Should you encourage your child to step on the scale?

Is the bathroom scale a friend or foe? 

That depends. If you have a pre-teen or teen on the pudgy side – you might want to drag the scale out of the closet. A report in the Journal of Adolescent health found that overweight teens, especially boys, who frequently weighed themselves were better at managing their weight and actually shed a few pounds. 

However, if you’ve got a teenage girl in the house, you may want to ditch the bathroom scale. Adolescent girls who frequently self-weigh are more prone to binging or skipping meals.