What Motivates Us to Make Change?

Lisa is an adorable 13 year old girl who started the program 9 weeks ago. She continues to stay motivated, writes in her journal every day and reduces her red lights. She struggles a little bit with getting her exercise points every day but is working hard. My co-teacher and I sat down with Lisa and her mom last night after class to go over her progress. She is progressing at a very healthy weight and at 9 weeks she has been able to reduce her BMI by 6%,  which is great. 

We asked her, which we often do, what motivates her to continue to make changes? She looked at her mom and said, “Can I tell them?”. Her mom said of course. She told us that when she is done with the program, she wants to go clothes shopping and get new clothes – and not just any new clothes. She wants a cute sweatsuit that she can wear on the plane to visit family over the summer. Normally this is an expectation that I try to manage and perhaps even discourage but in this case it seemed fine.  She reassured us, without prompting, that this was not the main reason she was in the program but it was what motivates her when she feels discouraged – after all, as Lisa said, clothes are very important in 7^th grade…

Don't Forget to Celebrate Success!

Teachers of any discipline know that hearing about the successes of past students is incredibly rewarding. Lately I have had a lot to celebrate. 

One student has successfully published a memoir about his experience as an overweight child and his success in the Pediatric Weight Control Program. He has a book signing in August and has already been featured in a couple of news stories! Next he is on his way to LA and NYC!

Another student is on her way to play Division I water polo. Another has discovered rowing and is joining his high school crew team. And another student was one of two children's hospital patients asked to speak about his/her experiences with Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at the ground breaking ceremony for the new addition to the hospital. This student spoke about his experience in the Pediatric Weight Control Program and the increase in self-esteem that came with his weight loss. This was an honor that, admittedly, was not fully realized until we arrived! More about that later...

Despite these incredible successes I find that I spend a lot of time worrying about the few families that may not be succeeding, so much so that I sometimes lose sight of those students and families who are actually achieving their goals.

If a child or parent does not seem to be progressing as desired, hopefully I can still teach them tools that they can continue to use in the future. A perfect example is the water polo player. She had a lot of success as a student in the program about 5 years ago. When I saw her about 3-4 years ago she was still struggling with her weight. Now, a couple of years later, she contacted us to tell us that she is an athlete at a Division 1 college and credits her success (at least partially) to the tools she learned in our classroom!