Abstract
Obesity is becoming the leading negative health outcome for the current generation of children to a greater degree than for any previous generation. Pediatric orthopaedic nurses encounter many patients and families with concerns about obesity and need the ability to promote parenting capacity in order to detect, prevent, or treat childhood obesity. Parenting is a complex process with numerous two-way interactions between the parent and child. Pediatric orthopaedic nurses affect parenting capacity daily as they care for families in all care settings. Many family researchers use Baumrind's parenting typologies (styles) and their correlations to child health outcomes in research. Understanding Baumrind's theories can help pediatric orthopaedic nurses understand the mechanisms parents use to affect the health outcomes related to the obesity of their children. Baumrind's is one parenting theory that can help demonstrate how parental behaviors and practices affect a child's self-concept and self-care development and ultimately a child's health promotion beliefs and practices related to obesity prevention and care that continue into adulthood. Nurses can use reviews of literature and application to practice of parenting styles to expand their repertoire of parent guidance and anticipatory teaching directed to the prevention and care of childhood obesity.