Labeling Children Obese When They Enter School Is A Flawed Approach To Dealing With Obesity Epidemic

April 16, 2007 – 12:07 pm | posted in Obesity / Weight Loss, Pediatrics, Psychology / Psychiatry, Sports Medicine / Fitness

Internationally recognised expert in children’s learning, Professor Brian Cambourne, today warned that labelling children obese when they start school could be a highly damaging step.

Professor Cambourne raised strong concern about adopting a ‘one size fits all’ approach to tackling the health risks associated with childhood obesity.

He was responding to Federal Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd’s proposal to give children a health check to highlight their health characteristics when they start school to pinpoint children who are ‘overweight’ or ‘obese’. Professor Cambourne agrees with the need to intervene however how we go about it is critical to the results we achieve.

“Labeling children in this way could have damaging consequences on their future development and their likelihood of becoming involved in health-enhancing physical activity. Before you place a label on a child that may consequently separate them from their peers thus creating anxiety, it is important to be aware of the environment they have grown up in so real solutions for families can be offered,” Professor Cambourne said.

“Children’s learning environments are critical to their learning outcomes. If we create anxiety in young people that becomes associated with leading an active healthy lifestyle it could switch them off for life.”

Prof Cambourne’s learning theory has been used by educators across the world in the areas of music, literacy, maths, teacher education, business studies and aeronautical engineering.

His framework looks at removing anxiety from learning, and setting up conditions which increase learner engagement with whatever is being taught.

Prof Cambourne has joined forces with his daughter, Brodie Cambourne, an exercise physiologist and founder of the revolutionary Bootkidz program, to incorporate the learning theories into physical activity to address the complex issues associated with obesity and being physically active.

Bootkidz breaks new ground by involving parents and children from birth in the battle against childhood obesity and assist families with setting up optimal learning environments in their own home.

Brodie Cambourne believes that any program created to tackle obesity needs to be based on a learning system that can be adapted to young children and the cultural environment into which each child has been born. This is why it is essential to include the parents in the equation.

The physical activity learning framework they have created is called FITERACY, which looks at how to set up learning environments for children and their parents to make physical activity a key part of their lives.

“We need to create environments in which children and parents feel comfortable and safe engaging in physical activity and positive mental health messages,” Brodie Cambourne said.

Bootkidz is one of a series of programs spearheaded by the Kidfit movement, which provides health programs, coach training and quality control systems for parents and physical activity providers concerned about children’s health and wellbeing.

Kidfit has ongoing evaluation built into the Bootkidz program to measure and identify learning outcomes in the areas of social, mental and physical health and baby attachment and learning development.

The learning framework, FITERACY is currently being developed into a book as a resource for parents, teachers and the fitness industry as a ‘how to’ guide for creating a ‘FITERATE’ society in Australia.

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