CHAWK-Championing Health And Wellness in Kids

Packs get fatter, kids' backs falter
By Marti Maguire, Staff Writer
The Raleigh (NC) News and Observer

They can be seen around sunrise pretty much anywhere in the Triangle --
children trudging to their bus stops, leaning forward against the weight of
the stuffed packs on their backs.

Fatter textbooks, busier lives and, well, the temptation to carry everything are saddling students with heavier loads than ever, raising concerns about long-term damage to their backs.

The American Occupational Therapy Association has dubbed today National School Backpack Awareness Day in an effort to get parents and schools to lighten the load. The association suggests that children carry no more than 15 percent of their body weight.

In one nationwide study, six of 10 American students blamed regular back
pain on heavy backpacks.

"These kids come in burdened, bent over with their backpacks," said Debra
Scott, principal of McDougle Middle School in Chapel Hill. "It's something
we're keeping an eye on all the time, and watching."

Karen Jacobs, an occupational therapist and researcher who helped start
Backpack Awareness Day, blames social changes.

"Kids are using their backpacks as portable life-support systems," said
Jacobs, a Boston University professor. "Kids leave early in the morning and
aren't coming home until after they play a sport or go to the library. Maybe they have a laptop, or other technologies that are more common now. ... Kids are carrying water to school. It's almost like they're frightened there's going to be a drought."

But many parents blame the books -- and the rising academic expectations they symbolize.

"They need to make the books smaller," said Rebecca Thomas, whose two
children attend Wake County schools. "And they need less homework."

Weighty tomes

Books have indeed gotten bigger since the early 1990s, said Jay Diskey,
executive director of the schools division of the Association of American
Publishers. Diskey attributes the trend to expanded curriculums, an
increased emphasis on testing and a demand for more pictures and graphics.

California has limited textbooks' size. But Diskey said most states have
found that offering more online content or providing extra textbooks for
home use is cheaper than asking publishers to break up books into smaller
volumes.

Kathy Hamilton, curriculum coordinator at South Smithfield Elementary in
Johnston County, said she has battled the heavy backpack syndrome with her own fifth-grade daughter.

"Her social-studies book is horrendous," Hamilton said.

But she said that children are carrying more -- and heavier -- books for
good reasons. They are doing more sophisticated work earlier. "They go to
the library and do more research than we would do," Hamilton said. "I don't think we used to think they were mature enough to do independent research until high school."

Pack rats

There is more in those packs than books, said Jennifer Lanane, president of the Wake chapter of the N.C. Association of Educators. "They carry a lot more junk with them ... a snack, tennis shoes, Trapper Keepers that nobody ever required them to have."

Even students carrying less than the recommended maximum weight feel the strain.

"I can barely feel my shoulder," said Patrick Kirk, a Cleveland Elementary
fifth-grader whose 9-pound messenger bag amounted to 7 percent of his body weight. The bag didn't help much. One-shoulder bags are popular but don't distribute weight as well as more conventional backpacks, Jacobs said.

Not surprisingly, many students pick backpacks for how they look, not how well they support weight, and don't always wear them correctly. "If they actually use those two straps, they'll distribute weight across their backs, and they'll less likely have injuries," said Diane Rocker, health services supervisor for Orange County schools.

Some schools try to help by requiring smaller notebooks for each class or
rotating homework nights among teachers. But schools often unintentionally work against students. Many students say they don't have lockers or time to use them. Some schools also discourage backpacks with wheels, which can block hallways and scuff floors.

"What's more important, the school's floors or my son's back?" asked Ed
Kirk, Patrick's father.

Lanane said students might have been better off years ago, before using
backpacks and other totes became so common.

"We used to carry our books in front of us, and we could only carry so
much," Lanane said. "I think a lot of times, they carry it back and forth
simply because they've got a backpack to stick it in."
(Staff writer Meiling Arounnarath contributed to this report.)
Posted 4 Oct 06
FCC to Study Ads, Kids' Weight for Link
By SAM HANANEL, The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 27, 2006; 11:10 PM

WASHINGTON -- Concerned that a steady diet of TV ads is putting too many pounds on American children, the Federal Communications Commission plans to study links between the ads, viewing habits and the rise of childhood obesity.

"Small children can't weed out the marketing messages from their favorite
shows," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Wednesday at a news conference. "Especially when the marketing campaigns feature favorite TV characters like SpongeBob or Scooby-Doo."

Martin cited reports showing the average child watches 2 to 4 hours of TV
per day and views about 40,000 TV ads every year, most of them for cereal, candy, toys and fast food.

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said he urged the commission to form the task force, which will include FCC officials, members of the food, television and advertising industries, along with consumer advocacy groups and health experts.

"Judging by the sheer volume of media and advertising that children consume on a daily basis, and given alarming trends in childhood obesity, we're facing a public health problem that will only get worse unless we take action," Brownback said.

The task force will begin meeting early next year and issue a report with
recommendations on how industry and media can work to reduce the childhood obesity rate.

Earlier this month, the Institute of Medicine found that one-third of
American children are either obese or at risk for becoming obese. At the
same time, American companies spend about $15 billion a year marketing and advertising to children under age 12.

Some children's advocacy groups have called for a ban on junk food marketing to children, but Brownback and Martin said they want to reach common ground with advertisers instead of creating new regulations.

"If we start down the road of saying we're going to limit everything and
we're going to do it with a regulatory regime, I think you get everybody in
a quick adversarial relationship," Brownback said.

He said a number of food companies have indicated they want to work with government to help address the issue, though none attended the press conference Wednesday.

"We urge their participation and we would love to have them participate in
the process," Brownback said.

Groups already involved with the task force include the Sesame Workshop, the Walt Disney Co., and the Parents Television Council, a conservative
media-watchdog group.
Posted 4 Oct 06
Partner Spotlight | Win $1,000 in Contest to Help Fight Childhood Obesity
Deadline: October 23, 2006
(From Parents' Action for Children, September 2006)

Get your creative juices flowing! The Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University is launching its first annual Seeds of Healthy Change Competition, inviting the public to help fight obesity and weight discrimination among children and adults.

There are three ways you can win $1000.

1) Sugar-free fundraising. This category invites ideas for school fundraisers that do not involve selling candy or other unhealthy foods. Entries should provide a template in 500 words or less that can be used by any school to launch a fundraiser. The winner will present an idea that is practical to execute and likely to produce as much revenue as traditional candy sales.

2) A-plus lunches. The winning entry will be a healthy meal that fits inside a lunchbox, does not require refrigeration, appeals to children and is simple for a busy parent to prepare. Entries should include the menu and recipes.

3) Reshape attitudes. The discrimination faced by overweight and obese people is well documented and lifelong -- from schoolyard teasing to poorer college admissions to reduced salaries. In this category, the winning entry will be a sound or audio file that raises awareness about weight stigma. It could be a song, animation, short film or any other genre -- so long as it does not run over three minutes.

The winning entry will be made available on the center's website. Winners will receive a $1,000 prize and will be invited to the Golden Apple Awards Ceremony at the Rudd Center at Yale University in December. Submit your ideas by October 23 via the Rudd Center website (www.yaleruddcenter.org), where complete rules are posted.
Posted 4 Oct 06
Stir It Up Nutrition Tip | Lead in Lunchboxes
(from Parents' Action for Children)
By Renu Mansukhani, M.D.

When my husband and I bought our 50-plus year old house four years ago, we hadn't yet had children. But I still knew to ask about lead paint. "Of course this house has lead paint," said our agent, "all the houses in this neighborhood do. But as long as you don't let your kids chew the windowsills, it shouldn't be a problem."

Seemed like commonsense advice then. And when my daughter was born, I dutifully kept her away from areas that might chip or peel and had her tested for lead when my pediatrician offered to screen her.

Now that she's almost three, I thought my lead worries were over. Not so. Natasha starts preschool this month, and has her heart set on taking her lunch in a "Princess" lunchbox. The problem? That lunchbox may contain lead in its polyvinyl chloride (PVC) lining. More...
Posted 14 Sep 06

Play is Good For Children (Really!)

(from the 8 Sep 06 "ExchangeEveryDay" posting on ChildCareExchange.com)

A study in the July issue of the British medical journal makes, "the most convincing case yet for the benefits of children being active. They say the research may lead to new guidelines saying youngsters between ages 5 and 16 need to be active up to 1.5 hours per day" (Cheng, 2006). According to lead author Dr. Lars Bo Andersen, "just making sure children play outside will double the amount of physical activity they get."

Anderson and colleagues analyzed data from 1,732 nine- and15-year-old children in three European countries, after monitoring them for four consecutive days. They used a small machine attached to the children's hips that recorded accelerations in bodily movements.

The benefits of physical activity were consistent. The more "active children had healthier numbers for blood pressure, cholesterol, and insulin. The study found that the benefits of physical activity applied to all children" (Cheng, 2006), not just those overweight and thought to be at higher risk.

This seems to prove that outdoor play has benefits beyond maintaining teachers' mental health, and may lead to a reconsideration of physical activity guidelines.

Maria Cheng's brief summary of this study is available by CLICKING HERE

For the full article, see:
Andersen, L. B., Harro, M., Sardinha, L. B., Froberg, K., Ekelund, U., Brage, S., Anderssen, S. A. (22 July 2006). "Physical activity and clustered cardiovascular risk in children: a cross-sectional study" (The European Youth Heart Study). The Lancet, 368 (9532): 299-304.
Posted 10 Sep 06

The Ashlawn kids who are Running with Mr Pototsky every Thursday made a fine showing at the Arlington Science Focus School 5K Race, Saturday morning, June 10th. See the photos. Coach Pototsky and his Ashlawn runners have been training for weeks and all the hard work paid off. All of the Ashlawn participants completed the gruelling, hilly course, most running in a 5K race for their first time. Four of the Ashlawn P.E. runners took home trophies, 1st place for 4th grade girls, 2nd place for 3rd grade boys, and two tied for 1st place for 3rd grade girls. Another Ashlawn runner (but not from the Running with Mr Potosky team) won the 1st place trophy for 1st grade girls.
Updated 14 Jun 06
Posted 10 Jun 06

A California environmental group has filed lawsuits against the makers and retailers of soft vinyl lunch boxes, saying they expose children to harmful levels of lead. The levels of lead are not high enough by themselves to cause acute lead poisoning during normal use, the group said, but prolonged use or use in addition to other exposure to lead could add to health risk. Lead has been shown to cause developmental problems in young children. For more information, go to: http://www.cehca.org/lunchboxes.htm and http://www.testyourlunchbox.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/24/opinion/24waters.html An Op-Ed piece in NY Times, 24 Feb 06, by Alice Waters, founder of the Edible Schoolyard.

"It's shocking that because of the rise in Type 2 diabetes experts say that the children we're raising now will probably die younger than their parents — the result of a disease that is largely preventable by diet and exercise. But in public schools these days, children all too often are neither learning to eat well nor to exercise." more...

Note: NY Times requires (free) registration to view the article.

The Edible Schoolyard was featured last summer during the Smithonian Institution's Folk Life Festival.
ASHLAWN 5TH GRADER WRITES ABOUT IMPROVING SCHOOL LUNCHES January 29, 2006. A guest essayist provides a first person account of the situation with school lunches.
The latest publication of Dimensions of Early Childhood is themed "Inside Out, Outside In: Active Bodies and Active Minds." The journal highlights information on stopping obesity and integrating movement into the curriculum of early childhood education. The journal can be obtained from the Southern Early Childhood Association.
STUDY SHOWS PROGRAMS CAN TEACH CHILDREN TO EAT HEALTHIER. Parents, take heart: You can teach your child to eat healthier. A study of preadolescent children found that those who attended a behaviorally oriented nutrition education program and were taught to follow a diet low in saturated fat and dietary cholesterol adopted significantly better dietary habits over several years compared to their peers who received only general nutritional information. More...
GOVERNMENT STUDY: HIGH LEVELS OF PESTICIDES IN KIDS' DIETS (From "Organic Bytes #65" 9/11/2005) U.S. government scientists from the Centers for Disease Control have released a new study revealing that switching to organic foods provides children with "dramatic and immediate" protection from toxic pesticides. The scientists tested the urine of elementary school children for 15 days. Children ate conventional foods for ten of the days and ate organic foods for five days. During those five days, researchers saw the toxins malathion and chlorpyrifos in the children's urine completely disappear. These chemicals are two of the most commonly found pesticides on non-organic foods, and are associated with nerve damage in children. Pesticide levels increased five-fold in the children's urine as soon as conventional foods were reintroduced to their diet. The study concludes, "An organic diet provides a dramatic and immediate protective effect against exposure to organophosphorus pesticides that are commonly used in agricultural production." http://www.organicconsumers.org/school/organicstudy090405.cfm
(03/10/2005) - If education is meant to deliver knowledge and wise choices, why are we doing so little to educate our children about food? Revelations about the ghastly content of school dinners by the British celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, last month brought the introduction of nutritional guidelines for meals and the banning of soft drinks and high-fat snacks from vending machines in UK schools. Some authorities in the US have also barred certain products from school vending machines, while France has banned such machines from schools altogether. More...

Another article on Jamie Oliver (scroll down to the 2005/10/03 entry): http://superchefblog.com/archive/2005_10_01_archive.html

And another: ABC News Person of the Week

Play is Good For Children (Really!)