It doesn’t take a lot research and study to understand why childhood obesity continues to be an issue in this country. All it takes, really, is a focused trip to the grocery store. The least expensive foods-more times than not-are the least nutritious. That, coupled with the average family trying to stretch their household dollar as far as they can, is a major contributor to not only an ongoing obesity issue in America, but also childhood obesity.
According to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, nearly 15 million children ages 2-19 in America were considered obese between 2017 and 2020. That’s roughly 20%
Another study showed that the prevalence of obesity in children ages 2-19 decreased as the head of household’ss level of education increased. That has led to the creation of several grants in the State of Georgia aimed at educating -not just parents, but also children, as quickly as possible after they are born.
“We are targeting parents and early childhood providers of children ages infant through 5 years old” according to Gena Taylor, Executive Director of Greenbrier Children’s Center in Savannah.
It’s hard to start much earlier than that.
What Gena is referring to is a first of its kind symposium that is going to be held Saturday, September 9th at Savannah Technical College’s Savannah Campus. It’s called “Playing with Food.” The goal is to expose those parents and early childhood care providers to easy and efficient ways to feed their children nutritious meals while trying to get them away from processed foods. Admission is free.
“We want to show them that it is beneficial to your family if you provide for them early on.” Taylor says of the effort to put this event together.
Roughly 20 vendors will be on hand to share their tips and secrets on how to feed children nutritious meals. There will be someone on hand, for example, showing attendees how to make baby food out of fresh produce. The overall goal is to get children accustomed to eating –say kale-as early as possible so that they are more accustomed to it as they get older.
“We’d like to introduce them to vegetables like kale, squash, zucchini.” Taylor says “It’s imperative that we teach them early on so that they aren’t just going for chicken fingers and all of those things that they are accustomed to.”
“I was not interested in spinach as a child. I don’t care how much I saw Popeye the Sailor Man. It would be great to teach children at such a young age to adopt these eating habits now.” She says.
Taylor says planning for this event has been going on for about 6 months. The community buy-in was immediate, especially from Forsyth Farmers Market, Georgia Organics, and the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning.
The grant also helps provide early childhood education facilities with the tools and utensils they may need to prepare the meals for the children in their daily care.
Registration numbers are encouraging for this first time event, with many people wondering why something like this hasn’t been done before.
Participants are being asked to register in advance by going to greenbrierchildrenscenter.org and clicking on the link on the home page. There is also information at that link for anyone potentially interested in being a vendor or panelist on Saturday.
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