 |
September is a hectic month for many families across the country. It means back to school and back to a routine for both parents and their children. With so many things going on, it’s easy to let healthy eating and physical activity fall down the priority list.
Promoting physical activity and healthy eating has always been an interest of mine. This led me to start working with children, specifically African American girls at risk of being overweight as adults. I researched school-based intervention strategies early in my career, engaging students in their overall health. My colleagues and I were sharing great information, but we weren’t interacting with parents and family members, the most important (and influential) people in kids’ lives.
Today it’s more important than ever for children to receive the same messages at school as they do at home. Teachers want to keep order—and a room full of young children jumping and playing is often quite the opposite. This lack of parallel between teachers and parents has been the focus of my most recent research, which I am collecting data for and preparing to analyze the results.
Photo by google.com
