Monday, December 7, 2009

Helping out the kids...

One of the key ideas that I took home from the Obesity Society's 2009 conference was the impact that adults, specifically parents/guardians have on children. It's powerful when you see the data demonstrating the effect of parental/adult behavior on children. In a timely article recently published, the authors examine the impact of removing junk food from a group of middle schools in Conneticut. The results are remarkable, you remove junk food as a snack option and kids eat less junk food. Hmm, we may be onto something here.

One of my huge pet peeves is when my children come home from school laden with candy as a reward for good behavior. My oldest daughter used to receive extra treats for purchasing a school lunch. We had to put a stop to this practice and specifically asked the school, teachers, etc... to please not give our children candy. I am not opposed to a sweet treat once in a while, but I am opposed to excessive amounts of candy either for me or my kids.