Your Child Is Not Their Weight

Parenting in a Size-Obsessed World

Joey Skelton, MD, MS

• Publisher: American Academy of Pediatrics
• eBook ISBN:
  9781610028561
• Year: 2026

If you've been told your child needs to lose weight, you know how hard it can be. You love your child just as they are and want them to feel good about themselves and their body. But, you may also have very legitimate concerns about weight-related bullying, anti-fat bias, and possible long-term health issues. While there are no easy answers, Your Child Is Not Their Weight offers compassionate and realistic parenting advice to help improve your child's overall health without compromising their happiness or self-esteem. Leading pediatric obesity medicine specialists, Joey Skelton, MD, MS, MD, and his team, Dara Garner-Edwards, MSW, LCSW, and Melissa Moses, MS, RDN, LDN, have in-depth medical expertise as well as decades of practical, hands-on experience working with families like yours in their clinic. Their family-focused approach acknowledges that body weight is a complex issue, that diets almost always fail, and that eating disorders are a real risk—even, and maybe especially, for children in bigger bodies. But, they also share exactly how you can make a big difference for your child by focusing on healthy habits, outdoor play, and your own unconditional love for your child. You will be empowered to address weight concerns while making sure your child never doubts that they are loved and wonderful, regardless of the unrealistic body images and weight bias that the world so often perpetuates. Your Child Is Not Their Weight will help you discover a better way forward, together.

Table of contents

• Front Matter
• Introduction
• 1. Understanding Your Child’s Weight
• 2. Parenting Through Structure and Love
• 3. (Not) Talking With Your Kids About Their Weight
• 4. Talking With Children About Your Health Changes
• 5. Family Connection Is Your Greatest Strength
• 6. Small Shifts, Big Impact: Transforming How Your Family Eats
• 7. Parenting Through Exercise and Physical Activity
• 8. Picky Eating and Other Nutritional Challenges
• 9. You’ve Got This!
• Appendix
• Index