Empowering Healthy Kids Blog

Apparently playing the Wii uses an extra 60 calories per hour compared to playing an XBox; which is equivalent of walking an extra 12 minutes.

I like the “Play” message for children.

Adam Thierer delves into the 2004 USA Census data and charts:

• Number of families with TV rules
• Family reading time
• Kids activities

It’s not all bad news either. Check it out here.

Michael Duffy comments on the fat test for 4 year olds:

‘One in four Australian children and one in two adults are already overweight or obese,” the Minister for Health, Nicola Roxon, told a conference of obesity experts this week.

Where are they, minister? In the past fortnight, I’ve been in the centres of Sydney and Melbourne, in Newcastle and Katoomba, and in Sydney suburbs including Maroubra, Gladesville and Parramatta. I’ve seen plenty of fat adults but nothing like one in two. I’ve seen thousands of children, but were a quarter of them fat? No way.

So we have to ask again, where are they? Either Australia’s fat people are hiding, too scared to come out and incur the wrath of the Health Minister, or else something fishy is going on. As fishy as Roxon’s other claim, that obesity is costing the economy $21 billion a year.

The claims were made this week to justify the Government’s absurd plan to have every four-year-old weighed before they go to school, starting next year. This will add a quarter of a million extra tasks to the workload of our general practitioners and health clinics.

I commented earlier that the idea had some if it was used for non-identifiable, general statistics. I hadn’t considered the extra burden it would place on the health system. So I did some quick back of the envelope calculations. From the ABS National Schools Statistics Collection, 2003, there are 214,000 of pre-year 1’s (the targets of this test). Assume that each child takes 5 minutes to measure, record and collate the data. That’s an extra 17, 833 hours of labour required to conduct these tests.

New Australian health minister, Nicola Roxon, announced recently that, starting in 2009,  Body Mass Index (BMI) tests will be conducted on 4 year olds. While there is a lack of detail in this new policy, my immediate reaction is that it is a positive move ONLY if the results are confidential and use for statistical information only. We do not want to get into a situation where children a “branded” and stigmatised in schools.

This got me thinking (again) about the role of government in solving childhood obesity.  The role of government to educate and create an environment for people to make decisions for themselves. It is their role to create an environment so that the marketplace of ideas can flow freely and allow new innovative solutions to flourish. If, as a society, we decide to wait for a government solution,  organisations and individuals are discouraged from seeking their novel solutions as it becomes “the government’s problem.”

Most parents are aware of childhood obesity and can make informed decisions about their families health and wellbeing. Childhood obesity will not be solved by government “junk food” taxes and bans. It will be solved from the ground-up, from children, parents, schools, businesses and local communities. Let them figure out the solution.

Workin’ up a sweat…

The “corporate” website is up.

The Go For Your Life crew have created a “Free Fruit Friday” initiative:

Free Fruit Friday aims to increase the consumption of fruit and vegetables for all Victorian government school students in years Prep – 2 by providing them with a variety of high quality, seasonal produce. Fresh fruit and vegetables are a vital part of every child’s life. There are many reasons to enjoy a wide variety of fruit and vegetables, including the provision of important vitamins and the prevention of disease.

(Thanks for the link David)

Nice that kids are getting involved:

The fifth annual GO FAR 5K was a huge success this year on the campus of High Point University. More than 200 children, ages 12 years and younger, crossed the GO FAR finish line and received medals of accomplishment.

Joining the children in the GO FAR run this year were HPU college students, GO FAR parents, siblings, teachers and principals. Members of the High Point Police Department SWAT team also ran alongside the children as escorts. All 428 participants helped demonstrate that staying active is an excellent way to fight the battle of the bulge.

Schools from Guilford and Forsyth counties currently participate in the activity. The children trained with their physical education teachers, along with local volunteers over a 10-week period to run the 5K event. The Nov. 17 race was the culmination of their training.

By the way,  GO FAR 5K stands for Go Out For A Run (5 kilometers). A good model for other communities to adopt.

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