These days, there are lots of reasons why it's hard for children to grow up healthy - about 10 billion of them. That's the number of dollars spent each year marketing food to children. TV ads make up a big part of this, of course, but there are also ads in magazines, on billboards, and more and more on the web.

A study published in 2006, by the Institute of Medicine, concludes that all of these ads work. That is, they increase demand among children and parents for the high fat, high calorie, and (by the way) expensive foods that are making our children fat.

Another reason children aren't growing up healthy, though, has nothing to do with money. I'm talking about love. We feed our children because we love them. You can never have too much love. So, sometimes we act as though you can never have too much food. I think this is perfectly natural.

A recent event in my own life has brought this issue into focus. My daughter, Grace, is a freshman in college. A couple of weeks ago, my wife sent her a care package. Not just a care package, but a really big care package. In fact, the mother of all care packages. There were nuts, chocolates, the special tea Grace loves, a big box of dipping cookies, and the main attraction - a box of my wife's homemade brownies, possibly the best in the world.

The box arrived. Grace opened it. And she loved it. She was just gleeful. Not only did she love it, but her roommates loved it, and so (I suppose) did half of the freshmen on campus. In the wake of this critical success, my wife and I concluded that she is in fact, "The Best Mother in the World." This label has stuck, and it still brings a smile even now.

All of this poses a bit of an ethical dilemma for me. Here I am, spending my days telling parents that food is not the best way to show their children love, and my nights thinking about our care package triumph, and planning the next shipment. 

One of the cruel ironies of our modern overweight society is that there is so much food around, and it is advertised so pervasively, that the simple act of showing love through food has become tainted. It has become a threat to our children's health.

So, against the food industry's 10 billion reasons to overfeed your child, I'm proposing a modest 18 healthier ways to show love. (And, if these don't work for you, you can always send a care package.)

1. Listen to music together and dance.
2. Take a walk. Notice things that are growing, or houses, or whatever.
3. Give hugs.
4. Read out loud. Ask a librarian for a book your child will love.
5. Plant flowers.
6. Color - get some crayons and join in.
7. Go to a museum - check schedules for free days.
8. Cook something healthy together.
9. Play with play dough, or finger paint together, or cut out pictures from a magazine.
10. Enjoy staying up a little later than usual.
11. Play a board game.
12. Have special time: Do whatever your child wants to do, as long as it's safe and healthy.
13. Rough-house together (wrestling, running around).
14. Go to the library together, or make a special trip to a bookstore.
15. Watch a special TV show or video together (but only for a short time).
16. Make doll clothes together.
17. Visit a Metropark together.
18. Clean the house together: Almost anything can be fun if you are in a good mood.