One of the big questions is how to get kids moving, and one answer that Childhood Obesity News has looked at is animal-assisted intervention — in other words, romping with dogs, which has succeeded in inspiring children to increase the amount of physi …

Let’s start with a couple of hackneyed jokes. Q. How many magicians does it take to change a light bulb? A. That depends on what you want to change it into. Q. How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? A. None — the light bulb will c …

When actor Tom Arnold was 4 years old, his alcoholic mother left the family. As he grew a bit older, she would occasionally visit and give Tom a dollar, which in the old days would buy 10 large candy bars. He would lay out the treats on his bed and tel …

Childhood Obesity News recently looked at a study about animal-assisted intervention (AAI) which showed that a child would willingly get more physical exercise romping with a dog than playing with another child. The dog-paired kids did not report exper …

First of all, before asking how it works, what is AAI? Those initials stand for Animal-Assisted Intervention, one of the facets of green care or social farming, a new/old therapeutic modality based on the observation that many human problems can be all …

What motivates kids to do the stuff that helps them lose weight and get healthy? That depends on the kid — but some seem to respond to dog-assisted intervention. Not much research has been done yet, but the idea has a lot going for it, such as empiric …

The use of companion animals is only one aspect of green care, also known as social farming. Either term is inclusive and covers not only animal-assisted therapy, but green exercise, ecotherapy, therapeutic horticulture, and wilderness therapy. It’s al …

Yesterday, Childhood Obesity News went into more detail about Dr. Pretlow’s reflections on the two (so far) groups of young people who tried out the W8Loss2Go smartphone app. They started by filling out applications and motivation questionnaires, but D …

Childhood Obesity News has been looking at the pros and cons of bribing and/or rewarding kids for their weight loss efforts and/or successes. One thing to always keep in mind regarding bribery is that this is how a lot of families get in trouble in the …

An op-ed piece in The New York Times introduces a fascinating concept that grizzly bears might have to teach humans. Not that they know it themselves, but it appears that over the millennia, grizzlies have evolved some genetic adaptations as amazing as …

Childhood Obesity News has discussed the importance of the quality and quantity of sleep, especially for young children and teenagers. One study showed that young teenage boys are much more adversely affected by sleep deprivation than are girls in the …

Facebook is still an immensely popular social medium, and researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital believe they see a correlation between the interests of Facebook users and their weight: … [T]he more people in a certain area or region who ‘like’ or …