CFK reports from: The New Normal? What Girls Say About Healthy Living
Event: Release of research report; panel discussion
Organized by: Girl Scout Research Institute
Where/When: National Press Club, Washington DC, Wednesday, January 25, 2006

This latest report by the research arm of the Girls Scouts of the U.S.A. takes a look at the attitudes of girls aged 8 to 17 towards healthy living, weight, body image and exercise. It's based on focus group interviews in four communities, an online survey of more than 2,000 girls and their mothers, and a separate survey of 400 African American, Latina and Asian girls.

Teamwork. Friends. Healthy exercise. That's the upside of organized sports and activities for kids. But what about the downside? Loss of family time. Stress. Weekends in the car. Andrea Grazzini Walstrom decided to take action to reclaim at least part of each precious weekend. Walstrom talks about the birth of Balance4Success, the group she started in Minnesota.

Reactions to the new federal dietary guidelines released on Jan. 12, 2005 have ranged from surprised to frankly skeptical as the gap between the recommendations and reality sinks in. Connect for Kids Editor Susan Phillips went looking for advice on putting the guidelines to work for children and teens.

This National Academies' Transportation Research Board report explores the link between the "built" environment—buildings, roads, parks, and other structures that
physically define a community—and physical activity levels.

In national measures of public health, Arkansas consistently ranks near the bottom, with high rates of heart disease and obesity. But a broad new effort aims to change that, starting with kids. Rob Capriccioso reports.

Since 1983, the nation has observed National Physical Fitness and Sports Month during the month of May. It's an opportunity to draw attention to physical activity as an integral part to a healthy and productive life and celebrate participation in sports and hundreds of physical activities, reports the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

New research indicates that adolescence is crunch time in the nation's uphill battle against obesity and overweight. Children who enter adolescence overweight are very likely to remain that way into adulthood, and large numbers of kids become overweight in adolescence. Can PE help? George Graham, president of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, says yes.

This recent CDC survey of 9 to 13-year-olds and their parents sets the baseline for efforts to increase physical activity among kids. The majority of kids (61 percent) reported no organized physical activity like sports, and almost a quarter (23 percent) said they engaged in no active play during out-of-school hours. Parents said transportation problems, lack of local opportunities, expense, lack of parental time and concerns about neighborhood safety were part of the problem.

To support the national goal of better health through physical activity, CDC's Nutrition and Physical Activity Program has developed KidsWalk-to-School. This is a community-based program that aims to increase opportunities for daily physical activity by encouraging children to walk to and from school in groups accompanied by adults.