I have become accustomed to a certain type of patient and visit. The 9-13 year old girl who is overweight. It breaks my heart because I see alot of myself in this population. I weighted more in the fifth grade then I do now. I was chubby due to the fact that my family valued school and academics more than exercise or playing sports.
It is so hard for me to watch these encounters because the girls are so self conscious and shy about their weight. I need advise: how do you broach the topic of increased exercise and being overweight with a preteen or teenager without making them feel worse about themselves.
2 comments:
:( that's tough. Ps. I also weighed more in middle school than I do now.
there are a lot of great books out there that will be a good guide for how to act and react as a professional in their lives. i would suggest talking to someone at your school. i would also suggest being overly aware of the situation and the psychological ins and outs before jumping into a conversation. here's an article i read about eating disorders in my own profession. there are also a couple of links on there.
http://www.tolerance.org/blog/coping-issues-weight
love you! :)
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