Take Action for Child Health Day October 6
 October 6, 2008 is the 80th anniversary of Child Health Day. This day is dedicated to raising awareness about childhood health and working to improve it.
The theme for Child Health Day 2008 is “Eat Healthy and Be Active for a Healthy Future,” emphasizing the Surgeon General’s Childhood Overweight and Obesity Prevention Initiative, Healthy Youth for a Healthy Future.
The Surgeon General's Initiative spotlights the serious and growing health problem of overweight children and calls upon parents, caregivers, schools, and communities to take steps to reverse the trend. Fortunately, overweight in children can often be reversed or prevented.
To ensure a healthy future for America's children, it is important to:
- Help Kids Stay Active
- Encourage Healthy Eating Habits
- Promote Healthy Choices
The National Institutes of Health’s We Can! TM (Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity & Nutrition) program fully embraces these goals. We Can! is a science-based initiative that has evolved into a rapidly growing social movement, supporting the Surgeon General’s healthy youth initiative. At its launch, We Can! had 14 intensive sites and has since
skyrocketed to more than 900 sites from small and large towns to cities in all 50 states, as well as in nine other countries. The program is designed to work with parents and caregivers to help promote a healthy weight in children and youth. In addition, We Can! offers community-based organizations three levels of flexible, ready-made programs for parents and youth, provides resources for recruiting partners, and promotes a network for sharing ideas.
 We Can! provides both online and print resources to help families and communities help children improve food choices, increase physical activity, and reduce screen time. For Child Health Day and year round, visit the links below or http://wecan.nhlbi.nih.gov. You can also call toll-free at 1-865-35 WE CAN.
 For Families
Families Finding the Balance: A Parent Handbook (English)
Families Finding the Balance: A Parent Handbook (Spanish)
We Can! Energize Our Families: Parent Program – Leader’s Guide
We Can! Energize Our Families: A Family Guide
We Can! Tips for Parents and Families
We Can! Web site: Learn It and Live It
For Communities
We Can! Energize Our Community: Toolkit for Action
Become a We Can! Community, County, or City
Who Can Make It Happen? We Can! Poster
We Can! Program Brochure
Curricula for Youth
Media Smart Youth curriculum for elementary schools
Training for Media Smart Youth leaders
CATCH Kids Club and S.M.A.R.T. programs
Find them here and scroll down to read more.
We Can! was created by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).
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