I’m in the pre-planning stages for a new project I’m taking on. I’m going to be meeting with the management at a family friendly gym about implementing a program specifically aimed at helping obese children. For me a perfect program will be one where a pediatrician is in the loop, a nutritionist that works primarily with children should also be in the loop…of course the parents.
However I have noticed that our school system sucks! The foods they are feeding our children is in most cases feeding the problem, and they are not allowed to eat snacks throughout the day.
Other problems, parents suck! What good will it do to teach proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle if the parents still buy OREOS and plop their kids down infront of the boob tube for “family time?”
Then there’s the psychological concerns for the kids. Many will not want to participate because they don’t want to be singled out.
In my perfect world I would be able to have kids go to their doc and identify the problem, meet with a nutritionist to receive a better understanding of how to eat properly given their individual metabolism, and be able to follow that plan even during school hours, encourage their parents to set good examples by purchasing the right foods, and living an active lifestyle themselves. Oh, and I want it to be fun for the kids!
Now you know what my perfect dream world looks like for this program…am I missing any key components that you can think of?
What is a delicate way to tell a parent, “If you don’t change your habits you could wind up having to burry your child?”
How do you think I can go about proposing an adjustment in the dietary system within the schools?
Do you think doing an in-dept profile with the kids to determine their learning styles, and activity preference is a good idea?
Do you think that finding a child psychologist would aid some of the kids?
Please provide any feedback that you can think of…This is a project I really want to see catch fire in my community. I have several docs and nutritionist that have already said they will volunteer their time if people don’t have insurance or if the kids can’t get into the doc soon enough.
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
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For me a perfect program will be one where a pediatrician is in the loop, a nutritionist that works primarily with children should also be in the loop…of course the parents.
I can tell you now that your program will not be successful if you don’t have the participating parents on board and on the same page. In fact, the parents and child should be the focus, with the physician and nutritionist as supplemental help.
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However I have noticed that our school system sucks! The foods they are feeding our children is in most cases feeding the problem, and they are not allowed to eat snacks throughout the day.
If a parents signs their kid up for this, maybe it would be wise to get the parents’ permission to talk with the school about it so that the child can have appropriate supervision during times exposed to food (i.e. lunchroom). When you think about it, children with other disabilities are allowed to have aides and such, so the parents and you should be adamant that the school help out to make the program more effective. It’s not enough to pack a healthy lunch - kids know how to trade for junk food.
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Other problems, parents suck! What good will it do to teach proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle if the parents still buy OREOS and plop their kids down infront of the boob tube for “family time?”
One option is to make the parents sign a “contract” to follow the rules, and make sure a progress chart is visible at home so the parents and child get immediate feedback. Send home “homework” objectives, like eating 5 different colored vegetables on Monday, etc.
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Then there’s the psychological concerns for the kids. Many will not want to participate because they don’t want to be singled out.
If you’re dealing with health issues - the doctor or nutritionist have to abide by HIPPA. If you involve the school, you can ask for discretion. If the program is in a private gym (outside of school) then they should be ok. You can let the family know up front that discretion is key.
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In my perfect world I would be able to have kids go to their doc and identify the problem, meet with a nutritionist to receive a better understanding of how to eat properly given their individual metabolism, and be able to follow that plan even during school hours, encourage their parents to set good examples by purchasing the right foods, and living an active lifestyle themselves. Oh, and I want it to be fun for the kids!
In a perfect world, we would all be perfect!
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Now you know what my perfect dream world looks like for this program…am I missing any key components that you can think of?
see above
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What is a delicate way to tell a parent, “If you don’t change your habits you could wind up having to burry your child?”
Give them research statistics. Put it out there boldly and plainly, because there are too many parents who try to reason that their child is “different”, that it’s a metabolism thing, when really, for most kids, it’s a food/inactive thing.
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How do you think I can go about proposing an adjustment in the dietary system within the schools?
In Illinois, the Board of Education just banned “junk” foods in schools. You can lobby your state’s BOE and work with the schools to offer better choices.
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Do you think doing an in-dept profile with the kids to determine their learning styles, and activity preference is a good idea?
yes, but unless you are credentialed to administer such assessments, probably you need the nutritionist and psychologist to do that and you can coordinate the “team” results and plan.
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Do you think that finding a child psychologist would aid some of the kids?
definitely.
Good luck!
Thank you!
No problem. Also, just want to clarify - I’m a speech-language pathologist and I work in Early Intervention. I’m used to having parents and kids as the focus of therapy, with doctors, nutritionists, OTs, PTs, and more as team members. And EVERY day, I deal with parents who are interested enough to enroll their kid in therapy but it’s like pulling teeth to get them to follow through with home activities to help their kid’s speech, language, and/or swallowing/feeding skills.
Basically, with parents like that, I have to lay it on the line and tell them that the program doesn’t work with me spending an hour a week with their kid. Therapy needs to continue in the home with every communicative interaction the child has - the parent is really the most important “therapist” there is.
So, I imagine it would be the same with an exercise program or what you are proposing. It doesn’t work if the parents aren’t going to reinforce it!
Good luck in your endeavor. I think it’s wonderful, especially with the obesity rates of children skyrocketing.
What a great idea!
What age group are you targeting? I only had one semester of child development, but I think the children’s ages will definitely determine how you set up a lot of this.
Maybe you can get the school cafeteria to offer a healthy meal choice each day.
Good luck…sounds like you’ve already got a lot going in support of this program.
-Catherine
note, I am not a doctor or psychologist, this is just an issue close to my heart
I think that finding a child psychologist will aid all of the kids. Like you said, there may be kids who decide that they do not want to join only because they don’t want to be singled out. Discretion will not eliminate the participant’s exposure; progress will be apparent.
Kids know that they don’t want to be fat. But all people fear change or improvement. There is probably an equal amount of fear of failure as there is for success.
You see, when somebody suddenly begins to “show” that they are losing weight, they will begin to get comments/compliments about it. No matter how sincere and well-meaning a compliment, it can easily be twisted in the mind of a person with low self-esteem. “you look great (now)” is translated to “you looked horrible (before)”. It is very safe to stay just as you are, so as not to draw any unwanted attention.
You also want psych support there for the parents. They may even (unwittingly) sabotage their child so that the kids don’t highlight the parents’ shortcomings with their success.
Another reason to have a psychologist there is, as everyone knows, eating is often emotionally or psychologically linked.
This is a huge project you are taking on, and I wish for you the very best.
Thank you! I realize this is a big problem I’m taking on. I have over 100 hours of planning involved so far.
The good news is that my current client list is very deep. I have I have been able to call on my clients with many talents and from a wide scope of professional experience. I have people from psychologist to pediatricians, to physical therapist, and trainers willing to help.
I blew my mouth off one day because I was upset with a news report telling me what the problem was, but offering no real solution. The director of the gym heard me and said, “Why don’t you do something about it!” So I put it back her lap and said, “How about you work with me and WE can do something about it!” She agreed. The gym itself is donating memberships, and trainers.
It is close to home for me too. I was the fat kid! Picked on all the time, bad self esteem, thought about suicide nearly every day, damn near dropped out of high school because I hated going to school so much.
The upside is as an adult I pulled the plug on that pitty party, and got myself into shape. I started eating better, working out daily, and using the gym as my vice instead of drinking and smoking. The result: I started feeling better, I found self-confidence, and now that I know from the bottom of my heart how changing your fitness lifestyle can improve your life, I want to give that gift to kids that may be struggling with the same issues so that they don’t have to wait as long as I did to get going in life.
For those reasons, I really appreciate your feedback.