Parent Education

Parents are important influencers of childhood behaviors, especially in the early stages of life. They have many responsibilities when it comes to their children's health including:

• preventive care
• nutrition
• physical and mental development

It's a tall order, especially when they must also serve as role models for their children who are likely to develop similar habits. In today's busy world full of competing priorities, parents don't always have the resources to seek out proper guidance on how best to address all of their children's health care needs. This is especially true for low-income families who lack a stable source of primary care where guidance usually takes place.

Parent Education and Child Wellness
Every child deserves a healthy start. We believe that poor health in children is easier to prevent than to treat. Prevention focuses in large measure on parent education, which leads to healthy children and a decrease in overall obesity and overweight, and chronic disease. Parent education is particularly important because:

• Overweight children and adolescents are more likely to become obese as adults.¹
• For children and adolescents, being overweight or obese increases the risk for developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, sleep apnea and social discrimination.¹
• Delayed preventive care such as prenatal care and risky behaviors such as smoking while pregnant are among the factors that contribute to low birth weight and to babies who die in the first year of life. Colorado ranks low among states, 33rd among the 42 reporting, in delayed prenatal care.²
• As children grow, the best way to protect them against disease is to see to it that they receive all recommended doses of childhood vaccines. Currently Colorado ranks 28th out of 50 states for childhood [19-35 months] vaccines.²

Our Focus
To successfully address obesity through parents, we must focus on educating them about preventive health care, proper nutrition and physical activity. The areas we will focus on include:

• Early childhood care and education (early childhood to first three years) programs that serve low-income families
• Promoting healthy eating and physical activity through public programs such as Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
• Home visitation programs that are tailored to educate parents on the health and wellness of their children
• Targeted communications for families with small children
• Prenatal programs that focus on preventive health including nutrition, physical activity, oral health, and immunizations

Sources
¹ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity
² 2007 Colorado Health Report Card, The Colorado Health Foundation