When my 9-year old grandson was here, I noticed that he is starting to get a little bit of a gut on him, not bad, but enough to notice. Neither of his parents have an ounce of extra fat anywhere on their bodies. The problem is, he's an extremely picky eater, and most everything he actually likes is bad for him. Add to that the fact that you almost have to force him to go outdoors because his neurotic dad has made him so afraid of every possible life form that he might encounter "out there," and you have a recipe for problems.
That stinks about the neurotic dad. Our family tends to grab life by the horns.