When it comes to our kids, health and fitness require a team approach.

America’s kids have a drinking problem. It threatens their health, affects their friendships and shortens their lives. It starts as early as infancy, and adults encourage it, even those who love the kids most. If it goes unchecked, it will hurt us all.

We’re talking sugary drinks, and when consumed instead of healthier choices, they contribute to making our kids obese. Combined with this generation’s eating habits and activity deficit, it’s no wonder that 16 percent, or about 9 million school-age children in the U.S., are overweight–a figure that’s tripled since 1980.*

These statistics should alarm us for many reasons. For one, Type 2 diabetes, once regarded as an adult disease, has increased among children and adolescents in the last few decades. Overweight children also increase their chances of growing up to be obese adults, opening the door to serious health problems such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and eating disorders.

To combat the problem, experts prescribe more daily physical activity, healthier diets, and banning high-calorie beverages. Well, sure.

But if it were that easy, we’d all be running marathons. The factors that contribute to poor health and fitness are many and complex. For example, adults in my generation bemoan that “kids today” spend too much time in front of a screen and too little time playing pickup sports. Trouble is, even if neighborhood planners left enough green space for baseball, most parents have fallen into a steady state of anxiety that precludes spontaneous play. They imagine 2-inch headlines that scream “Unsupervised, unscripted child missing – What were the parents thinking?”

The fact is, this is a dangerous world for kids. If it’s not some lurking predator, it’s a greedy marketer pushing chemical-ridden, high-calorie products that clog kids’ arteries, stimulate their nerves, and fatten their middles. Even the parents who know how to say “no” to unhealthy choices—a group getting harder and harder to find—face an uphill battle when it comes to keeping kids healthy and fit.

Fortunately, some health-conscious organizations are stepping up to help. Here’s just a sample.

Make Good Health Policy
By July 1, 2006, all schools that participate in the national school breakfast or lunch program must have in place a school wellness policy. This policy is required by the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 and must address cafeteria food and beverages, vending machines and school stores.

The Michigan State Board of Education has approved a model that local districts can use in developing their own nutrition and wellness policies. But policies that work—and that kids will buy into—will be those that local schools adopt after working with teachers, parents, and especially students. You can read the model policy and other helpful tools at the Team Nutrition site

Move Safely
Walking or biking to and from school is an easy way to get the regular physical activity children need for good health. Safe Routes to School (SR2S) is an international movement to make it safe, convenient and fun for children to bicycle and walk to school. Their “Walk to School Day” each October is an international event sponsored by the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness, Health and Sports, Michigan Department of Community Health, and the Michigan Department of Transportation. Learn more

Get Physical
The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) works to give parents new ideas for family fitness activities. NASPE also urges parents to examine the quality of their childrens’ physical education programs and schools to provide adequate, safe, and effective physical activity opportunities. They offer a variety of tools to help you assess the quality of programs.

Improve Choices
Schools should not have to be funded through vending machine sales, but unfortunately, that is the reality in many schools. So, it’s understandable they want to offer the products kids are most likely to buy. But health-conscious adults are increasingly pushing for healthier choices among vending machine fare.

Getting back to that pesky drinking problem, the Michigan Soft Drink Association recently sent school superintendents a model policy for vending machine beverages sold in schools. The policy calls for schools to sell only bottled water and 100 percent juice to elementary students, gradually expanding choices through middle school and high school, where no more than 50 percent of vending selections will be soft drinks. Parents who want to encourage healthier choices at school should read the policy and ask schools to adopt it. You can learn more here

American kids didn’t get fat overnight (nor did their parents, for that matter). It will take time and team effort to change the culture in our communities. It is possible to change the way kids eat, drink and move. And for adults with a will, tools are available to do it..