New Action for Healthy Kids Report Shows the Importance of Getting Parents Involved in Fighting Childhood Obesity

In the fight against childhood obesity, schools play a major role in teaching children to be physically active and eat healthy.  However, the greatest impact happens when there is a connection between school and home, that is, when parents have an understanding of what kids are learning and hearing about healthy eating and physical activity at school, and when parents grasp the importance of emphasizing it at home. 

While school programs, instructional materials, and supportive school environments are necessary to introduce concepts and skills to children, time spent in a school setting is only part of a child’s life.  A new Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK) report reveals that engaging parents and caregivers provides support and expands the venues for practice and application beyond the school setting.  It also shows that the involvement of parents is vital due to its modeling and reinforcing effect. 

The report provides examples of AFHK’s Teams from two states (Pennsylvania and Montana) that believed that engaging and supporting parents and other caregivers was crucial to reaching their goals of improving physical activity levels and eating habits in children. 

The AFHK’s Team from Pennsylvania, for instance, implemented a project which included 15 schools throughout the state and involved the distribution and use of a nutrition information toolkit entitled “Preventing Childhood Overweight and Obesity: Parents Can Make a Difference.”  The kit contained an assortment of educational items, both in print and video, designed to teach parents of elementary, middle school, and high school students about nutrition and childhood obesity.  The kit aimed to encourage parents to take part in things such as school health councils, and to become informed, proactive participants in their local schools’ commitment to nutrition, physical activity, and physical education. 

In addition, in order to assess the effort’s effectiveness, participating schools were asked to distribute the survey to parents at the beginning and the end of the program.  Survey results indicate that the presentation of educational materials to Pennsylvania parents via school teams not only improved parents’ knowledge about the effects of nutrition and physical activity on learning, but also increased knowledge about the importance of role modeling, and enhanced both perceived and actual knowledge about the rules that schools must follow related to nutrition and physical education. 

According to a September 2005, national AFHK report, the first step to engaging parents is to make them aware of the gap between their expectations and the reality that is taking place in their children’s schools.  The report was based on a public opinion research that was designed to understand parents’ beliefs and expectations with respect to wellness practices in their children’s schools.  The survey uncovered a significant gap between parental expectations and reality.  For example, parents think that schools are providing nutrition education to all students and they would like such education to be part of the core curriculum two days each week.  Nevertheless, the typical school curriculum devotes only five hours a year to nutrition education, and such education is provided in some (not all) grades. 

For additional information on the new AFHK report as well as other AFHK reports, please contact:

Action for Healthy Kids
4711 West Golf Road
Suite 625
Skokie, IL 60076
Phone: 1-800-416-5136
Email: info@actionforhealthykids.org

Source: Tapping into the Power: Engaging Parents in the Fight Against Childhood Obesity, Action for Healthy Kids Field Report, Vol. 1, No. 1.