It Takes a Village to Raise a Healthy Child

Every Kid Healthy™ Week is observed the last week of April each year to celebrate school health and wellness achievements. This special week highlights the connection between nutrition, physical fitness, and learning, and encourages schools to host events that promote and reinforce healthy eating, nutrition education, physical activity, and physical education.

The old saying “It takes a village to raise a child” is just as true now as it was hundreds of years ago. As we approach Every Kid Healthy Week, we wanted to share some of the modern “villagers” or resources available to families to help keep your children healthy.

Local School Districts Regardless of whether you send your children to public or private schools, today’s educators build health and wellness into their curriculum more than ever before. Most children in the United States attend school for six hours a day and consume as much as half of their daily calories while at school. Because of that fact, the federal government has created programs like the USDA Farm to School Program, which helps schools to incorporate healthy local produce into their breakfast and lunch programs.

Local Park Districts It is hard not to love Leslie Knope’s enthusiasm for her local park district on Parks and Rec, but in all seriousness, today’s modern park districts are doing incredible things to help raise healthy children in their communities. For example, the National Recreation and Park Association considers health and wellness to be one of its three core missions. Visit this page to read more about the organization’s national initiatives and how it improves parks and open spaces for the health of our children.

Local Pediatrician Offices and Clinics Today, many pediatrician offices are doing more than just reactively treating ear infections and pink eye outbreaks.  They are proactively helping their young patients to tackle serious public health issues like obesity, drug abuse, and sports injuries. Check out the bulletin boards at your local pediatrician’s office for events and activities near you, or visit HealthyChildren.org – a website created by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Local Pharmacists and the Free FamilyWize Prescription Discount Card Your family’s local drugstore is more than just a place to pick up prescriptions. Your local pharmacist can help you understand how drugs may interact with one another, which medications may be best for your daughter’s sensitive stomach, and can advise you of when more cost-effective treatments may be available. The Free FamilyWize Prescription Discount Card can also play a role by helping your family save money on each and every prescription drug purchase. Use the Drug Price Lookup Tool to research the best prices in your area without ever leaving home and the online Medicine Cabinet to save your family’s frequent searches.

We are all villagers and the health of our children matters to all of us. Will you be participating in a local Every Kid Healthy™ Week event? Let us know on our Facebook page!