Nearly one-third of the children in the United States are obese or overweight and face associated physical and mental health issues.(1,2) Parents often misperceive and underreport their child's weight status.(3-5) This misperception is a major barrier to increasing healthy lifestyle choices, such as limiting screen time, increasing physical activity, improving diet, and participating in prevention programs.(6-8) Increasing parental awareness of children's weight status is an important initial step in addressing the obesity epidemic.
© The Author(s) 2015.