Increasing physical activity in elementary school children to prevent childhood obesity - Research Paper Example

? Increasing Physical Activity in Elementary School Children to Prevent Childhood Obesity Upbringing of a child is a task taken by different parties. While the parent is responsible for the wellbeing of a child, the reality of the upbringing of a child is that the community take part in one way or another. The community involves the society, especially people around a child. These are the parties responsible for the wellbeing of a child. How successfully a child grows is determined by the ability of all the people in the kid’s world. This community forms the audience of our project. Mostly these are the people that a child lives with, interacts with on a daily basis. Among these are the parents/guardians, teachers, the elementary school as well as the children themselves. The contribution of these parties to the growth of a child is significant. Activities of these people contribute to either the obesity of the child or a healthy growth. Healthy behaviour is one of these elements. Healthy behaviour encompasses living a healthy life, characterized by frequent exercising and eating highly nutritious food free of fats, cholesterol, fats and high sugar content. Aiming our intervention on these individuals, we seek to provide ways and means in which they, as parties to the wellbeing of a child can promote healthy living. Children spend the biggest part of their day with the teachers (Little & Wyver, 2008). To some extent, teachers spend more time with the children than with their parents. Therefore, they play the role of the parent at times. They form a serious part of our analysis as the audience for this initiative. Currently, health behaviour is currently a major concern for many people. Especially in the developed countries like in the United States, healthy behaviour features significantly in all health talks. Despite the large awareness created, different people regard the issue of healthy behaviour with diverse thoughts and attitudes. Research indicates that some of the people are much concerned with their health while others are not. Numerous research conducted point to a worrying trend in the people’s lifestyles among the population. Increasingly, more people and children are obese. The drastic changes in people’s living standards and their behaviours significantly affect their health. Despite the availability of knowledge on the impact of unhealthy living, people opt to disregard this. Contributing factors to this reality is people’s attitudes, behaviour and perceptions about their health and that of the children. Already obese parents do little in promoting healthy living among their children. Different theories exist on people’s perceptions about weight. Few accept that they are overweight, even if the results indicate so. Perceptions have differing effects on different people. For instance, there is no particular weight attributed to being overweight. The main arguments by these people points out that there is no particular way of determining whether a person is overweight or not. This is however a misconception, as there is a high relationship between overweight and obesity. Since the definition of overweight generally is any weight above normal, many people argue that they are of the right weight when they cannot even handle their own weight (Heitmann et al. 2009). Parents will defend their children’s weight and argue that they are not overweight, yet they in reality are. Even the very concerned parents will hardly deny their children any type of food whether regarded as junk and unhealthy. The biggest predisposing factor of these children’s unhealthy lives is the lack of exercise. As cited by Ginsburg (2007), exercise helps in burning fays and calories in the body. Many doctors recommend a child to play for at least 30 minutes to one hour every day. Such play does not involve indoor play, rather outside play. Little & Wyver (2008) observe that the contribution of outdoor play increasingly has lost its meaning and significance to many people. Sandseter (2012) is observant that rarely do parents let their children to play outside anymore. Increasingly, children are hipped with volumes if homework that hinder them from having time to play. The segregation of the society is yet another reason, as cited by a section of authors. People now do not allow their children to play together in the neighbourhood as it used to be in the old days. Schools face an accusing finger for increased levels of obesity in children. While physical education used to feature significantly in the previous curriculum, the current reality is worrying. The section has slowly faded, and replaced with a rather tight curriculum. Schools are concerned more about the academic prosperity of the children at the detriment of their own health. There is a high disregard for exercise, and more emphasis on knowledge and skills. Other factors point out on the lack of trust of the play fields. The sharp increase in cases of abduction and kidnapping can attest to this. Parents are ever worried of the safety of their kids while out in play (Sandseter, 2012). While the same parent s would like to take their out to play, they lack time and opportunity. Most of them work day and night, to the extent of having two jobs, keeping them away from their children (Heymann & Earle, 2001). They thus regard high care and try to provide high security for these kids since they are away from them. This includes no play away from the house, which denies them the chance to have physical exercise (Ginsburg, 2007). Although different research already exists on the issue of healthy living among the children, there is need for more research. Available literature does not comprehensively cover the whole issue. There is a relationship between high performing students to regular exercise. However, in choosing a theory and designing an intervention for this study, the most significant formative study would be carrying out a case study comparing the effects of exercise on the health of children who exercise and those who do not. References Ginsburg, K. R. (2007). The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds, the official journal of American paediatrics. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2006-2697 retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/119/1/182.full.html Heitmann, B. L., Koplan, J., & Lissner, L. (2009). Childhood obesity: successes and failures of preventive interventions.Nutrition Reviews, 67S89-S93. doi:10.1111/j.1753-4887.2009.00167.x Heymann, S., & Earle, A. (2001). The impact of parental working conditions on school-age children: the case of evening work.Community, Work & Family, 4(3), 305-325. doi:10.1080/01405110120089369 Little, H. & Wyver, S. (2008).Outdoor play: Does avoiding the risks reduce the benefits? Australian journal of early childhood. Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/australian_journal_of_early_childhood/ajec_index_abstracts/outdoor_play_does_avoiding_the_risks_reduce_the_benefits.html Sandseter, E. (2012). Restrictive Safety or Unsafe Freedom? Norwegian ECEC Practitioners' Perceptions and Practices Concerning Children's Risky Play. Child Care In Practice, 18(1), 83-101. doi:10.1080/13575279.2011.621889 Read More