I hope this brighten someone's day. I am so proud of my ten year old son!

We are focusing on him maintaining his weight as he grows and he has maintained 114 for six months!! That's so awesome because he has grown! He goes down sometimes (he's 112 today) and he goes up, but he has not gone over that 114. What's more, we started measuring his waist a month ago and that child has gone from a 36 to a 32. He had been wearing a size 16H when his length should have been a 12. 12H was way too small, as were 14H. Today he is comfortably wearing 14H and can get into regular 14's!! AND they're a good length!

He has started running with Dad. They're doing the C25K program and he is the one who pulls Dad out the door! That surprises me more than anything else. He was previously the most unmotivated kid you've ever met. And yesterday he came home from school for the second time and told me he had run the entire 4:00 required in gym class without any walking, something he took on himself to do.

For anyone with kids who has seen icarly, apparently the kids at school are comparing my little guy with "Gibby". He hates that and is quite motivated to change it. I think summer will be good to him.

...anyway...proud mama here.

Oh my gosh, that is just fabulous!! Way to go to you, your husband & your little guy on this!!!

Wow, that is GREAT! I love that he is running with his Dad. I think you changed the course of you son's life! What a great mom

That is FANTASTIC, congrats to your son and both you and your husband for being a positive influence. I have a 9 year old boy, and it never really registers that this is when we need to mold them with good habits and values.

Way to go!

Awww, but Gibby is awesome! ha No, I have no kids, but I do watch Nickelodeon!

But that is awesome. I was a chubby kid, and I know it is hard. I'm very happy that he is so motivated and enjoying it. Hopefully he'll carry that motivation to be healthy with him forever.

You are doing an amazing job as a family! It is so wonderful to have healthy, realistic goals and ways of measuring them as you do for your son. He's lucky to have you! You must be so proud of him too and he must be so proud of himself!!!

That is amazing!! Great job MOM! Great job DAD! Great job little guy!!
I so wish my mom would have changed things for me when I was a little (but fat) 10 year old. If she would have walked with me then or played ball with me or changed food for us all then I know I would be less than now - just know it.

Great Job Mom...I am beaming just reading your post. Hoot 4 your son (from a former fat kid who is a fat adult...but we won't go there! I feel so warm and fuzzy for your 10 year old!!

Ha! I love Gibby too! Actually, I do see my son in Gibby. The sadness comes from the fact that it is wielded as a weapon, ya know? And the character "Gibby" is a joke character. We saw the actor as an extra in "Rules of Engagement" and his whole manner of being was quite different.

Nine/ten is such a delicate weight age. I have to remember that he DOES hear that which he seems to ignore. A good example is the way he wears his pants. He likes to wear them under his belly which makes his pants poof out, gives him a huge crotch area and the bottoms drag the ground. I put him in front of the mirror the other day and had him look at himself the way he liked his pants and then I had him pull them up. I said "Wow, look at how you just dropped ten pounds!" He rolled his eyes, tugged the pants back down and said, "I like them here." I let it go. But I noticed the other day that he has been wearing them up. They really do hear us.

That's wonderful news Eliana, congrats to your son and both of you on setting such a great example.

That's awesome. Have you thought about getting him into strength training too? He's the perfect age to start working on pushups, pullups, planks, and other bodyweight stuff. Even light dumbbells--I let my 9-year-old son work out with my 5-pounders, with his 14-year-old brother supervising him. (The teenager does rock climbing and has had some sessions of weight training with a personal trainer at the climbing gym.)

Another thing I've done with my middle boy is to watch the Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution shows online with him. Those are all about healthy eating, of course, and focused quite a bit on kids' health. He's really enjoyed doing that with me. It hasn't made much change yet in his *desire* to eat veggies, but at least some of the fundamental awareness of the issues is there

I was just encouraging him last night to start doing push-ups on his knees. He is a low muscle tone kid, so I worry a little about weight bearing activities too soon. Some kids grow out of it. I don't know. I don't know enough about it. His younger brother has a true muscle on his arm which amazes me because in the ten year old you can not feel a muscle...at all. But last night I noticed that running is bringing out a muscle in his leg and last night I felt his bicep and deep down in there is a muscle. I figure starting small with push-ups won't hurt him. He and Dad are going to add that to their pre-run routine.

Well, here's a possible resource, the American Council on Exercise "Strength Training for Kids": http://www.acefitness.org/fitfacts/f...px?itemid=2682