Earth Mother: Getting Serious about Childhood Obesity and Activity

by Julia Parker, Newsletter Volunteer, from the June 2007 Newsletter

Recently, I received a Girl Scouts newsletter. Thumbing through it, I noticed a picture of a dozen girls on a field trip. Their line-up in identical t-shirts didn’t hide the fact that half of the girls had a significant roll of fat around her middle. Statistics on childhood obesity and all the related diseases are staggering. A 2003-2004 survey by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) showed that in the United States 13.9 percent of children age 2-5 are obese, 18.8 percent of children between 6 and 11 are obese, and 17.4 percent of adolescents are obese. (www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/index.htm). Obesity is defined using ratios of height and weight called the Body Mass Index (www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/bmi_tbl.htm). So, a person that is my height, 5’2” (almost) would have to weigh 164 pounds to qualify as being obese. Obesity and weight loss involve a few different factors including social support, nutrition, and activity. For this article, I’m going to concentrate on activity—specifically getting children active.

The CDC recommends that children and adolescents get one hour of moderate physical activity daily. I was surprised when I read this guideline. I thought of our own 7-year-old daughter and her propensity for art and reading, and wondered if she got that much activity everyday. A ten-minute ride to campus on the trail-a-bike (does she really pedal back there?); a 15- minute walk home from the bus stop (sometimes); recess at school; dance class once a week. It really wasn’t adding up to an hour a day. Without wanting to add in structured sports, I tried to increase her activity level everyday. And, occasionally I added it up in my head. So, I just became more aware of encouraging and allowing more time for physical activity. A few days ago, I wanted her to write a grocery list for me while I was doing dishes and she said, “I want to go climb trees.” “Go climb trees,” I said.

Here are some ways to increase your kids’ activity levels. First, be a good role model. Remember that coach you had in 9th grade who drove in front of the team and smoked while they ran? He was not a good role model. Being active yourself provides kids a good example and encourages them to spend time with you being active. So, go hit a few tennis balls. Walk to work. Take a hike. Don’t just send junior out to play or enroll him in sports. And, let’s face it, as dismal as the statistics are on childhood obesity, the statistics on adult obesity are worse.

Incorporate exercise into your day-to-day activities. Leave the car at home and use your feet to get you to the grocery, post office and bank. Take your kids along and help them get conditioned to a health-promoting form of alternative energy. If you live out of town, you can still come to Moscow and park it—then walk to your errands.

Play. Encourage your kids to play active games, whether it’s an imaginative game of flying broomsticks or a semi-structured game of tag, hopscotch or kick-the-can. Kids can run, jump, stretch, flap, hop, spin while doing free active play outside.

Teach. If you know how to catch a baseball, kick a soccer ball, swim, ride a bike, double dutch or dance the watoosie, teach your kid. A few years ago, I read a short article on the growing business of teaching kids to ride bikes because parents didn’t have time. Scary.

Finally, here are two games to play with groups of kids to keep them moving. Join in and see how long you can be active each day.

Popcorn Tag
This is similar to regular tag but all players have to hop up and down on two feet instead of running. When the person who is “it” tags another player they have to hold hands and seek out others to tag and join the chain. Hopping takes lots of energy! (from Bob Gregson’s Incredible Indoor Games)

Bubble Clapping
I was introduced to this game by a Headstart teacher when my oldest son was 18 months old. (He just turned 20 years old!) It’s simple! Blow bubbles with a wand and let the kids see how many they can pop by clapping them between their hands. It teaches young children basic hand/eye coordination for catching and it allows older kids to smack, run, dive, and be silly.

Julia Parker is a health fanatic, but she still eats an occasional Rice Dream Cookie Sandwich at the Co-op if she walks to get it.

Copyright: Copyright on articles and recipes are jointly held by the Moscow Food Co-op and the respective authors, except were otherwise noted.

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