September Is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

On September 1, President Barack Obama signed a Presidential Proclamation declaring September as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. In his proclamation, President Obama stated, “One of the greatest responsibilities we have as a Nation is to safeguard the health and well-being of our children. We now face a national childhood obesity crisis, with nearly one in every three of America's children being overweight or obese.”

That statistic is staggering. Childhood obesity has been a growing problem for decades, afflicting children nationwide with certain racial, ethnic, and regional kids more severely affected. And research has shown that obesity can be influenced by environmental and behavioral factors, such as unhealthy eating and too little physical activity. (To learn more about the effects of nutrition on behavior, see our webinar, Nutrition and Behavior Problems in Children and Adolescents presented by Dr. James M. Greenblatt, M.D.)

Earlier this year, the First Lady Michelle Obama announced the "Let's Move!" initiative to combat childhood obesity. The President, too, created a Task Force on Childhood Obesity to, as he stated, “marshal the combined resources of the Federal Government to develop inter-agency solutions and make recommendations on how to respond to this crisis.” The Task Force produced a report containing a comprehensive set of recommendations that “will put our country on track for solving this pressing health issue and preventing it from threatening future generations.”

During his statement, President Obama added that the “report outlines broad strategies to address childhood obesity, including providing healthier food in schools, ensuring access to healthy affordable food, increasing opportunities for physical activity, empowering parents and caregivers with better information about making healthy choices, and giving children a healthy start in life.”

The web site, LetsMove.gov offers detail information about these recommendations and as well as information and resources on how to help children eat healthy and stay active.

“Our history,” said the President, “shows that when we are united in our convictions, we can safeguard the health and safety of America's children for generations to come…. When we work together, we can overcome any obstacle and protect our Nation's most precious resource -- our children. As we take steps to turn around the epidemic of childhood obesity, I am confident that we will solve this problem together, and that we will solve it in a generation…. I encourage all Americans to take action by learning about and engaging in activities that promote healthy eating and greater physical activity by all of our Nation's children.”

Have a joyful day everyone. And remember to live a flourishing life.
Rita
www.ritaschiano.com

Written for KidsTerrain, Inc. Reprinted here with permission.

Politics Aside, An Inspiring Message...

In 2001, KidsTerrain co-founder and president Maggie Moran wrote a book for children about finding one’s magic. The Magic In Me offers a simple, yet vital lesson for our children, helping them identify the talents and abilities that represent the magic in each child.

Eight years later in his address to the school children of our nation, President Obama said, “Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is.”

Now, aside putting all the political controversy, when you get right down to it, the message was a good one…and one I would think that every parent would, should, and ought to teach their children. The message was really quite simple: you’ll never know what you are good at (what your magic is) if you don’t try, if you don’t embrace the concept that failure is a necessary part of success.

No baseball player hits the ball every time; no ice skater executes a new jump perfectly at the start; no author writes a book from beginning to end in one take. A baseball player batting .333 (which is pretty darn good) is actually only hitting the ball 33% of the time. When a champion figure skater begins to learn a new jump, spin, or lift, he or she fall hundreds of times. And every author, every writer knows that rewriting is essential to honing a story.

“No one’s born being good at things. You become good at things through hard work,” the President reminded us. He also said that asking for help “is not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something” and a willingness “to learn something new.”

Whether you agree with his politics or not, President Obama offered an inspiring message: To be the best that we can be, to pick ourselves up and keep moving forward when we stumble along life’s paths, and to encourage our children to discover and nurture their talents…their magic.

Written for KidsTerrain.com. Published here with permission.