Question: How do you get 10,000 kindergartners to find out how fun exercise can be? Answer: Give each one of them a free jump rope, of course! That’s one way the non-profit Seattle group, Treeswing is fighting childhood obesity. With its new Jump Up! program, the goal is to get those 10,000 jump ropes into the hands of every kindergartner in the city this fall.
Treeswing is all about reversing childhood obesity and bringing back the healthy habits of yesteryear. The name refers to “‘the good old days’ when children soared on the tree swing in the backyard or biked to a neighbor’s to play.” Executive director, Tracy Bennett tells FatFighterTV how we can have those good old days once again and how Treeswing is Making a Healthy Difference.
Man-Made Mess
“We created this situation. We have created an environment for this generation of children that is heavily focused on fast food, on video games, and screen time. Kids don’t ride their bikes to school any longer. Families don’t sit down to dinner together any longer. The result is a generation of kids that are increasingly overweight. It’s up to us – those of us who have gotten us to this point over the last 25-30 years – to do something about it.”
Sad Stats
“This generation of kids will be the first to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. That hit me like a ton of bricks.”
Fight Obesity Like We Tackled Tobacco
“For quite awhile, the effort where tobacco was concerned was focused on the individual -˜Well, you just need to quit smoking.’ And it wasn’t until the other 75% of the population said, ‘Wait a minute. We’re going to make it harder for you. We’re going to restrict advertising on television, and we’re going to come down on the sale of cigarettes to minors, and we’re not going to let you smoke in public areas.’ That was when you began to see things happen.
And I think that’s very similar here. We can no longer look at people or children who are overweight and say, ‘Gee, they should do something about it.’ We need to change the environment in which they’re making choices.”
It Can Be Done
“We’re beginning to see those dents – whether it’s getting soda machines out of schools or nutritional labeling in restaurants. But we’ve got a long way to go, no question about it.”
Why Jump Ropes?
“To impress upon kids at a very early age – five and six years old – as they enter school and they enter kindergarten, that it’s very important to be physically active every day in some fashion. Jump roping, in particular for that age, is a very easy thing to do – you can do it inside, outside, with a friend, by yourself, sing songs with it, you don’t need special equipment, you don’t have to travel somewhere.”
Getting Through To Parents
“Enclosed with the jump ropes is an education piece aimed at parents that tells them more about the benefits of regular physical activity, and also about the chronic diseases associated with obesity.”
Jump Up! – A Springboard
“I hope at the very least it will make a dent with parents because that is the key to this issue – kids watch their parents and to the extent that parents can model physical activity, that parents can make healthier choices available to their kids – whether that’s on the dinner table or how they spend Saturday afternoon or what they do when they come home from school – that’s where you’re really going to be able to make an impact.”
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Treeswing and its partners will launch the Jump Up! school campaign September 30. The program includes a calendar for kids to track their jumping and prizes to keep them motivated to use their jump ropes. Go here for more information on Treeswing and Jump Up!
Thanks, Treeswing for Making a Healthy Difference.
Check out all of FFTV’s Making a Healthy Difference honorees here.
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