Obesity is not just about food
PUNDITS AND politicians have homed in on one culprit in the childhood obesity epidemic: fattening food. Despite its obvious sizzle, scapegoating junk food isn't the answer; better school nutrition and less fast food is not the panacea for this public health crisis. A big part of the problem is that many children have very few options after school to do anything other than sit in front of television or computer screens or hang out on their neighborhood streets.
Approximately 5 million children under the age of 12, most of them African-American or Latino, living in poor neighborhoods, spend their time after school home alone. The result is a host of potential problems that compromise their healthy development -- social, intellectual, and physical -- into adulthood. Among these problems is childhood obesity, which is of epidemic proportions among America's African-American and Latino children, 9 million of whom are now obese.
The effort to ensure that our children live longer and avoid obesity has many voices, including former President Bill Clinton, who recently teamed up with the American Heart Association -- and now Nickelodeon -- to get the message straight to our youth about the importance of developing healthy eating habits. But if this nation wants to effectively battle the obesity epidemic, we need to look beyond what kids are eating and start considering what happens after the school bell rings. Can we offer them choices that will help them stay safe and physically active, as well as learn social skills and build self-confidence?
The very same afterschool programs that provide academic help and cultural enrichment can also counter obesity by encouraging physical activity in a supportive and secure environment. And their impact can be long term: afterschool programs teach young people healthy habits that extend beyond the immediate, habits that they will carry with them into the future for a longer, healthier life.
One example of such a program is G-ROW Boston, which provides girls in Boston Public Schools two life-changing opportunities: to learn how to competitively row on the Charles River and apply to colleges. Launched in 1998, G-ROW aims to diversify the traditionally exclusive sport of rowing and introduce girls to higher education opportunities many never knew were available to them. The staff and coaches build girls' strength and confidence by working with them in the out-of-school hours on the water, in the gym, and in conversations about their future.
In Chicago, there is After School Matters, an apprenticeship-based program that offers teens the chance to learn a sport and work within it, such as coaching for soccer and football, swimming well enough to be a lifeguard at the city's public pools in the summer, and other athletic positions. Another program is ABADÁ-Capoeira San Francisco, located in the city's Mission District. The program offers professional instruction of Capoeira, a dynamic Afro-Brazilian art form that combines ritual, self-defense, acrobatics, and music. Using Capoeira as its medium, the program seeks to inspire and empower students, especially youth from disadvantaged backgrounds, to realize their full potential as responsible, confident, productive citizens.
All three programs not only promote health and athleticism but foster healthy relationships between kids and caring adults, helping the kids to gain a sense of belonging and a higher self-esteem.
Of course, these programs, and others like them, cannot exist without support. Unfortunately, too often a lack of financial, technical, and other support hinders afterschool programs' ability to do more than scratch the surface in the battle against obesity. It is up to leaders and creative thinkers from the realms of education, government, philanthropy, or business to demand or create solutions.
We must resist the urge to look for just one solution for obesity and consider the very urgent need to provide our children with healthy activities that rev up their brains and bodies after the school bell rings. Let's use the opportunities that afterschool programs offer for a brighter, healthier future for all of our kids.
Carol Glazer is the director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's After School Project.
