Monday, Oct. 6, was recognized as the 80th annual National Child Health Day. Public Health officials are encouraging parents, caregivers, teachers, school nurses and all adults who care about children to begin confronting childhood overweight and obesity.

In the United States, 1 in 6 children between 2 and 19 years of age is overweight. A growing health concern is childhood obesity. In less than 30 years, obesity has more than doubled among children ages 2 to 5 and more than tripled among youths and adolescents ages 6 to 19.

This is not just a national problem; it is a local issue to not be overlooked. Nearly one-third of New York's school children are overweight or at risk of overweight. Health consequences of being overweight or obese can be serious. Overweight children are at risk for asthma, diabetes, heart disease and other chronic conditions.

Children need to be physically active. Turn off the television and video games, and encourage children to be active. Parents should be role models. Take time to play with your children. When the weather cooperates, spend time outdoors. Keeping a child interested in activities can be difficult, so try new activities with them.

A healthy lifestyle starts in the home. Children need to get the recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables. At each meal a child should have the options of eating a fruit or vegetable. Offer children new fruits and vegetables to try. Eliminate potato chips and cookies for snacks and provide children with a fruit or vegetable substitute.

Dairy products are important for building strong bones. The calcium found in milk and cheeses will help children grow strong. Babies are the only group of children that should be drinking milk high in fat. Older children should be encouraged to drink milk with 1 percent fat or skim milk, which is fat-free. Cheeses and yogurts should also be low in fat.

Children look up to adults. If an adult has bad eating habits, rarely exercises and is overweight or obese, the child is more likely to develop those tendencies. Parents are encouraged to be good role models for their children.

Prevention is important, but when a health condition already exists it is important to take action. Parents need to step in and make changes in their children's daily routine. One small way to change a daily routine would be to walk your child to and from school each day instead of driving them.

Wednesday, Oct. 8, is recognized as “Walk Your Child to School” day. The Eat Well Play Hard Coalition, the New York State Governors' Traffic Safety Committee, the Cayuga County Health Department and the Auburn Enlarged City School District are sponsoring “Walk Your Child to School” in Auburn. Parents are asked to leave the cars parked in their driveways and take a few extra minutes to walk their children to school. Eat Well Play Hard Coalition members will be greeting children at all of the elementary schools in Auburn as well as East and West Middle schools. This is the first year the middle schools have been included. Children who walk to school will be given fresh apples from Owen Orchards and green pedestrian lights.

It is recommended that children engage in 30 minutes of daily physical activity. This could be met if parents allowed their children to walk to and from school each day.

Changes parents make at home will help impact their children's health and future. Becoming more physically active as a family is extremely important. Being conscious of the foods your children are consuming is important. Making changes to their diet, meals provided in the house and increasing daily physical activity will help reduce their risk of being overweight or obese.

Elane Daly is director of Health and Human Services for Cayuga County. She can be reached at 253-1560 or cchealth@dfa.state.ny.us