Healthy Kids

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Healthy Kids Work Group

During the past three decades, childhood obesity rates have tripled, and today, nearly 1 in 3 children in America are overweight or obese. Many of these children face mental and physical health problems like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, asthma and depression.

We are working to reverse the trend by promoting physical activity, supporting school and community gardens, nutrition education, social connectedness and family work and life balance.

The Work Group supports efforts to:

• Assure implementation of strong wellness policies and practices in Douglas County schools, before and after-school programs, child care homes and centers
• Advocate for continued implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act
• Create or maintain school and early childhood gardens across Douglas County
• Establish practices that result in greater use of fruits and vegetables from gardens that serve children birth to 18
• Cultivate school wellness champions within schools including PE teachers and the community
• Increase school participation in Let’s Move in Kansas Schools or programs designed to promote movement in the classroom
• Establish requirements for child care and early childhood education programs to improve physical activity standards
• Ensure that all students in grades K-12 have adequate opportunities to engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day, through approaches including:
  • active transport to school programs
  • intramural sports and activity programs
  • active recess
  • classroom breaks
  • after-school physical activity programming
  • integration of physical activity into curricula lesson plans