Childhood obesity is a serious problem that affects kids all over the world. The simple fact is, children are growing up with major health issues. The reason for this is because of the way they live their life. Kids eat too many bad foods and stay indoors playing video games. They’re becoming less active, and the obesity count rises.
So, what can be done to help counter this? Personally, I think it starts with local communities. People can work together to help tackle the obesity problem in their area. Do you want to know how? Then have a read of the ideas below:
Build Parks On Spare Land
There’s every chance that your community will have a lot of spare land that’s out of use. Normally, the council will own this land and do with it as they please. A lot of the time, it’s left unused as they debate what to do with it. As a community, you should work together to convince councils to build more parks. Parks are a great way to encourage children to head outdoors. It helps make them more active and get some fresh air and exercise.
There’s even the chance for you to work together and build parks of your own. It can be a big task, but, it’s been done my people before. You can buy all the things you need, like fence poles and residential street lighting poles. After a few months of hard work, you’ll see a brand new park, built by members of the local community!
Promote Healthy Eating
As I said, kids eat too much bad food. So, the best way to counter this is to promote healthy eating. People in the community can come together to do this. And, there are many ways in which it can be done. Firstly, you can put on talks in schools and make presentations on the dangers of bad food. Tell kids what they should be eating, and why it’s good for them. The more knowledge they have, the more aware they become.
Secondly, you can promote local farmers with a farmers market. This encourages families to buy fresh food that’s good for you. Nothing contains any additives or preservatives; it’s as fresh as can be. Hopefully, this keeps people away from supermarkets selling all the bad stuff.
Create Sports Clubs
Often, the places most affected by childhood obesity have a poor sports turnout. There aren’t many clubs for kids to join, so, they don’t get enough exercise. Communities should band together and create as many sports clubs as possible. Find people that are willing to coach teams, so that children can play more sports.
As a result, they’ll be more active and get lots of exercises. Try and set up various clubs, and give kids a choice of sports. This helps you cater to everyone’s tastes; they’ll surely find a sport they like!
So, you can see that there are many ways a community can tackle childhood obesity. It’s all about getting children out of their homes while ensuring they eat a balanced diet.