1. Purpose
The purpose of this project is to provide an intensive four week curriculum for parents, whose children are enrolled in the Healthy Lifestyle Clinic at Le Bonheur, to educate them on the importance of encouraging daily physical activity, setting restrictions on screen time and making healthy food choices for their family.
2. Rationale
According to the CDC, 1 out of 5 children aged 6-19 years are obese (https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/obesity/facts.htm). Over the last thirty years, the prevalence of obesity has actually tripled among this age group (https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/npao/pdf/mmwr-school-health-guidelines.pdf). Children who are obese face a greater risk of chronic disease which includes type 2 diabetes, liver disease, sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease. The Healthy Lifestyle Clinic (HLC) at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital is multidisciplinary weight management program for children. The causes of weight gain are numerous and complex. Modifiable factors with in this patient population include physical activity and nutrition. Many children enrolled in the HLC have an energy imbalance that has resulted in overweight or obesity.
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It is important to consider that screen time represents only a portion of a child’s overall sedentary activity. Other sedentary activities may include doing school work, talking on the phone and riding in a school bus or car. Low levels of physical activity combined with consuming low nutrition energy dense foods are major contributors to the health challenges our children face today
Exercise, food, technology, and money all play a role in causing childhood obesity. Lack of exercise among adolescents has been proven to be the leading cause of childhood obesity. According to a May 2012 Institute of Medicine report, only half of America’s children and one in four teens get enough activity to meet current guidelines (Doheny and Noonman 1). The recommendations call for children to participate in at least 60 minutes of vigorous to moderate physical activity every day (Hendrick 1). “Only four percent of elementary schools, eight percent of middle schools, and two percent of high schools provide daily physical ...
There are many classes that parents have taken to educate themselves. They have took classes on topics such as childbirth, breastfeeding, parenting, and technology. There is an article called “7 Lessons in Parenting” by Lynne Ticknor, who has her basic graduate-level degree in the Master of Arts (M.A.). She is a certified parent educator and a writer specializing in child development, parenting, and family issues. In the article Ticknor discussed the best seven lessons parent education classes have to offer (Ticknor). After taking a look at this article we should be persuaded to start classes, and create lessons like Ticknor did to show what parent health education classes have to offer. In the article “Preventing Childhood Obesity: Tips for Parents and Caretakers,” the American Heart Association states six tips that parents should use to keep their children healthy. The first tip is encouraging healthy eating habits because small changes can lead to a recipe for success! The second tip is making favorite dishe...
With the expansion in technology, children are hastily becoming more and more inactive. In the past century, kids would play outside from sunrise to sunset. Little did they realize, that playtime served as great daily exercise. Physical activity is a key necessity in keeping a healthy lifestyle. With the advancement of technology and the growing popularity of video games and television, fewer children are getting exercise. Stationary activities, such as video games and watching T.V., are keeping children inside and away from exercise. To blame just the kids for this lack of exercise would be wrong. The parents are the ones responsible for giving the children these games, but that is not all bad. Where it does turn bad however, is when the kids are given these games or televisions without a time restraint. Through research, they have found that 26% of children watch television for more than four hours a day. In efforts to encourage outside playtime for kids, Nickelodeon shut down programming daily from noon to 3pm. This seemed to be a great idea, but does it really help? Children are in school session Monday through Friday from 8am 3pm. The time Nickelodeon chose to go dark is the same time child...
Childhood obesity has been on the rise in the last couple of years. In the 1970’s childhood obesity was never a concern to the public until the number increased over the years. An alarming rate of 31% of all adults have been obese since they were children and the rates of childhood obesity don’t fall too behind with an 18% of children being obese. That makes almost half of obese adults and children. A child that is obese has a 70-80% higher chance of staying obese even through their adulthood if no action is taken. Childhood obesity is not something children are in control of, these children suffer from different outcomes since they can’t look after themselves and heavily rely on someone to aid them when they need it. These numbers can be drastically altered in a positive way by educating both children and parents about healthy, nutritious foods to consume, supplying schools with better lunch and healthier vending machines with healthy choices and promoting after school activities to keep children active and away from electronics.
After reading and completing the assessment at the end of Chapter One, the author realizes that wellness has not been as much of a priority for herself and her family as it should be. The author sees areas where good techniques are being applied to teach her children to achieve wellness. She also sees areas where improvements need to be made. She teaches her family good hygiene, in a loving nurturing environment. She also buys healthy snacks such as fruit, low fat cheese, skim milk, and yogurt. However, she also buys some cookies and chips. These items are not good snack foods. She realizes that ...
For the past 10 years, obesity has become an epidemic. Not only adults are obese but children as well. The number of children with obesity keeps increasing each year. There are children being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and other serious health problems due to their obesity. Some experts are predicting that obesity will became the number one leading cause of premature death, instead of tobacco. There are many ways to prevent obesity in children and is up to the parent, to provide their children with healthier food options.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) about “17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years are obese” (Moreno et al., 2013 P.157). “Surveys administered in 1976-1980 and 2007-2008 show that the prevalence of obesity has changed from 6.5% to 19.6% among children 6-11 years old age and from 5.0% to 18.1% for those aged 12-19 years (Moreno et al., 2013 P.157).
Childhood obesity is a serious problem among American children. Some doctors are even calling childhood obesity an epidemic because of the large percentage of children being diagnosed each year as either overweight or obese. “According to DASH sixteen to thirty-three percent of American children each year is being told they are obese.” (Childhood Obesity) There is only a small percentage, approximately one percent, of those children who are obese due to physical or health related issues; although, a condition that is this serious, like obesity, could have been prevented. With close monitoring and choosing a healthier lifestyle there would be no reason to have such a high obesity rate in the United States (Caryn). Unfortunately, for these children that are now considered to be obese, they could possibly be facing some serious health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancers. All of these diseases have been linked to obesity through research. These children never asked for this to happen to them; however, it has happened, and now they will either live their entire life being obese, or they will be forced to reverse what has already been done (Childhood Obesity).
Children can experience numerous complications in relation to their obesity, and it is important to understand these long-term effects on their body. Childhood obesity has been shown to persist into adulthood, causing an increase in morbidity and early mortality for those affected. Illnesses that were historically unheard of in pediatrics are occurring more frequently. Metabolic syndrome was once a predictor of adult cardiovascular disease and diabetes, but has recently been used for pediatrics. Pediatric patients with the diagnosis of metabolic disorder tend to be obese, sedentary, and show signs of insulin resistance and hypertension. Metabolic syndrome is increasing by 16% in children (Malek, 2010, p.1) and is a precursor to type II diabetes. Rates of type II diabetes in children have growth drastically; 85% of children with type II diabetes are overweight or obese (Waldman & Perlman, 2007, p.12). According to Waldman and Perlman (2007), about two thirds of diabetics die from stroke or heart disease (p.12). Obese children are being set up for these serious cardiovascular disorders and the need for treatment with antihypertensives, insulin, and other medication regimens. Diabetics are also at risk for blindness, kidney failure, nervous system damage, and periodontal disease (Waldman & Perlman, 2007, p.12). Waldman and Perlman (2007) also stated that as a child’s weight increases, so does their chance of death, and “over 300,000 deaths per year will be attributed to obesity” (p.13).
...mption of food and physical activity. To make their children more active, parents should stop buying videogames and set a time limit to decrease the amount of time their children spend in front of a computer screen. Another way to increase physical activity is to encourage children to join an extra-curricular activity. Although it is easiest to prevent obesity at a young age, many people in the United States grow up obese or become obese. To help and to encourage adults who are suffering from obesity, they need to learn the life-threatening effects that accompany the “heavy” burden.
According to the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination survey says that, 16 percent of children around the ages of 6-19 years old are at risk of being obese. Obesity has increased in the last twenty years now. Obesity is like other disease, it impairs the normal body functioning. Children who are overweight have excess fat tissue that caus...
Childhood obesity is a health problem that is becoming increasingly prevalent in society’s youth. For a number of years, children across the nation have become accustomed to occasionally participating in physical activities and regularly snacking on sugary treats. In result of these tendencies, approximately one third of American children are currently overweight or obese (Goodwin). These grim statistics effectively represent all the lack of adult interference, in regards to health, has done to the youth of America. The habits of over consuming foods and under participating in physical activities are all too common in the children of today. Children cannot solve this issue alone, though. These young people need to essentially be given the opportunities to make positive health decisions and learn about good, nutritional values.
WETHINGTON, HOLLY, LIPING PAN, and BETTYLOU SHERRY. "The Association Of Screen Time, Television In The Bedroom, And Obesity Among School-Aged Youth: 2007 National Survey Of Children's Health." Journal Of School Health 83.8 (2013): 573-581. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Nov. 2013.
In our society today one of the most difficult problems we are facing is the large numbers of obesity in our children. One of the major factors in that is this; our children have become less physically active. At an early age children start watching TV, learn how to operate a computer, and play video games. Having technological skills is now a necessity in all of our lives because everything has turned “computerized,” but the fact is that our children are relying on these types of entertainment rather than getting up and physically exercising to entertain them selves. This directly affects the large number of obese children in our country today because of the lack of physical exercise. It is not that we want our kids to look a certain way or to be better at sports than everyone else, but it is that we want our kids to be physically fit and to develop a healthy lifestyle. Physical exercise is not only for adults, it is for children as well, so we must understand the importance of our children exercising and the benefits from it. By doing that it will make an impact on that child for the rest of his/her life.
Eat Right Be Bright is our healthy eating co-operative programme based in QMUniville. Upon planning this Co-operative the group conducted research into the benefits it could offer. In doing so we focused on one family in particular and how it would help them specifically. Finally we considered the potential of various venues and their overall suitability for the project’ and also the resources that would be required to run such an initiative and whether or not it would meet the needs of the community.