The mom in the article tells about denying her seven-year-old child dinner and shaming her publicly about being fat. Harsh? Yes! Most would agree her tactics were over the top!

But many would probably agree there's no magic bullet to solving childhood obesity. The fact remains: overweight kids grow up and become overweight adults. Those adults are more at risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

So what should you as a parent do? The experts tell us, we have to be our children's role model, teaching our kids healthy habits and, dare I say, just learn to say no!

I remember growing up with cookies and Kool Aid for snacks as a kid but I also remember my parents saying no to a lot of other things. They said no to having sodas with our meals; no to eating at fast food places for dinner; no to sitting for hours in front of the television. We didn't have the computer or video games to keep us still for hours either.

We rode bikes a lot; walked to and from school; actually played outside too. Simple games like jump-rope; basketball; had neighborhood ball games - nothing really organized. We seemed to just play a whole lot more!

Just saying no is not the only answer to the childhood obesity crisis. However it can be a first step to begin improving our children's physical well being.