Help to Plan a Healthier Future
| Published: 25th January 2007 15:18 |
Lichfield District Council's Leisure Services team are giving families across the district a helping hand to swap their current lifestyle for healthier habits through an innovative new project.
With funding from the Government's Children's Fund, the team has been working with up to eight families through a Healthy Lifestyle Project, helping them to access sport and exercise, as well as giving life style advice like healthy eating, nutrition and smoking cessation.
The ongoing project, running until April 2008, was drawn up to help children aged 5 to 13 years old, who have been referred to the team through school nurses, doctors and dieticians. The brand new initiative aims to support not only these children, but also their parents, brothers and sisters, so that these lifestyle changes are made as a family.
Detailed exercise plans have been drawn up with every member of the family, incorporating leisure activities that they will enjoy and stick to. The children are now enjoying exercising for at least half an hour each day - skipping or walking to school, and families are getting active together - swimming, playing badminton and going to the gym each week.
The funding is allowing the families to access leisure activities locally, and to overcome problems that may have prevented them in the past, from visiting nearby Mobile Leisure fitness classes, to providing personal trainers and pedometers.
Incentives, like fun days out, are also being used to reward the children for exercising and sticking to a healthy diet each day. So not only are the children and families getting healthier, but they are enjoying reaching their targets.
Councillor Val Richards, Cabinet Member for Community, Housing and Health, said: "We are so happy to be running this innovative scheme, as we feel that it will help families to make realistic changes to their lifestyle that they will be able to maintain. Child obesity is a real concern, and we hope that by helping families to make changes together that this will have a positive impact on the children's futures."
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