September is National Childhood Obesity month, and a perfect time to have this week's guest, Dr. Wendy Sofer. She's a pediatrician and a certified health and wellbeing coach. And she's the founder of Family and Focus, a program she created for parents who are worried about weight at home, their weight, and their kid's weight as well. She helps them shift the focus of the scale to create healthier relationships with the food body, and with the whole family. Again, this work could not be more important now as childhood obesity rates have dramatically risen in the last several years. I discussed in a prior podcast about the change in weight in our kids during the pandemic, the statistics show that 19% of our children ages two through 19 were considered to have excess weight in August of 2019. And that went up toy 22.4% one year later. And of course, this is associated with metabolic consequences like type two diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol in our children, as well as psychosocial complications like depression. So tune into my conversation now with Dr. Wendy for a shift in the narrative around her children's weight, and a focus on lifelong health and well-being that will serve you and your family.What you will learn from this episode:Tips to help your kids develop a healthy relationship with foodWhy it is important for your kid to have a healthy relationship with food that doesn't feel restrictive? What does parental influence have to do with your kid’s eating behaviorHow the emergence of parent-child conflicts about food over time and the influence of parents' communication strategies and feeding practices “Kids push back [healthy eating habits] and sneak things, into their rooms because they're afraid of losing it. Because so much of the messaging has been about removing [and restricting] food and nobody wants to have things taken away from them.” - Dr. Wendy SoferTips To Help Your Kids Develop a Healthy Relationship With FoodAsk yourself, what can we add? Instead of what can I restrict.Practice meal planning.Add structure to meal time to avoid a feeding frenzy.Listen to the episode to learn more...Key Takeaways:[on how to develop heating eating habits in kids] “When we start adding in that structure and planning it out, it can actually do a lot to be able to help diffuse that frenzy that we get into.” - Dr. Wendy Sofer“Start by adding things in because so much of the messaging has been about removing and nobody wants to have things taken away from them. “ - Dr. Wendy Sofer Connect with Dr. Wendy Sofer:Website: www.wendyschofermd.comWendy Sofer free mini-course, "Weight Loss 101 for Your Whole Family,": www.wendyschofermd.com/weight-loss-101Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/family-in-focus-with-wendy-schofer-md/id1571510508 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wendyschofermdWays Recommended Resource Hungry for More: Stories and Science to Inspire Weight Loss From the Inside Out by Dr. Adrienne Youdim If you love it and you think it is of benefit, please share this podcast with one person that you love. You can also go to dradrienneyoudim.com/podcast if you prefer to get more podcast updates from us.