Welcome to the Children's Center where you will find an extensive selection of resources addressing childhood health and obesity assessment and treatment options.
Focus on Childhood Obesity
12.5 million US children are obese, but we can make changes to ensure our children live active, healthy lives.
Childhood obesity is a major public health problem. In the US, 17% of children are obese, and certain groups of children are even more severely affected by this problem. Nearly 27% of Mexican-American boys are obese, and nearly 30% of non-Hispanic black girls are obese.
There is no single or simple solution to childhood obesity. It is influenced by many different factors, including a lack of access to healthy food and drinks as well as limited opportunities for physical activity in the places where children live, play and learn. Working together, states, communities, and parents can help make the healthy choice the easy choice for children and adolescents.
Beyoncé's "Move Your Body" video for the NABEF's Let's Move! Flash Workout
Assessing Childhood Obesity
Whether you are working in a clinical setting, school-based setting or a public health setting, if you are considering establishing an obesity screening or surveillance program, Assessment of Children contains valuable information that can help you decide which program is right for you and how to proceed. Assessment of Children will introduce you to the basic components of a Body Mass Index or BMI Screening Program or a BMI Surveillance Program and will give you examples of the kind of information you can generate with each. It has a brief section on "Initiating Interventions with Parents" and answers many basic questions about BMI and BMI z-scores.
Pediatric BMI Assessment Tool
This interactive tool permits health care professionals to calculate BMI and plot BMI percentiles on the CDC growth charts for children ages 2 to 20.
Parent's Guide for the Assessment and Treatment of the Overweight Child
Do you have a child you think may be overweight or obese? The purpose of this Parent's Guide is to explain how overweight is assessed in adults and children. We discuss some of the essential components of successful approaches to weight management in children. Our goal is to provide you with the basic information you will need as a parent or caregiver of an overweight child. The information in this guide will provide a basis for you to identify professional resources in your community that you can reasonably expect to help you and your family work together to help your overweight child.
School-based BMI Screening to Prevent Childhood Obesity
- Article by Ann Johnson, RN, MSN, CSN
- Sample letter — Child's BMI below 5th percentile
- Sample letter — Child's BMI between 5th and 84th percentile
- Sample letter — Child's BMI between 85th and 94th percentile
- Sample letter — Child's BMI equal to or above 95th percentile
- Sample opt-out letter
- K-12th grade BMI percentile chart, East Penn School District
Assessing Healthy Weight in Children: BMI History Tells the Tale
- Article by Ann Johnson, RN, MSN, CSN
- BMI-for-age Growth chart — BMI percentile within expected norms
- BMI-for-age Growth chart — Increase in BMI percentile
- BMI-for-age Growth chart — Indication of future risk
- BMI-for-age Growth chart — Impact of medication
- BMI-for-age Growth chart — Decrease in BMI percentile
Tips for Family Fitness Fun
Download our colorful Family Fitness Tips fliers with lots of great ideas to promote physical activity. Perfect for the classroom, clinic or kitchen!
- 20 Tips for Getting Your Family on Track
- 20 Tips for Getting Your Family on Track (en Español)
- 15 More Tips for Family Fitness Fun
- 15 More Tips for Family Fitness Fun (en Español)
- Another 15 Tips for Family Fitness Fun
- Another 15 Tips for Family Fitness Fun (en Español)