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Image Courtesy of Cdc.gov

Childhood obesity is a serious health condition affecting over one-third of American children, from state to state.  A recent national report, “F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America 2009,” released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), issued a list of health reform recommendations to combat obesity. It emphasizes the importance of preventative medical care, such as nutrition counseling and screening for obesity-related illnesses like Type 2 Diabetes and high blood pressure. The Report also recommends increasing the number of programs available in communities and schools that make nutritional food readily available and affordable to children and their families.

According to the RWJF Report, the fight against child obesity cannot make a  nationwide impact without a concerted, national strategy implemented at the federal, state and municipal levels in collaboration with businesses, schools, and communities.

In another report, “School Meals: Building Blocks for Healthy Children,” the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends that standards be set by the USDA for nutritious menu planning in schools, where fruit, vegetable and grains would pre-dominate, and sodium and saturated fats would be significantly reduced.

The following quote is from Stefania Patinella, Director of Nutrition, The Children’s Aid Society:

The Children’s Aid Society applauds RWJF and the IOM for bringing attention to arguably the most urgent health issue facing our nation’s children. In 2003, Children’s Aid launched the Go!Healthy initiative to educate children and families about wellness and the joys of healthful cooking and eating.  Go Healthy includes: Go! Kids, a toddler food and fitness program; Go! Chefs, a hands-on cooking and nutrition education program for children and families; and Healthy Meals, our foodservice program that feeds approximately 1,500 children each day in the early childhood, after-school and teen programs.

The Children’s Aid Healthy Meals program adheres to and exceeds the IMO recommendations. Children’s meals are made entirely from scratch from original recipes that are based on whole and fresh foods, especially fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Healthy Meals constitutes a profound change to the heat-and-serve model of foodservice, and to implement it successfully we developed a Cook’s Training program to educate cooks in healthful food preparation and basic nutrition. The program has made a profound impact across our community centers—not only in increasing the nutrients and taste of foods we serve, but in broadening the palates and eating behaviors of children, teachers and parents. As districts around the country turn their attention to better school food, Children’s Aid is leading the equally important effort to provide better food in early childhood programs (where children consume up to 80% of their daily calories) and after-school programs.

Child obesity has morphed into a serious crisis, requiring immediate attention on the part of families, schools and local government. The Children’s Aid Society has adopted an aggressive three-pronged approach to battle this problem, centering on the basic concept of sustainable living.

First, children and families must be educated about nutrition. In a recent podcast interview, Stefania Patinella, Manager of The Children’s Aid Society Food and Nutrition Programs, pointed out that, “Food is a very natural thing for kids to get into…they’re always hungry and they love to eat!”  That’s why our Go!Kids works, where kids aged 2-5 can learn about fitness and food, and  through hands-on cooking classes like Go!Chefs, where budding young chefs get to  create culinary feasts.

Secondly, Children’s Aid advocates initiatives such as the Green Cart Bill, helping low-income families gain access to quality, affordable healthy food. Safeguarding the health and wellness of disadvantaged children has been central to our mission for over 150 years, and that includes the availability of healthy and nutritious food. The kids play an important advocacy role as well, learning about gardening by becoming young “farmers,” and running youthmarkets from their schools in neighborhoods like East Harlem and South Bronx.

And finally, it’s about taking responsibility for what we feed our kids. We feed over 1500 children kids a day in our community schools and after-school programs. For some children, this may be their only decent meal of the day, so it’s critical that we provide the most nutritious foods. We’re committed to reducing the percentage of obese and overweight children in our community, and by working at education and advocating for the disadvantaged youth in New York, we’re working at making apples and carrots more enticing than chips and doughnuts!

image courtesy of www.sayandplayfamily.com

Stephanie spoke about the benefits of eliminating habits that encourage poor oral motor skills (e.g., sippy cups, bottles, pacifiers) and the importance of encouraging language skills through the right level of modeling for each child.   She discussed the importance of not only reading to children every day, but how important it is to choose books that will encourage speech and language skills.  Stephanie pointed out how crucial it is for babies, toddlers and even school age children to be read to face-to-face so that they can observe facial expressions.  Our faces, and especially our mouths should always be visible to children in conversation.

Staff left the training excited and referred to the workshop as “eye opening.”  Many of the participants, who are parents themselves, spoke about how they would immediately begin to incorporate Stephanie’s tips into their work with children at home and at school.

Stephanie Sigal MA CCC-SLP offers speech, language and oral motor therapy for babies, toddlers and school age children in Manhattan.  She specializes in assessing and treating articulation disorders from an oral motor perspective.  Stephanie’s methods improve speech clarity and resolve problems such as tongue thrusting and drooling.  Stephanie also has family-friendly language programs to help young children maximize language skills.

You can learn more about Stephanie and her Manhattan-based speech therapy company Say and Play, at: http://www.sayandplayfamily.com/

The 70 students enrolled in the program participate for an average of 2-6 hours per week. Students are taught music fundamentals –reading music, history, theory and related skills.

A keystone of the program is instruction in a variety of instruments: percussion, violin, bass guitar, trumpet, saxophone, keyboard and flute.  Teaching artists instruct the students in a small group setting, ultimately seeking to enable youth to create their own original music through improvisation. This DHLC after-school music program creates specific opportunities for instruction leading up to performances, promoting self-confidence and poise in each student.

The music program connects parents and other community members to the center by providing them with occasions to listen to and celebrate music though performances both within the center and in the surrounding community. Students in the performing groups, such as the Drew Drummers and the Harmony in Harlem Jazz Ensemble, share their talents throughout the community.

This past year, the students performed at the CAS 8^th Annual Children’s Art Show, Make Music New York, and Harlem Week. We look forward to another year of jamming in Harlem and the inspiration that music brings to our youth.

-Mary Newcomb

Representatives from neighborhood hospitals, clinics, and health agencies provided information and free screenings for the families.

Information tables were set up in the gym and a mobile health van was parked out in front of the Center.

In addition, short workshops focused on topics such as women’s health, nutritious cooking, and health care access for immigrants.  It was a very healthy day!