Unlike chicken pox, polio, and even the common cold, obesity is not spread by germs in the air or by shaking hands with an obese person. Although the number of overweight and obese people in the United States keeps rising (the last numbers I heard were around 60% of adults and 25% of children), obesity can't be cured by a vaccine. Washing your hands more often won't help keep you slim and trim.

We've all heard a lot of news recently about the bird flu, and the possibility of a world-wide pandemic. A pandemic could kill millions of people around the world in a very short time. Obesity can also be a killer, but may involve a much slower and more painful death.

Children who are obese are now developing diseases which, in the past, were only seen in adults. Type II diabetes was formerly called adult-onset diabetes, because it was rarely seen in children. It is now frequently being diagnosed in children under the age of 10. Type II diabetes can cause very serious health problems, including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, amputation of limbs, and much more. Parents who wouldn't dream of starting the car unless their children were buckled securely in their car seats are turning a blind eye to their children's potential health problems caused by poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles.

What is the answer? Children don't need temporary diets. Their bones and muscles are growing rapidly, and they need good nutrition to ensure proper growth. The best solution is a lifestyle change.

Start by restricting the time your children watch TV or play video games. Most pediatricians recommend no more than 2 hours a day of screen time (except for homework done on the computer). Will your children be angry at you? Probably, at least for the first few days, but they'll get over it! Remind them that you love them, and loving them means that you will sometimes have to make decisions based on what is best for them and not necessarily what they prefer. Use some of the time that they now spend watching TV for family activities involving physical activity. Play ball in the yard or park, romp with the dog, fly a kite, take a walk or bike ride after dinner. Take turns picking the activity for the day.

Eat more meals at home and limit fast food or pizza delivery to one or two times a week. Make your pizzas veggie pizzas with thin crust, and skip the extra cheese. Stop buying sodas for home use, and drink water, fat-free milk, or unsweetened iced tea. Instead of snacking on chips, cookies, and ice cream, stock up on fresh fruit, low-fat yogurt, and nuts. Make sugar-free gelatin with fresh fruit, and top with fat-free frozen whipped topping. Spread low-fat plain yogurt on a chocolate graham cracker, add another cracker to make a sandwich, and freeze. The result is a healthier "ice-cream sandwich". Look for other low-calorie snacks in magazines or online recipe sites.

If you need help planning well-balanced meals, look for programs or websites that offer menus based on the USDA Food Pyramid, or consult with a registered dietician if your family has food allergies or medical conditions that restrict certain food groups.

If your child is overweight, his primary concern may be physical appearance. That is important too, because his self-esteem and confidence may suffer because of teasing or bullying by other children.

Assure him that you want to help, and that changing his lifestyle will improve his appearance and confidence at the same time it improves his health.

Treat obesity like the serious health risk that it is, and let's work toward starting a "pandemic" of good health for future generations!

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Many small children love their teddy bears and other stuffed animals. I got the inspiration for a teddy bear party from a "teddy bear picnic" my town held - it was a huge success, and I knew teddy bears are still a great way to go for the little ones. Here are some ideas I came up with after the picnic.

Make Invitations With Your Little Ones

My kids really enjoyed making bear "sand art" at the picnic. It was a simple craft and you could easily do it with your kids to create invitations. Take card stock and cut it into bear shapes. Then use a glue stick, or Elmer's white glue, to spread a layer of glue over the card stock bear. Use colored sand (get this at any craft store) to decorate your bears.

You can write over the sand with a permanent marker, or you can glue a smaller card over the bear's belly with the invitation details.

Other ideas for invitations include just decorating your card stock bears with crayons, markers, paint, or rubber stamps. These ideas may be a little less messy than colored sand, but not quite so exciting for little kids to get!

Decorating for the Party

You can find a lot of teddy bear themed decorations in party catalogs. Some feature characters like Winnie the Pooh, and others have more classic bears. You can also create your own decorations. Black and yellow streamers to remind the kids of bees could be a good idea. Everyone knows honeybees and bears go together!

Of course you should try and have as many teddy bears around as possible. Other stuffed friends like puppies and kittens may be welcome, too.

If you're using a picnic theme, you can put red and white, or blue and white, checkered decorations up. Have picnic baskets and blankets spread about.

Food for the Little Bears

Get back to the honey and the bees here! Peanut butter and honey sandwiches are a good idea - you can even find a bear cookie cutter to make bear-shaped finger sandwiches. Other "picnic like" foods such as chips, veggie sticks with dip, etc. are also going to be hits with little ones.

Make a bear cake and bear-shaped cookies for a sweet treat.

Party Activities

Another great idea from the Teddy Bear Picnic my town held was bear goodie bags. The kids made the bags themselves. Find small, inexpensive drawstring bags. Ours were made of a light linen-type fabric. Then get stamp pads and bear, forest, and bee rubber stamps and let the kids make their own goody bags!

You can use paper plates to create bear masks for everyone at the party. Kids really enjoy masks. If you feel really creative you can make a little nub "tail" for each little bear at the party using fabric scraps.

Play "pin the honey pot on the bear" as a twist on pin the tail on the donkey. Draw out a large bear on butcher paper or poster board and cut out little honey pots from card stock. See which child can get it closest to the bear's hand (or maybe his mouth!)

If you've got even basic sewing machine skills you can make some quick yellow beanbags. Draw a bear on the bottom of a cardboard box. Cut the bears mouth out and let the children take turns tossing their "honey pot" beanbags into the bear's mouth!

Gift Bags

At the end of the party, fill everyone's gift bag with teddy bear Graham crackers. Look for other teddy favors you can add, such a jewelry or mini-bears. Or just fill with small items children love, like little yo-yos and jump ropes. These items are always a hit.

With a little planning and work your teddy bear party can be a huge hit. It's a simple theme that always works well for little children.

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