During the month of April a new initiative to encourage kids to become more active will begin. The Boston area Boys and Girls Club of America is teaming up with The One for Health Foundation in order to promote a healthier lifestyle for the children of Boston. Both organizations are hosting a MOVband Challenge. MOVband, a wearable digital-watch-like pedometer that uses an accelerometer to track a user’s daily steps, will be distributed to children so that they can track the amount of steps they take each day. This is something that could revolutionize the way we treat childhood obesity. Using incentives for both parents and the kids, the MOVBand Challenge is creative and exciting enough to get young kids active. One for Health Foundation aims to help children adopt a healthy lifestyle by providing innovative wellness programs and workshops that ensure children retain healthy habits for the future. This program not only falls in line with The One for Health Foundation’s mission, but it is a progressive campaign to promote wellness for children. To help children commit to keep wearing the MOVband, family members, neighbors, and friends can donate money to sponsor a child's initiative to be healthy by completing a certain number of steps. By sponsoring a child you encourage a healthy lifestyle and combat obesity. After this initiative is completed in the Boston area, hopefully this challenge can be duplicated and implemented at other locations around America. The end goal of this entire MOVband Challenge is to inspire a national campaign where more and more kids begin to wear MOVbands and promote wellness. The One for Health Foundation’s vision statement reiterates this by saying, “by instilling in our children the crucial importance of good health both for their ability to live the highest quality lives and for this nation, they will in turn transform the future wellness of America, both physically and economically.” | |