The following article, on the growing problem of childhood obesity, is a reprint of a article written by Staci Marks, a researcher and writer.

The article was published on May 2nd on

http://www.healthinsurancequotes.org/child-obesity-a-growing-problem/

When you were growing up did you ever worry about what you were eating or about your physical appearance? Childhood obesity is a growing problem in the United States and more families are having to worry about the health of their children. It is now estimated that one in three children in the U.S. is either overweight or obese. This growing issue can be attributed to many factors. By understanding the issues we can help our children learn the benefits of proper nutrition and exercise.

Effect of Socioeconomic Status

Times have been hard for millions of Americans. Some people have to take any job that they can get or work multiple jobs to make ends meet. These hardships can enforce bad habits in how the family operates and how they look at a meal.

Though research has suggested that obesity rates may be going down, it appears that there is a measurable gap in rates of obesity in different socioeconomic statuses. It can often be hard for families to put food on the table consistently. Due to this reasoning there may be parents wanting their kids to eat as much as they can when there is guaranteed food if they do not know where the next meal will come from.

Also, since obesity causes health issues, we are seeing higher economic classes lower their rates. This can be attributed to the fact that they are paying for their personal insurance and do not want to deal with the rising rates unlike someone who might receive government help for health care. If there is not a way that we correct this problem, then we may see that obesity will continue widening the socioeconomic gap.

Does TV Play a Role?

The obvious answer is yes, but it is important to understand how TV plays a role in obesity. One of the most important ways that it affects children is through advertising. Recently researchers have looked at how many fast food restaurants and meals individuals could correctly guess when they removed the restaurant image. It was proven that the overweight and obese samples were able to correctly identify the food more consistently versus those individuals who were not.

Another way that TV affects obesity is that parents often have to rely on TV to entertain their children if they are busy working. Due to this, children are now spending more time in front of the TV rather than playing outside or doing other physical activities.

Is the Government Helping or Hurting?

As Americans we should expect that our representatives will battle for the issues that matter to us.

Since obesity is a problem that is affecting our children, we should count on parents to make smarter decisions for their children, and for the government to regulate the foods that are available to our children.

Think about school lunches for example, we want them to be as nutritious as possible. The problem with that is that the government provides meals for many students for free. Since this costs them lots of money they have unfortunately looked at alternative methods.

One current controversial move was the purchase of more than 7 million pounds of ammonia-treated meat for their meals. This meat, now referred to as “pink slime,” has been rejected by several fast food giants but was somehow deemed okay by the government.The decision was defended by the USDA, which swears that the food was safe. Talk about timing, the decision to buy the meat was announced after the government demanded new regulations on school lunches. They are now calling for more whole grains, produce, and less sodium and fat. The health fight seems to be on everyone’s mind in Washington.

First Lady Michelle Obama has pushed a child obesity campaign that will include better nutrition and daily exercise for our children. She also teamed up with The Biggest Loser to promote a healthier lifestyle.

Unfortunately, it seems that money is still the determining factor in Washington. Food and beverage companies continue to beat out government proposals.

1. Secret Sabotage: Congress recently rejected a plan that would lower sugar, salt, and fat in the food that was marketed towards children.
2. School Lunch Nutrition: In addition to buying pink slime, Congress recently declared pizza a vegetable so that it could continue to stay in the school lunch programs
3. Lucky Streak?: Interestingly enough, the food and beverage industry has a near-perfect record when it comes to battling the health authorities and government
4. Defeat: More than 24 states and five cities have tried to established a “soda tax.” Every time it was either dropped or defeated.

It is time that we stop making excuses for this growing obesity problem and think about our kids. As parents we should want the best for them and their well-being. The health tips that we teach them now are going to shape how they function for the rest of their lives. If we teach them the importance of a healthy lifestyle then we will all benefit in the end.

Today’s post is by Sarah Fudin who works in community relations for the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education’s online master’s programs. USC Rossier Online provides current and aspiring teachers the opportunity to earn an Online Masters in Education and become a teacher.  Outside of work Sarah enjoys running, reading and Pinkberry frozen yogurt. You can reach Sarah via Twitter: @USCTeacher<https://twitter.com/#!/USCTeacher>

Reading is one of the most central aspects of your child’s educational development, especially during his or her early years.

Children from three to seven are curious about the world, eager to learn and excited about new discoveries. It is during these years that parents can instill a love for reading in children that will last a lifetime. It is the desire to learn through books and expand upon what they learn in the classroom, motivating learning from school through college, career and even adulthood.

While many children have a natural curiosity, they do not always take an interest in books. Some children may not like to read; they can be daunted by its technical aspects, the newness of words or an assumed monotony of sitting still with a book.

Children need to be stimulated, and you should look for ways to create an interactive reading experience.

This is especially important during the summer months, when children are not in school but should continue practicing the skills they’ve learned while building their foundation of knowledge. To help your children stay engaged with their books, stories and text, try some of these activities in connection with their summer reading list:

Take a Trip
You don’t need a teacher to plan a field trip. During the summer, taking your child on educational excursions can be a fun and creative way to get them excited about reading. With children’s books, it is easy to plan a trip centered on themes found in the narrative. If they are reading a book about animals, take them to the zoo to see these animals face to face. If you are reading a book about the solar system, take them to the planetarium. So many educational books deal with things that are ideally suited for fun trips to museums, national landmarks, aquariums, botanical gardens, national parks and natural attractions, that the opportunities are endless.

Create a Project
Children love arts and crafts, and encouraging creativity is an excellent way to stimulate your child’s interest in reading. Regardless of what your child is reading, you can create a project that ties the book with an artistic project. You can help your children build a model solar system or have them draw pictures of their favorite characters. Write a brief script for a puppet show that enacts a scene from a book, and have your child create the puppets and act out the scene. Science books often also provide at-home science experiments that are fun and educational.

Start a Book Club
Book Clubs might not be the first thing you think of when getting your three to seven year-olds excited about reading, but involving their friends is an excellent way to not only keep them interested, but to reinforce this interest through teamwork and group activities. You and other parents can coordinate play dates for your children to come together and read with one another, work on book-themed projects and even go on trips. Over the summer months, children don’t have daily interaction with their friends as they would during the school year, so this becomes a fun and educational way to keep your child socializing and learning.

Make Reading Rewarding
Rewarding children for reading is not about coaxing them into reading as much as it is about making them feel proud of their accomplishments. For young children, just finishing an entire book is a big deal! Reading is a skill that they should feel proud of, and one way to make them excited about it is to reward them. If your child is at the point where he or she can read an entire book without your help then make it a celebration. Take your child out for a special day trip or a treat of ice cream. Even simple verbal encouragement, like saying how proud you are, can go a long way.

Tie It in with Television
Incorporating television into reading is a strange idea, but it’s actually an innovative way to encourage your children to read. So many children’s television shows have books that tie into them, and you can tell if your child is going to like a series of book by seeing how he or she reacts to the television programs. If he or she likes The Magic School Bus or Dora the Explorer, then you can encourage him or her to read the books. When children are already familiar with the material, they’ll be excited to explore new aspects of their favorite characters or stories. You can also encourage them to watch a new show to see if they’d be interested in reading the books.

May is Asthma Awareness Month. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebeliusa issued a statement asking us to consider what we can do better, as individuals and as a nation, in managing one of the most common lifelong chronic diseases.

In her statement she reports:

• More than 25 million Americans have asthma, including 7 million children.
•  Children with asthma missed more than 10 million days total of school in 2008.
• Medical expenses associated with asthma are estimated at $50 billion annually.
• It is critical to take the necessary steps to reduce asthma attacks.
• Successful asthma management includes: knowing the warning signs of an attack, avoiding things that may trigger an episode and following the advice of your health care provider.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is working to raise awareness about asthma and to provide tools to help families and communities get the information they need:

• Having access to high-quality affordable health care is a must for asthma suffers.
• As a result of the Affordable Care Act, the 7 million children who have asthma cannot be denied health coverage now by insurance companies on the basis of a pre-existing condition. In 2014, that fundamental protection will be afforded to adults with asthma as well.
• We know that African-American children visit emergency departments for asthma care more often than Caucasian children, and that Latino children are less likely to see a doctor for routine office visits than non-Latino Caucasian children. While we’ve made progress in reducing disparities over the years, more needs to be done. That is why the health care law and Recovery Act investments are expanding the capacity of community health centers to care for the most vulnerable Americans regardless of their ability to pay.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working with communities and schools to develop the tools they need to make their environments healthier for children with asthma.  Three Louisiana school districts, for example, have adopted indoor and outdoor air policies, such as requiring school buses to turn off their engines while idling. Rhode Island families have gotten help in learning how to manage their children’s asthma from the new Home Asthma Response Program, which identified potential participants during asthma-related emergency room visits.
• The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program–coordinated by the National Institutes of Health–promotes improved asthma care and control through a focused outreach effort centered on written asthma action plans.  These plans are a recommended but underutilized tool for managing asthma long-term and handling symptoms. These efforts include coordination with other federal agencies and key stakeholders and activities to promote resources and educational materials.

Secretary Sebeliusa concludes her statement by asking that we all learn what each of us and our communities can do to reduce the physical, social, and financial costs of asthma.

For more information, see http://www.cdc.gov/asthma/ and http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/naepp.

Despite government and personal physician reassurances on vaccination safety there are parents still parents who are reluctant to get their children vaccinated.

Here are some frequently asked parent questions about vaccination safety and the answers from the NYC Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Why should I get my children immunized? I thought no one gets these diseases anymore.

• Many childhood diseases are no longer common because of vaccines. But the germs that cause most of these diseases are still around. Between 2008 and 2011, about 700 New Yorkers each year got sick from vaccine-preventable diseases.
• When vaccination rates are low, these diseases can come back and spread quickly.
• In Europe, a measles outbreak spread through 30 countries in 2011, with more than 26,000 people infected. The outbreak was mainly due to low immunization rates.
• In 2011, almost 225 people contracted measles in the U.S., with 25 in New York City alone, mostly children and adults who had not been vaccinated.

Is it okay for my children to get so many vaccines at once?

• Yes. Children are exposed to thousands of germs every day. The killed or weakened germs in vaccines are very few compared to the millions of germs children fight off each day.

• Talk to your child’s doctor about combination vaccines, which protect against more than one disease with a single shot. They can reduce the number of shots and office visits your child will need.

I’ve heard it’s safer to skip some vaccines or wait to get my children vaccinated. Is this true?

• No. If you skip some vaccines or wait to get your child vaccinated, you put your child at risk. Your child could get very sick or even die from a serious disease that could have been prevented.
• Children should get the recommended vaccinations at the right age and on time.

For More Information About Vaccinations for Children: American Academy of Pediatrics: aap.org,Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: vaccines.chop.edu, Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases: pkids.org, Immunization Action Coalition: immunize.org, Every Child By Two: ecbt.org

The following message about bullying comes from Nicholas Garlow with HealthBeat, a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Bullying can be verbal, like name calling, social, to affect reputations and relationships, or even physical, which hurts someone or their possessions. It can happen anywhere, and to anyone.

We can help kids understand bullying by talking to them about it and teaching them how to stand up to it safely.

Erin Reiney, a public health specialist at the Health Resources and Services Administration says, “If a youth is being bullied, we really need to encourage him or her to talk to a trusted adult and not keep feelings insides. It’s important for a youth to tell somebody about the bullying in order to feel less alone.”

Children, parents, educators, and communities can learn how to take action against bullying and prevent it from happening by going to stopbullying.gov.

Learn more at healthfinder.gov.