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It is no accident that obese children form friendships with other overweight kids. These are often friendships of convenience or necessity and may not provide children with the qualities of acceptance and trust that friendship is meant to be.
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Non-Judgmental Friendships Form at Weight Loss Camps For Kids
By Joe Busch
It is no accident that obese children form friendships with other overweight kids. These are often friendships of convenience or necessity and may not provide children with the qualities of acceptance and trust that friendship is meant to be. Weight loss camps offer an alternative for obese children. With so many other children in the same weight-challenged category, kids can choose friends based on personality, humor and interests rather than on weight.
Friendships are usually built on common likes and dislikes or between people with similar or complimentary personalities. Fat kids often don't have many options when choosing best friends. Their weight is always with them and they find themselves judged for how they look. Many kids don't have the chance to choose friends other than to pick children with the same problem.
At a very young age the obese child seems to accept that he will not be accepted into many of the social cliques at school or in his neighborhood. Some fat children get around the problem by becoming the clown of a group or by being the person always willing to help.
The obese boy can't move quickly enough to play football so becomes the gofer for the team in order to be part of the group. An overweight girl may insert herself into a popular group by helping others with homework, listening to their complaints and generally making herself useful.
The majority of obese children look for other children with the same weight problems and form friendships based on shared problems. The basic of friendship is acceptance and for many children the only peer acceptance to be found is from other obese children. Weight loss camps for kids provide an atmosphere of peer acceptance that many obese children have never experienced at home.
These are friendships without the element of judgment or criticism the child has experienced in relationships formed in school or with neighborhood children. It's a new freedom to be able to build a friendship with someone who laughs at the same things or loves practical jokes.
In school, the obese child may carefully choose to befriend only one of the other fat kids in his classroom. At weight loss camps for kids the choice of friends is only limited to the number of camp participants. Friendships aren't the only possibility for kids attending weight loss camps. They can also choose those they don't want as friends and compete openly with other children. They experience a range of social interaction and acceptance far beyond what they are accustomed to.
This social element is most clearly seen at weight loss camps for girls. Girls may find themselves referred to as "pretty" because the extra weight is no longer a primary tool use to judge appearance. The defensive techniques obese girls have learned to use to protect their fragile egos at school or in their own homes are no longer needed.
A weight loss camp provides children with a safe place to be themselves. They are accepted by their peers because of their personal attributes of humor, kindness and interests without the need to feel apologetic about their size. The peer pressure at fat camps for kids is about being the best you can be no matter how much you weigh.
Joe Busch specializes in writing articles related to healthy weight loss for kids. He focuses on proper diets, exercise, and weight loss camps for kids. Parents with children that struggle with their weight should consider weight loss camps to jump start the process.