When considering a commitment to viewing young children holistically a child's physical health should be assessed. I'll take obesity for example. Technology is improving rapidly and children are shying away from running and playing outdoors or even indoors. This play allows a child to run off the food in which they consume. Children eat more junk food so more running around is needed for them get rid of fat that maybe building up. Overweight children more often have asthma, high blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol (Berger, 2012). Over time it gets worse: If they stay heavy, obese children risk diabetes, heart disease, and strokes and are less likely to marry, to find jobs, ad to live to old age. Because of obesity, some children are not able to function well in school because they maybe getting picked on and laughed at from other children. In 2007 the Australian government announced the development and promotion of healthy eating and physical activity guidelines for children. These measures will form part of the government's plan for early childhood and plan for tackling obesity. One quarter of all Australian children, or around 600,000 children age 5-17, were overweight. The 2004 Australia's Physical Activity Recommendations for Children suggest that children aged 5-17 years of age need a minimum of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day .
Sources:
Berger, K. S. (2012). The developing person through childhood (6th
ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
World Health Organisation Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, Overweight and Obesity
viewed, (6 July 2009). retrieved from:
