Challenging Consuming Lifestyles: children being able and active with appetite in Australia

Abstract

There is concern across Australia today about whether young children are life-enhancing-fit or life-threatening-fat. Evidence supports theview that family meals and children's active or passive pastimes are major contributors to their fitness or, conversely, fatness. EarlyChildhood Australia (ECA) has an organisational history of supportingyoung children, including their healthful activities and sensible eating.1 Here, an ECA member's professional perspectives reveal lifestyle challenges facing children in terms of 'to be or not to be obese', with wiser consumer lifestyle options highlighted for families, organisations, governments and the media.This article explores challenges surrounding young children being able and active while eating sensibly, with wiser lifestyle options. This exploration includes societal challenges to our use of 'able, active, and sensible appetite' as descriptors of Australian children.What young children do (their activities) and what they eat (their appetites) directly influence their bodies, with family genes and finances being background factors. 2,3 Social features that also shape children's everyday activities and appetites include our highly technological orientation, multimedia marketing, food accessibility,4peer and community modelling and television and computer inactivity.5 Also, we can ponder if children are eating more because of less activity and more time to eat? Developing healthy lifestyle habits begins from infancy and result in children having able, activebodies and enjoying food tastes.