Overweight children are more likely to be the target of bullying at school by playground bullies than any other peer group. The rise in childhood obesity has a direct link to the rise in bullying incidents both in and outside of school. The best self defence solution is to help and encourage your child to lose weight.

Children can be the most spiteful and hurtful creatures and tend to target other children who are different, weaker, more vulnerable or do not fit the norm. Children who are fat and don't take regular physical exercise tend to fall into all four categories. Isolated and often friendless, fat children are defenceless against playground bullies who will seek them out during play and lunchtimes.

Bullies tend to hunt in packs. The ringleader(s) tend to be the larger kids who are popular for no other reason than their height, sporting abilities and self confidence. They will be surrounded by children of lesser physical prowess and other weaker children who will join in the bullying because they are scared they might become a target themselves if they don't.

Bullying can take the shape of both physical and verbal attacks and both can be equally as painful. And I could bang on about how bullies should be dealt with and how to stop bullying by introducing social reforms and the breakdown of society but that will not help nor protect your child tomorrow nor next month from being bullied.

It would take at least a decade to change society if my recommendations for radical social reform were implemented today and that won't help your child if they are overweight and being bullied now.

You child might not tell you that they are the victim of any bullying but you can bet your life, if he or she is overweight, even if they are not suffering physical assaults, they will be the victim of verbal bullying and that can be even more psychologically damaging in both the short and long term.

You can speak to the headmaster, who in my experience will do 4/5ths of 5/8ths of bugger all, you can remove your child from the school you can even move out of the area but this will not solve the problem. You have to sort out the reasons for the bullying and that means you have to put dietary guidelines in place to help your child lose weight and get your child into a physical activity like judo to help build up their physical attributes, confidence and self esteem.

The bullying will almost certainly stop when you remove the reasons for the name calling, not by removing your child from the school or trying to get the teachers to intervene. If your child is overweight, they will be target for bullying wherever they go to school.

This subject is covered in depth in the E-book and on the forum.

Making the necessary changes to your child's lifestyle and diet will build the confidence and self esteem they need to put a stop to the bullying. Remember that bullies always have a psychological flaw and once your child has the self esteem and confidence to exploit that flaw, they will defeat any playground bully without having to lift a finger.