Liz Atwood has her own take on Michelle Obama's anti-obesity campaign this Tween Tuesday:

While I haven’t seen Sasha and Malia in a while, I was surprised when Michelle Obama said last week that her daughters’ pediatrician had advised her to keep an eye on the girls’ body mass index because “something was getting off balance.” Certainly neither girl looks fat and you would think that with the White House swimming pool, the bowling alley and the new swing set the girls would be getting plenty of exercise.

I think we parents of tweens walk a fine line when it comes to watching our kids’ weight. Our children are just becoming conscious of body image. I fear if we’re too critical, we could undermine their self-esteem. At the same time, we want them to eat healthfully and get sufficient exercise.

When our children are infants, we agonize over everything we feed them, starting with pressure to breastfeed for the first year. Then there are the debates over when to introduce solid foods and we ever so carefully start with the rice cereal and then the orange vegetables and the green. We never could imagine that in 10 years, the only orange vegetable they’ll eat is a Doritos chip.

That’s how it has turned out in my house at least. Although I imagine boys tend to be less worried about their bodies than girls, the boys, too, think about their appearance. My 13-year-old has just joined a gym and he wants to build his muscles and trim his waist. But it’s still a struggle to get him to eat properly. He’ll skip dinner and then eat a bag of chips.

It’s very hard to regulate everything a tween eats. I try to buy healthful foods and set a good example, but of course the boys eat foods outside the home, and I’m not so adamant that I never buy chips and soda. The key is keeping a proper balance.

What are your thoughts on helping your children manage their weight without giving them a complex?