Nutrition FAQ

Healthy Bodies: Healthy Weights

Expand all Collapse all

• 1. What is a healthy weight for a child?

  There is no single ideal weight for children of a particular age, especially since they are continually growing and changing as part of normal development. Growth and development happen at different rates for different children. Restricting food intake might negatively affect their development.

  As a teacher, your best approach is to encourage all students to make healthy food choices from the four food groups and to be active every day. If parents express concern to you about their child's weight, encourage them to talk to a Registered Dietitian (RD).

  Visit dietitians.ca  to find an RD in your area.

• 2. There is an overweight child in my class - how can I help?

  It is important to remember that, like adults, healthy children come in various shapes and sizes. Do not assume that heavier or larger children are unhealthy or that seemingly average-weight children are healthy. Promote positive, healthy behaviour among all students, regardless of their weight:

  • Emphasize healthy foods from all four food groups.
  • Promote participation in fun physical activities.
  • Encourage families to focus on lifelong healthy eating and activity habits rather than on having a certain weight or body shape.

• 3. How can I foster a healthy body image and encourage self-esteem in my students?

  Children are constantly exposed to media messages that promote the ideal female body as thin and the ideal male body as muscular. By about grade 3, children can begin to experience body image dissatisfaction.  These feelings and related behaviours increase with age.

  As a teacher, you can help students feel good about themselves:

  • Emphasize positive characteristics and talents that are unrelated to physical appearance. Teach children that these are the attributes that count.
  • Help students develop the skills they excel at and enjoy.
  • Do not allow name-calling, teasing or put-downs in your classroom.
  • Teach children that diversity is what makes the world so interesting.
  • Be a good role model. Do not discuss your own dieting behaviours or criticize your own body. If children see that you like your own body, they will find it easier to like theirs.
  • Encourage daily physical activity and healthy food choices. Avoid categorizing foods as "good" or "bad." Instead, refer to foods as "anytime" or "sometimes" foods. Encourage anytime foods from the four food groups.
  • Help children analyze media messages that feature unrealistically thin or muscular body shapes and that equate beauty and "ideal" body types with self-worth.

  For more information on body image and self esteem, visit About Kids Health.