🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop

• 🛡️ Safety Knowledge — Learning about personal safety, body autonomy, and when to ask for help equips children with the knowledge and confidence to protect themselves and seek adult support in challenging situations.
• 🥦 Nutrition Awareness — Connecting food to body function — understanding that vegetables fuel muscles, water regulates temperature, and protein builds tissue — gives children an intrinsic reason to make healthy food choices.
• 🌡️ Illness Literacy — Learning age-appropriate facts about illness — what symptoms to tell an adult about, how germs spread, and why rest helps recovery — builds the health literacy that enables children to be appropriate self-advocates for their own health.
• 💬 Health Communication — Learning to describe physical sensations accurately — where it hurts, how it feels, when it started — gives children the language to communicate health needs to adults clearly and be understood accurately in medical situations.

For some time now, the much discussed obesity epidemic in America has affected preschoolers too. Though it’s frightening to think that preschoolers are at risk for the illnesses that obesity can lay the ground work for (such as diabetes and high blood pressure) this has become increasingly true in our society. Read more about preschooler obesity and grow in your awareness of this unhealthy trend.

Preschooler obesity statistics

Overall the children of America are becoming too heavy for their age, and negative health consequences usually follow., a survey from the National Center for Health Statistics showed that from 1999 to, 15% of children between the ages of 12-19 were overweight and 15% between the ages of 6-11 were overweight.

 How has this carried over to preschoolers? In $1, the American Heart Association reported that over 10 percent of 2 to 5 year olds are obese or overweight. Additionally, a study in Preventive Cardiology measuring the weight, height and blood lipids of over a thousand children entering Head Start preschools reported that 17% were overweight, 15% were obese, and 13% had high blood pressure.

How can obesity affect your preschooler’s life?

According to a study by the National Institutes of Health, there is a link between being an overweight preschooler and being an overweight adolescent. Researchers found that children who were overweight at least once from ages 2 to 4 ½ were 5 times more likely to be overweight at age 12 when compared to children who were not overweight from that same age range. Since obesity is definitively linked to things like diabetes, high blood pressure and poor heart health, the effects are far reaching.

The physical health detriments are never isolated from the mental and socially stigmatizing effects of obesity. Obese preschoolers are often teased about their weight and have trouble “keeping up” with their peers physically. The emotional effects of “not measuring up” can have a lifetime of effects.

Tips and other things to think about:

1. Consider your role as a model of behavior for your preschooler. Do you reach for unhealthy foods but admonish your preschooler about the importance of eating healthy? There must be a reconciliation of nutritional advice and behavior by you as a role model.

1. Emphasizing proper nutrition may not be enough. Advocating for physical activity and healthy eating together is usually more helpful than either method alone.
   

1. A study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that maternal obesity in the first trimester correlated with being overweight in childhood, even in those as young as 2. This emphasizes the need for proper diet as a parent even when your preschooler is in utero!
   

1. Take your preschooler to the pediatrician for regular health and weight checkups. They can tell you if your preschooler’s body mass index (BMI) is abnormal and give you personalized practical advice on establishing a healthy weight for your child.
   

1. Preschoolers are not too young to learn about health! Talk to them about maintaining a healthy weight, eating right, heart health, etc… They’re listening more than you think!
   

1. Parents need to seriously look at why preschoolers may one day face things like insulin shots and blood pressure and cholesterol medication in their adolescence, especially considering that excessive weight is preventable. Creating an atmosphere of health, food moderation and physical activity early in life is a gift you give to your child...and the preschool years are a perfect time to start!
   

By: Pia Chaparro

References

American Heart Association. Cardiovascular statistics updated for: New data on risk factors in America's youth. Retreived from http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3027696 on 21 Feb.

National Institutes of Health. Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Retrieved from http://www.nichd.nih.gov/od/secc/index.htm on 21 Feb.

Whitaker RC. Predicting preschooler obesity at birth: the role of maternal obesity in early pregnancy. Pediatrics 114 (1): e29-e36.

Williams CL, Strobino BA, Bollella M, Brotanek J. Body size and cardiovascular risk factors in a preschool population. Preventive Cardiology;7:116-121.

Helpful Tips for Parents - Preschoolers average 8–10 colds per year — this is normal and builds immunity. Frequent illness in a healthy preschooler is expected, not concerning. - Physical activity reduces preschooler illness frequency, severity, and recovery time. Active children miss fewer sick days and recover faster when ill. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### When should I keep my preschooler home from school? Standard exclusion criteria: fever above 100.4°F (38°C), vomiting or diarrhea in the past 24 hours, a rash with fever or unknown cause, pink eye (conjunctivitis) that is weeping and contagious, or a child too ill to participate in activities. A child can return: fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication, diarrhea/vomiting-free for 24 hours, rash identified as non-contagious, pink eye treated for 24 hours with antibiotic. Runny nose, mild cough without fever, and general tiredness are not sufficient reasons to exclude from school. Related reading: See also our physical activity guide and our handwashing and germs guide for more ideas on this topic.