This article in the Huffington Post (It’s Time for Parents to Turn the Tide on Childhood Obesity) by David Kirchhoff, CEO of Weight Watchers, outlines the responsibility of parents and caregivers to create healthier environments for our children.
Five tools for success are suggested:
1. Focus food choices on nutritious foods.
2. Do not withhold treats.
3. Ration screen time.
4. Have at least one hour of activity time per day.
5. Apply these changes to the entire family.
Our prototyping faculty from Frog Design introduced us to the idea of Augmented Mindfulness, which involves recording behavior, processing the data collected, and feeding it back to the individual or group so that they can better understand the patterns of activity. The choices we makes today will have an even greater effect 10 to 20 years from now, so considering the importance of lifestyle change now for the future can be difficult, as the urgency is less apparent.
As I develop my thesis project, I must consider the effects of lasting mindfulness and how to portray its lasting importance by design. It is about creating a behavior change and a paradigm shift. The problem is too big to be solved by any individual, but being a part of a community effort is something I will need to champion.
Addressing childhood obesity takes a long-term commitment. No single entity - be it a private company, non-profit or government body - has all of the answers or tools to fully conquer this problem. But it is in all of our best interests to work together to support the hard work we all have as parents and caregivers to create a healthier environment for our children.
