Healthy Habits: Every Kid Healthy Week

This week, more than 400 schools in 27 states across the country will celebrate Every Kid Healthy™ Week (April 21-25) with programs and events that demonstrate their commitment to students’ health, wellness and academic achievement.

Every Kid Healthy Week is an annual observance shared by schools, volunteers and nonprofit organizations as part of a national movement to create healthier school environments for kids. Observed the last week of April, this special week - which is recognized on the calendar of National Health Observances - shines a spotlight on the obesity epidemic affecting the nation’s children and provides an opportunity for schools to celebrate their contributions to students’ health and wellness.

“With more than one third of our kids classified as overweight or obese, childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions,” said Rob Bisceglie, CEO of Action for Healthy Kids, the organization that launched Every Kid Healthy Week in 2013. “But what’s promising is that numerous studies show physical activity supports academic achievement and well-nourished kids learn better. That’s incentive enough to try to reverse the epidemic and really is what Every Kid Healthy Week is all about. We’re trying to help schools put kids on a healthy path so they can succeed academically and develop the kind of habits that will keep them healthy for a lifetime.”

This year, hundreds of volunteers will work in more than 400 schools in 27 states to hold taste tests of healthy food, plant school gardens, renovate school playgrounds or host family health fair nights and more during Every Kid Healthy Week (and throughout April) that will show 141,410 students the ease and importance of eating well and being active every day. The goal is to get students to incorporate healthy behaviors into their daily lives as a way to fight the childhood obesity epidemic.

Ending obesity among the nation’s children is good for children’s health and their classroom performance, as indicated in the 2013 special report The Learning Connection: What You Need to Know to Ensure Your Kids Are Healthy and Ready to Learn.

All schools are invited to register a health promoting event during Every Kid Healthy Week and beyond.

About Action for Healthy Kids®

Action for Healthy Kids® (AFHK) fights childhood obesity, undernourishment and physical inactivity by helping schools become healthier places so kids can live healthier lives. We partner with a legion of dedicated volunteers - teachers, students, moms, dads, school wellness experts and more - from within the ranks of our  65,000+ network to create healthful school changes. After all, everyone has a part to play in ending the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic. Our programs, tools and resources make it possible so that many people can.

Our grassroots efforts are supported by a collaboration of more than 75 organizations, corporations and government agencies. Working together, they’re giving kids the keys to health and academic success by meeting them where they are - in the classroom, in the cafeteria and on the playground - with fun physical activity and nutrition lessons and changes that make it possible for them to eat nutritiously and play every day. More information is available at www.ActionforHealthyKids.org, on Facebook and on Twitter.