Dietary change is much preferable to surgery. Cut carbs.
Beware of any liberal mandate on children because someone has their hand on your wallet.
When I was a kid, I was threatened with Military School if I became too much of a “lardass”.
I was always a heavy kid, (at least by 1980s standards - not by today’s standards) but those threats were enough to keep me active enough that it didn’t get anywhere NEAR the level of the average kid today.