Kids and summer sedentary snacking
Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 12:54 pm
Turns out no-school is even worse that school, for reasons that will ring familiar to no-essers:
From:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/0 ... /?src=recg
From:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/0 ... /?src=recg
“Many non-school environments are relatively unstructured and unsupervised,†they wrote, “allowing children to indulge in sedentary activities and excessive snacking.â€
Although schools are a factor in childhood obesity, they added, “it appears that they are healthier than most children’s non-school environments.â€
In a recent study in The Journal of School Health, researchers at Baylor University followed an ethnically diverse group of about 3,700 children at 41 schools for half a decade, from kindergarten through grade school. The students routinely experienced “a significant increase in the velocity of weight gain during summer break.†In fact, for overweight and obese students, the school environment had a protective effect.
“If a child entered kindergarten as an overweight or obese child,†they wrote, “the school environment promoted weight loss, whereas the environment during summer vacation led to accelerated weight gain.â
) - swimming, gymnastics, performance workshops. Even the unplanned days will include park and soft play (in UK - indoor parks for when it rains).
He is autistic, so it's difficult sometimes just to tell him no, because I don't always know how much he understands. That is why I'm trying to keep him outside as much as possible this Summer, to help distract him from snacking.