Lifelong good nutrition and health are best laid down in childhood. Outside the life at home, nothing provides a comprehensive experience to children than the time spent at school. This implies that schools have an excellent opportunity to improve the health of the children and tackle obesity in the early stages before the problem gets serious. One of the primary avenues that schools can use to help in the elimination of childhood obesity is in line with the mission of the establishment of the school, education. Schools educate children on nutritional health and physical activities that are important for them to keep fit and reduce chances of obesity and overweight. This paper discusses how schools can help eliminate the problem of childhood obesity.
One of the ways that schools can help children to understand the basics of good health and maintain a fit body is by teaching them skills that help them maintain a healthy lifestyle (O’Dea, & Michael 4). Likewise, institutions of learning are also required to develop a physical activity program that engages the children in different physical activities that help them to keep fit. At home and in the streets, the children may not get the proper instructions for body exercise as they would get in school. Schools can also take the lesson of health outside the classroom by ensuring that students are surrounded with opportunities to eat healthily and remain physically active.
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"How Schools Can Help The Problem Of Childhood Obesity".
In order to improve nutrition and the health of children, schools can also give healthy food offerings in school cafeterias and ensure that unhealthy foods are not marketed in the school compound. This will help to emphasize the message of good health by encouraging the children to buy only food that is healthy (Ferlazzo, & Katie 16). The same will effectively help the teachers and the school administrators to caution the children against buying unhealthy foods on the streets.
Additionally, schools can work together with health care programs and policy makers to help control the health of children. Teachers can take the weight of the children on a daily basis and ensure that children learn the importance of losing weight (Voigt, Stuart, & Garrath 20). At the same time, school administrators can provide statistical data to administrators of health and legislative authorities. The data is important to understand the number of children hit by obesity problems and the most suitable measures that need to be taken to combat the problem.
A number of things need to be done to ensure that the school provides the necessary facilities for obesity reduction in children. In the modern world, the number of students has increased to limits further beyond the number of schools. This has led to the construction of schools even in towns and cities where no space for the playground is provided (Tessmer, Kimberly, Michelle, & Meghan 10). The health administrators and the government must ensure that all learning institutions have a playground and a physical activities program to encourage children to engage in rigorous physical activities and reduce chances for obesity.
Some researchers have argued that the primary goal of the school is to provide knowledge to students and that physical activity is the responsibility of parents. Nevertheless, considering the nature of the childhood obesity problem in the modern society, it is important that everyone comes in, especially the school administrators, to help in childhood obesity reduction. The school is a place to learn. The learning experience should be not only academic but also important life lessons to ensure that the children can sustain themselves in the future. Proper health and nutrition are such important life lessons.
Nonetheless, the school administrators cannot succeed with this strategy alone. The government and parents must work in coordination with school authorities to ensure that the health of children is checked. For instance, the school environment is the best where health administrators can track and assess the body weight and other health parameters in children.
- Ferlazzo, Larry, and Katie Hull-Sypnieski. The Esl/ell Teacher’s Survival Guide: Ready-to-use Strategies, Tools, and Activities for Teaching English Language Learners of All Levels. , 2012. Print.
- O’Dea, Jennifer A, and Michael P. Eriksen. Childhood Obesity Prevention: International Research, Controversies, and Interventions. Oxford [U.K: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.
- Tessmer, Kimberly A, Michelle Hagen, and Meghan Beecher. Conquering Childhood Obesity for Dummies. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons, 2013. Print.
- Voigt, Kristin, Stuart G. Nicholls, and Garrath Williams. Childhood Obesity: Ethical and Policy Issues. , 2014. Print.
