The purpose of this article is to choose a topic or theme related to family or family theory. The questions to be answered are the following: what has been learned from the literature on the topic? How did the readings help you better understand how this problem could be addressed in practice? At least three peer-reviewed articles will be used in this discussion. The chosen topic concerns how parental socialization techniques and behaviors contribute to childhood obesity. Based on a review of the literature, one thing learned is that the incidence of obesity from 1980 to 1999 doubled in the United States (Ogden, Carroll & Flegal, 2002 cited in O'Dea & Eriksen, 2010, pp. 84- 85). Childhood obesity is a major concern because these children grow up to become obese adults. According to Serdula et al., 1993 (as cited by Friedman, Bowden, & Jones, 2003) childhood obesity leads to many health problems in adults. Obese children are diagnosed with normal diseases in the elderly, 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 According to Olshansky et al., 2005 (as cited by Levi, Vinter, St. Laurent , & Segal, 2010), if this trend is not stopped, many predict that, for the first time in history, there will be a decrease in the life expectancy of our children in 2010 have 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, the United States has made little progress in achieving this goal. International Research, Controversy, and Intervention. CL, Carroll, M.D., &, Flegal, K.M. (2002).Eriksen (Eds.), Preventing childhood obesity: International research, controversies, and interventions (pp. 84-85). (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, D.L., &, Gozal, D. (2011). Sleep duration, sleep regularity, body weight and metabolic homeostasis in school-age children. Pediatrics. Retrieved February 28, 2010, from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/01/24/peds.2010-0497.full.pdf+html