There are 4,300 childcare programs in New Jersey, but only 20 have received the First Lady’s recognition, according to a press release.
LAWRENCEVILLE — Lakeview Child Center Hamilton has been recognized for its efforts to prevent childhood obesity, receiving a designation as one of Michele Obama’s Let’s Move! Child Care facilities.
There are 4,300 childcare programs in New Jersey, but only 20 have received the First Lady’s recognition, according to a press release.
”This recognition solidifies Lakeview Hamilton as a model for building a healthier future for children and families across Mercer County,” said LuAnn Wood, vice president of Lakeview Child Center. “Each of our six centers is working toward achieving Let’s Move! Child Care recognition in 2014.”
Lakeview Hamilton received recognition for its exceptional work promoting and implementing the goals of the First Lady’s initiative, including adopting stronger healthy beverage standards, increasing physical activity, limiting screen time, serving fruits or vegetables at every meal and supporting breastfeeding.
”Lakeview is determined to fight childhood obesity,” Ms. Wood said. “We have a responsibility as a childcare provider to instill healthy habits in our children and help them and their families make positive lifestyle changes.”
As an affiliate of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, Lakeview Child Center has the unique ability to coordinate hands-on learning activities with hospital providers. Registered dietitians from the hospital’s SHAPEDOWN program – a 10-week weight management program for children and teens – teach monthly nutrition education at the Hamilton location.
”Landmark studies are demonstrating that dietary habits are impressionable at a very young age,” said Barbara Weber Berry, a registered nurse and the coordinator of RWJ Hamilton’s SHAPEDOWN program. “Lakeview’s efforts to instill healthy nutrition awareness at the preschool level are significant because they are helping to turn things around before it’s too late.”
According to The White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity, more than half of obese children become overweight by the age of two and approximately one in five children are overweight or obese by his/her sixth birthday.
Lakeview Child Center opened in 1985 and operates a network of six childcare centers throughout central New Jersey, including Ewing, Hamilton, Lawrenceville, Mercerville, Robbinsville and West Windsor.