1. Childhood Skin Problems Slideshow
2. Childhood Illnesses You Should Know Slideshow
3. Slideshow: Cold and Flu - Treating Your Child's Cold or Fever

Medical Author:

John Mersch, MD, FAAP

John Mersch, MD, FAAP

Dr. Mersch received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, San Diego, and prior to entering the University Of Southern California School Of Medicine, was a graduate student (attaining PhD candidate status) in Experimental Pathology at USC. He attended internship and residency at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

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Medical Editor:

David Perlstein, MD, MBA, FAAP

David Perlstein, MD, MBA, FAAP

Dr. Perlstein received his Medical Degree from the University of Cincinnati and then completed his internship and residency in pediatrics at The New York Hospital, Cornell medical Center in New York City. After serving an additional year as Chief Pediatric Resident, he worked as a private practitioner and then was appointed Director of Ambulatory Pediatrics at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx.

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Most children (from infants to elementary school age) eat for two primary reasons -- hunger and its enjoyment. As they become older, some children will start to use food as a replacement for "something missing" in their lives and eating may become a way of handling this void, or dealing with frustration or boredom. This "management style" is a learned behavior -- often learned at home. As a pediatrician, I have seen obese parents raising obese children. It is not uncommon to reward a child's behavior with a promise to stop at the local fast food restaurant on the way home -- and I doubt a salad is purchased. I was once astonished when a very obese father told me he wasn't going to keep high-fat items (in this case donuts from a famous chain) out of the house in order to help his obese 8-year-old son avoid such items. "I like them. I'm going to keep eating them. It's his job to stop eating them." Raising a healthy eater requires setting a good example -- often no more and no less.