Run, don't walk! Getting children to be more active

It finished moments ago. The statistics from the NHS’ National Child Measuring Programme were shared and they were nothing short of startling. There is a clear link with the pandemic. It has made what was already a concerning picture even worse. 

Childhood obesity is a significant problem, we all know that.  

We hear it often enough. And children are soaking up the messages, the misinformation, the emotional anxiety and confusion, like sponges. It is having counter-effects. Their relationships with food, their sense of body image and self-esteem are askew.   

The obesity rates in children have been fairly static since 2006. For reception aged children (that’s those aged four and five years) around 23 per cent were found to be obese or overweight. Almost a quarter of all children. Let us not skip over that fact without pausing for a moment. But since the pandemic rates have increased to almost 28 per cent. That’s a five per cent jump upwards. Those classed as obese have risen from 9.9 per cent to 14.4 per cent (another five per cent leap), and severely obese children have doubled and are now 4.7 per cent from 2.4 per cent.