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Being a parent can get difficult trying to get kids to go outside and play or getting them to eat healthier. Only 17.1% of families already perform a healthy lifestyle, that is not very high, however, there is a 31.1% of families are absent in participating in their child’s overweight status (Alff, F., 2012). The challenge is then, how can families support and be engaged to make lasting changes to have healthier eating, besides the hurdles, acted within modern society. School and childcare are important when they are not at home which is an important place because this is where many foods are introduced to children outside of the home. Being involved and guiding children to have a healthy lifestyle is important because this impacts them to have a healthy memorable relationship with food in their childhood and for their future.
Family Impact: Image
An article published by PLoS Onepointed out the rise in obesity within children is on the rise, children and adolescents should be recognized as a priority population for prevention. With obesity started in their childhood, it can be predicted that obesity can be seen in their adulthood. (Alff, F., 2012) Obesity normally affects the whole family, however, being involved should include the whole family to prevent childhood obesity or overweight. This can be anywhere from playing on a team, going outside for activities together, picking up on a hobby that can be done together outside, or just cheering on your kids to let them know you are there for them. Going out in the community and figuring out activities are being promoted. The Boys and Girls Clubs of America is a great start as well to get your child involved in not only physical activities but other projects are offered here as well. For more information is up on their website.
Family Impact: Text
Family involvement is important especially parent participation is highly encouraged. Even with participation rates being so low in families noticing important barriers and reasons leading to or blocking participation in programs that are focused to include families (Alff, F., 2012). The compliance to support and be involved in obesity prevention programs is low with no reasoning to why this is occurring.
Focusing on physical activities for kids not only helps them get exercise in for the day, but they make friends and gain confidence in themselves. However, with exercise comes hunger that needs to be fed after all that energy is let out. According to BMC Public Health, in a review that was published in 2017 talked about food and cooking gaining more focus, however, there are still diet habits that showing fruits and vegetables still reported to be consumed at a very low amount (Black, A., 2017). It is important to consume fruits and vegetables for overall health, however, for kids, this is extremely important because they need to the nutrients so that their growth levels are on track and not falling behind. Have an inadequate intake of nutrients can start to affect their health with factors such as the high prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases such as Cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes mellitus, and following the path of increasing obesity (Black, A., 2017).
Family Impact: Text
Little things can be done to get involved and start making an impact on any child's health like;
Packing a lunch or snacks for the day
Packing kids lunches is a small change you can start doing to help them get fruits and vegetables in for the day when they are away from home. However, not everyone has the time to pack a lunch either so doing other small things like packing snacks for the day or letting your child pick an apple instead of chips. Doing tips like these can make a big impact on them for the rest of the day and later on in life. Looking up ideas on FoodNetwork is a great way to get inspired and come up with some great recipes that the kids will love.
Packing snacks for the whole team
If your child is apart of a team, getting involved is important and if a change is wanted to be made on your child's life it is nice to hit all parts of the child’s life. It is pretty obvious not everyone is going to want to eat carrots after a game, however, pulling out a variety of snacks for the kids is great to get them to venture out and try new things. Sites like, Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/, Youtube, or even MyPlate https://www.choosemyplate.gov/are great resources to find different snack or recipe ideas for the whole family.
Eating together as a family at home
Eating together as a family is an important part of being involved in not only children’s lives but as a family. This is a great way to talk together as a family and engage with each other of how the day has gone. This is also a good way to get not only the kids familiarized with new foods but having the kids observe that everyone is eating the same thing at the table and soon will follow along.
Overall, getting involved in any child’s life is important this builds a bond not only together as a family, but with a healthy lifestyle as well. For more information on resources about getting your kids involved in sports or activities in the community going to your local rec center is a great place to start and asking around to see what is going on in the sports community. Same goes for different recipe ideas or snacks for the family to get inspired to try new things.
References:
Alff, F., Markert, J., Zschaler, S., Gausche, R., Kiess, W., & Blüher, S. (2012). Reasons for (non)participating in a telephone-based intervention program for families with overweight children (participation barriers for obesity prevention).PLoS ONE, 7(4), e34580. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0034580
Black, A. P., D'Onise, K., Mcdermott, R., Vally, H., & O'Dea, K. (2017). In Black A. P. (Ed.), How effective are family-based and institutional nutrition interventions in improving children's diet and health? A systematic reviewdoi:10.1186/s12889-017-4795-5
Holmberg Fagerlund, B., Helseth, S., Owe, J., & Glavin, K. (2017). Counselling parents on young children's healthy diet: A modified scoping reviewdoi:10.1111/jocn.13892
Family Impact: Text
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