childhood obesity
This is fixable.
This childhood obesity epidemic is a huge problem, but it's not impossible to solve. However, it will take concentrated efforts from many different groups of people (parents, teachers, community programs, and government) in order to bring about a positive and permanent change.
Most importantly, these efforts need to be unified. If kids are presented with a clear, consistent message across the board, they are much more likely to integrate these ideas into their lifestyle, since the unified front will encourage kids to jump on the bandwagon and make these changes all throughout their life.
What YOU can do
Parents:
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Be good role models - if you display healthy behaviors, your children will most likely do the same. Children want to be just like their parents, after all!
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Provide healthy meals
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Engage children in family-wide physical activity, like walking together, training for a race, or even just working together on housework!
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Decrease focus on the number on the scale. A lot of times, parents can center their idea of health around weight, but that's not what health is about. Instead, being healthy involves feeling good and making good choices - and too much focus on the "number" can lead to eating disorders and low self-esteem, which is the polar opposite of what we're trying to accomplish.
Teachers and school administration:
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Offer healthy food choices. Since children eat one (and in some cases, two) meals in a school cafeteria, it is important that schools present healthy, appetizing options for children that encourage them to develop a positive relationship with food.
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Provide more outlets for activity during the school day - recess just doesn't cut it anymore. 30 minutes of playtime is a great start, but children need to be active throughout the day in order to keep their blood flowing and stay healthy. Teachers can take 10 minute breaks that involve movement and exercise, which helps expend restless energy and creates more focus when kids come back to learning. In addition, it's been proven that kids who get more exercise do better in school!
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Allow for the development of lifelong skills. If we want children to maintain these healthy behaviors for a lifetime, we need to foster activities that can last a lifetime. In order to do this, children should be abel to choose which acitivites they want to get involved in based on their skills and interests. A kid who enjoys running is not the same as a kid who enjoys playing baseball!
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Provide a safe environment for students to grow - limit bullying and help kids feel good about themselves.
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Promote positive body image and self-esteem.
Government:
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Continue to subsidize fruits and vegetables, along with other healthy foods, in order to make them more accessible to poorer families.
Community organizations:
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Build on these previously listed ideas in a different setting, in order to help reaffirm the ideas in children's minds and provide another source.
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Fight the media representation of beauty, and show kids that being healthy is beautiful, which in turn promotes positive body image and higher overall self-esteem.
