Every health and education group associated with children is talking about the issue of childhood obesity (C-O) right now. If you have concerns, let the leadership know. If you belong to the American Dietetic Association, send a message to ADA President Jessie Pavlinac at ADAPresident@eatright.org. (If you send a message, please share it as comment here - so that others may be inspired to do the same.)That's all I did last week to express my concerns about National C-O Awareness Month. You can read Jessie's response under comments to my March 20th post (bottom of this page). I was very pleased with this assurance:
We will direct our Washington staff to raise these concerns on our behalf and encourage our elected leaders in the House and Senate to follow ADA’s example of delivering a positive message that will resonate and motivate rather than alienate those children who are at risk or suffering from the stigma of obesity.By speaking out, I have realized how many ADA colleagues share similar concerns and learned about ways that they are taking action. National Nutrition Month seems the ideal time to reinforce positive, inclusive approaches to healthy habits for all children ... from the ground up.
I have sent the following message to my congessmen, the bill sponsors and the ADA.
ReplyDeleteTo Whom it May Concern:
I would like to submit my concerns about the resolution for making Sept. Childhood Obesity Month. I have been following the ideas about this resolution on this blog http://eatwellatschool.blogspot.com/
which addresses the negative effects such a move could make on the psychological health of children who have weight problems. I worked for many years in the field of special education, both in the public schools and higher education and have a firm understanding of how words and actions can affect the psychological and emotional well being of children of all ages. I am happy to see that efforts are being made to address the health of all school age students through healthy eating and movement programs and can only hope that a negative campaign can be stopped early in this whole process.
As an intelligent, 61 year old adult who has weight and health issues (diabetes), I know how I respond to negative words and negative campaigns to try to "force" or "scare" people into becoming more healthy; it negatively affects my emotional response to changing, going out in public, how I think about my own issues, what others say. I can only imagine what the effect would be on younger people who haven't developed insight and ability to face the response of the public, peers, physicians, family, etc.
I sincerely hope that this resolution will not be passed and that the ADA will do all that it can be make change for kids' health a positive one.
Sincerely,
Linda Christensen