpages. Others are caught in the grip of sitcoms and cartoons. And it shows.

Unfortunately, the past decade has seen an incredible rise in juvenile obesity. In the United States there has been an increase of 20 percent in juvenile obesity leading the U.S. government to estimate that roughly six million children are now overweight enough to affect their health. Until recently, type 2 diabetes was known as adult onset diabetes. Now, with the proliferation of children developing this disease, it’s name has changed. More and more young people are suffering from health problems previously thought to be exclusive to adults, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, sleep apnea, and many other issues. An overweight child especially suffers in terms of self-esteem. As much as we may not want to admit it, children can be cruel and most often overweight children suffer at the hands of their peers.

But what can be done? The simplest—and best—answer is to increase your child’s physical activity.

Why not Diet?

While it’s true enough that adolescents don’t have the best eating habits, trying to control their weight through dieting is not necessarily the best answer. Low calorie diets, and especially very low calorie diets, can lead to growth stunting. Not only that, but low calorie diets that are not coupled with exercise can lead to the loss of fat-free mass, such as muscle.

That’s not to say that dieting won’t help; nor does it mean that we shouldn’t watch what our children are eating. Even the best exercise program in the world can do little to help if the right things are not eaten or if too much is eaten. You can help your child to make good choices when eating—such as choosing fruit for a snack or making sure that vegetables make up the majority of meals.

At the same time, be careful to not limit a child’s food choices too much. Some sweets and treats won’t hurt them. The key is moderation. If you help them moderate how much sweets, treats, fast food, and other less-than-nutritious foods they eat, they’ll not only be developing more healthy eating habits, they’ll also be less likely to sneak treats when you’re not looking.