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Introduction: The purpose of this study was to explore how obese children and their parents experience and understand the child's obesity. Four areas were analysed: (a) What factors do the family believe are responsible for the child's obesity? (b) How does the family experience the child's obesity? (c) How is the child being supported toward weight reduction? (d) How can weight reduction be achieved? Materials and methods: 23 obese and 2 formerly obese children and their parents were interviewed in the child's home. In addition, 35 children staying at the Danish Julemærkehjem (10 weeks' stay, mostly for obese children) were interviewed. The study involved 67% boys and 37% girls. The average age was 11 years. The study was based on qualitative research. Results: Variations among the families' experience and understanding were found: Some families were highly worried about the child's overweight and had a medically correct understanding of the child's overweight. Other families did not consider the child's overweight to be problematic and explained the obesity as being a result of factors not related to food and exercise. A correlation between the various kinds of experience and understanding of the child's obesity and socio-economic status was observed. Discussion: If obese children are to be helped in the future, it is essential that the families' own experience and understanding of the problem be taken into account. This study has shown that many families believe that the child is obese due to factors not related to eating and/or exercise. If these children are to be helped, it is of little value to focus strictly on food and exercise. Instead, it will be of great importance to integrate the families' own understanding and experience into future health promotion programmes.

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