Nursery World - Editor’s view

With levels of childhood obesity in crisis, everyone must take swift action to tackle poor diets and lack of physical exercise

It might feel too hot to move very fast, if at all, at the moment, but it is becoming obvious that faster action is desperately needed to prevent the child obesity crisis from taking an ever greater toll on young lives.

Recent figures showed that severe obesity was at its highest ever rate in Year 6 children, with deprived areas showing the greatest rates. One in 25 10-11-year-olds in 2016/17 were found to be severely obese, which is truly shocking.

What is going on to allow this terrible situation to develop? What we eat, the way we eat, our sedentary lifestyles, our screentime and social media addictions, fears about children’s safety if they are allowed out to play, the lack of opportunities for physical activity at school and nursery… all these play a part, of course.

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