Overweight and over-stressed: Why children and young people give up hope – and how we can help
The number of overweight children and young people has risen tenfold over the last four decades. At the same time, they spend eight hours a day consuming media. That doesn’t leave much time for exercise, social interactions and homework. At some point, when their weight goes up and the name-calling starts at school, when the next high score is waiting to be broken, kids stop going to school altogether. In Germany alone, 200,000 children and teenagers play truant. Their grades start slipping, the school threatens them with expulsion and a vicious circle starts.
These three phenomena now appear together so often in the lives of teens that we need to recognise a new syndrome: ISO (Internet addiction, School truancy and Obesity). This book details the first signs and explores the reasons behind this behaviour. But its focus is on how to help parents, therapists and teachers support teenagers in breaking out.
