Overweight & Underweight Youths have low self-esteem, energy, few friends and social interaction, little concentration, poor sleep patterns, high stress or anxiety and are most often victims to all kinds of bullying from name calling to playground confrontations. What is a youth to do when bullied because of their weight? Parents may nag their children about food choices, thinking their criticism could inspire them to lose or gain weight. In actuality the abuse causes them to eat more for children that are overweight and less for children who are underweight, turning to food or deprivation for the comfort and support they aren’t offered by their family. It’s a sad story, but unfortunately not an uncommon one. As attention on the growing childhood obesity problem in America intensifies, more and more people may use methods like this to pressure family members to lose weight. Methods like these can be more dangerous to the youth than the weight itself. In some cases you see parents who are hyper-aware, hyper-involved and hyper-healthy. They tend to foster an atmosphere of perfection in their children academically, socially and appearance-wise, but some are at risk of putting too much pressure on their kids so that method can backfire.  As a parent you need to do whatever you can to not place blame on the child or make him or her feel ashamed for being overweight or underweight. As long as your child is willing, it is a great idea to bring your child in to meet our friendly staff and for a facility tour.