In an era of growing accountability and high-value testing in schools, a severe paradox has emerged. The rate of obesity amongst adolescents in the United States has tripled what it was a couple of years ago. Ironically, in an effort to improve the academic performance, various have implemented certain polices which predispose children to an increased risk of obesity. According to Davidson (2007), schools have, as a result, been characterized as obesogenic settings which nurture obesity through deskbound school work, reduced physical exercise and low-nutritional diet. Nonetheless, schools can offer robust leadership to assist reverse global epidemic of childhood or adolescent obesity while endeavoring to enhance the academic achievement of children.
By getting in the know and staying informed, schools can help schools can effectively make informed decisions, enhance and implement effective programs to address childhood obesity. Although a few states demand that schools should collect data on the fitness and body mass index of children, the local health centers might have information which will reveal the magnitude of the crisis (Davidson, 2007). With such data, schools may inform parents and mobilize community-centered obesity prevention strategies.
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Schools have a novel opportunity to champion the fight against obesity. Being hub in the society, schools have an increased potential to reach a huge number of families and children. They already predetermine the feeding patterns of children by offering one or more meals per day. The physical education privileges that are offered at school also influence the physical activity patterns of children ((Trost, Fees & Dzewaltowski, 2008). According to Cole, Waldrop, D’Auria and Garner (2006), school staff including teacher and nurses could deliver programs intended to enhance the health-related knowledge and behaviors of children, hence helping in fighting obesity.
Lastly, schools can help promote a healthy and nutritious diet and encouraging physical activity amongst children. According to Cole et al. (2006), teachers can effectively deliver curricular lessons focused on assisting children to develop healthy lifestyle behaviors like eating more vegetables and fruits, escalating physical activity, and reducing the hours spent watching television. By kindergarten, some kids have already assumed eating behaviors with insufficient nutritional intake of basic nutrients like Vitamin D, Zinc and Iron. It is important for schools and parents to emphasize on the need for children to feed on nutrient-rich foods since they are necessary for optimal growth and development while encouraging physical activity.
In conclusion, schools have a bigger role to play in fighting childhood obesity. Schools can provide a strong leadership to help reverse the problem by promoting prevention strategies based on factual data collected at the school levels, enhancing the health related knowledge and behaviors of children and by encouraging healthy feeding and increased physical activity.
References
Cole, K., Waldrop, J., D'Auria, J., & Garner, H. (2006). An integrative research review: Effective school-based childhood overweight interventions. Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing, 11 (3), 166-177
Davidson, F. (2007). Childhood obesity prevention and physical activity in schools. Health Education, 107 (4), 377.
Trost, S. G., Fees, B., & Dzewaltowski, D. (2008). Feasibility and efficacy of a "move and learn" physical activity curriculum in preschool children. Journal of Physical Activity & Health, 5 (1), 88-103
