In 2011, a Cochrane review provided the following recommendations: including healthy eating, physical activity, and body image in the school curriculum and creating environmental and cultural practices in the home and community.
This roundtable features practitioners from nutrition, occupational therapy, and nursing. It demonstrates that it will take all of our efforts to effect lasting health for children (Piridzhanyan, Park, and Clarke 2015).
Some parents rely on school curriculum to implement child exercise, but in reality that isn’t enough in comparison to the food consumption in the average house hold. The Education Code Section 51223 requires all elementary students to receive a minimum of 200 minutes of physical education instruction every ten school days. Essentially, that’s 20 minutes a day.
As a single father co-parenting with an amazing mother to our daughter, Mia Amor Townsend, we actively keep her involved in community sports through the Chicago Park District and other private classes, constantly, throughout the year.
Additionally, I do my best to interact with her using various methods of
exercises, multiple times a week, during my parenting. Love isn’t simply doing the bare minimum to care for our kids by providing, but rather setting them up for success in their futures and ensuring a healthy lifestyle as much as possible.
I’ll be releasing my first book on February 10th (Mia’s 4th Birthday). It’s titled “Letters for my Daughter: If ever my thoughts could warm your heart”. This book encompasses intimate thoughts of mine since her birth, while providing explanation on strategic teachings that I hope to permeate into her mind as she blossoms into the beautiful young woman I know she will become.
Also, my efforts in this book is to encourage and inspire other fathers to become more involved in their children’s lives as we play an equal, intricate role in the health and development of a mentally, physically, and spiritually sound, human being.
“Loving one another, even when it hurts” – Runnell Jr.
Runnell Townsend Jr is the founder of Runnell Jr & My Love LLC, an organization geared towards mentorship and motivational speaking for young fathers. He is a PhD candidate at the University of IL at Urbana-Champaign in Community Health. He also does business development for Sinai Health System in Chicago IL. Follow Runnell and Mia on Instagram @RunnelljrandMyLove
Reference:
Piridzhanyan, A., Park, K., and Clarke N., (2005). Tackling Pediatric Obesity: All Hands on Deck. ICAN: Infant, Child, and Adolescent Nutrition, 7(6), 338
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