Chips for chips

The overwhelming problem of weight gain in our pediatric/adolescent population spurred me to create a "Chips for chips" program with our families. In this program, the family purchases poker chips and assigns a monetary amount for each chip level. Instead of the child eating the chips in the "goody" bag after a baseball or soccer game, they exchange it for a poker chip. At the end of the week, they "cash" in the chips to purchase books, go to a movie, go bowling, or whatever the child and family work out together. Parents have been very receptive to trying this idea, and the child does not feel like he/she was left out.

Deb Browne, RNP, CPNPManhattan Beach, Calif.