The purpose of this article is to choose a topic or theme related to family or family theory. The questions that need to be answered are: What have we learned from the literature on the subject? How did the readings help to better understand how this issue could be approached in practice? At least three peer-reviewed articles will be used in this discussion. The chosen topic is how parental socialization techniques and behaviors contribute to childhood obesity. A review of the literature found that the incidence of obesity doubled between 1980 and 1999 in the United States (Ogden, Carroll & Flegal, 2002 cited in O'Dea & Eriksen, 2010, pp. 84-85). Childhood obesity is a major concern as these children become obese adults. According to Serdula et al., 1993 (cited by Friedman, Bowden and Jones, 2003), childhood obesity leads to many health problems in adults. Obese children are diagnosed with normal diseases seen in older people, such as non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The disease leads to other costly complications, such as coronary heart disease, kidney failure, and blindness (Freedman, Katzmarzyk, Dietz, Srinivasan, & Berenson, 2009. Based on Olshansky et al., 2005 (cited in Levi, Vinter, St. Laurent, & Segal, 2010), if this trend is not stopped, many predict that, for the first time in history, the life expectancy of our children will decrease. 2010 identified overweight and obesity as one of 10 health indicators and called for a reduction in the percentage of children and adolescents who are overweight or obese; achieving this goal... middle of document ...... successful obesity prevention: International research, controversies and intervention. Ogden, CL, Carroll, MD and Flegal, KM (2002). review of prevalence and trends in childhood obesity in the United States. Eriksen (Ed.), Childhood obesity prevention: international research, controversies, and interventions (pp. 84-85). NY: Oxford. Rhee, K. (2008). Childhood overweight and the relationship between parental behaviors, parenting style and family functioning. Wise. Retrieved March 15, 2012 from http://ann.sagepub.com/content/615/1/11Spruyt, K., Molfese, DL and Gozal, D. (2011). Sleep duration, sleep regularity, body weight and metabolic homeostasis in school-aged children. Pediatrics. Retrieved February 28, 2010 from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/01/24/peds.2010-0497.full.pdf+html