BMI of Pediatrics Patients and their Families

Overweight Child and Parents
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

Overweight Child and Parents
The average weight of a boy who is five years old is about 17.9 kilograms. In the scenario at hand, the overweight child has obese caregivers must be 18 kilograms and above. If this child continues with his current lifestyle, he will sustain obesity, which might result in various health risks and issues. Some of the causes of overweight or obesity are eating food with high calories, genetic factors, the lack of regular physical activities, sedentary lifestyle, and unhealthy eating patterns (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). The issues or risks that emanate from childhood overweight are asthma, heart disease, sleep disorders, high blood pressure, joints and bones problem, diabetes, fatigue, and skin infections. Additionally, the psychological challenges that the 5-year-old overweight boy is likely to face include a low level of self-esteem, social isolation, communication problems, being bullied, and high-stress levels. Due to the high likelihood of adulthood obesity for the child, parents of this child should take respective measures to eradicate overweight.
For one to assess the weight-related health issue for the 5-year-old boy, an individual should start by measuring his body mass index (BMI). By doing so, it will be possible to know whether the child is close to being obese and one can suggest appropriate strategies to eliminate overweight. Since the parents of this child are overweight, there is a likelihood that the health condition is in the family’s genes. In that case, the physician should interview both parents to understand whether they were obese during their childhood or they obtained it during adulthood. That information is critical to knowing the cause of overweight in the family, which will enable the nurse to come up with the most appropriate treatment procedure for the child (Sahoo et al., 2015). When asking questions to caregivers, one should be careful to avoid humiliating parents and the young person.
One of the most significant strategies that a nurse can use to gather sensitive information about the 5-year-old boy is by interacting well with his parents. However, one should also befriend the child to understand his eating habits. If this health problem is not eradicated at this stage, the boy will be obese and become more vulnerable to various illnesses (World Health Organization, 2019). For example, due to the accumulation of fat in blood vessels, the child has a high likelihood of getting a heart disease. Fatigue and sleep disorders occur due to a lack of comfort. Skin infections might occur when sweat is trapped in the skin folds. The most adverse risk is social isolation, which is caused by low levels of self-esteem. If the child is bullied or becomes isolated, he has a high probability of developing poor communication skills (Simmonds & Woolacott, 2015). For this reason, gathering relevant information is crucial in gaining a full understanding of the boy’...