General practitioners (GPs) can play a key role in tackling the current obesity epidemic, especially helping parents who may not realise that their child is overweight. In a ten-minute consultation, a GP should: explore a parent's ideas, concerns and expectations about food and exercise and build a picture of the home environmentexclude medical causes of overweight and plot height and weight on a growth chartoffer practical strategies and achievable goals, agree follow up and involve the multidisciplinary team for support.