Recently, Mrs. Obama took her initiative one step further. She released Let's Move! goals for early childhood care providers. The list, for infants through preschoolers, is a lot of small adjustments or reminders that can make a big difference in the lives of the children. This summer, The Office of Head Start's Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center endorsed the Let's Move! goals and asked its child care providers across the country to put the list into action.

The Let's Move! Child Care Goals are:

• Physical Activity: Provide one to two hours of physical activity throughout the day, including outside play when possible.

• Screen Time: No screen time for children younger than 2. For children 2 years and older, strive to limit screen time to no more than 30 minutes per week of child care, and work with parents and caregivers to ensure children have no more than one to two hours of quality screen time per day.

• Food: Serve fruits or vegetables at every meal, eat meals family-style whenever possible and don't serve fried foods.

• Beverages: Provide access to water during meals and throughout the day, and don't serve sugar-sweetened drinks. For children age 2 and older, serve low-fat (1 percent) or nonfat milk, and no more than one 4- to 6-ounce serving of 100 percent juice per day.

• Infant Feeding: For mothers who want to continue breastfeeding, provide her milk to her infant and welcome her to breastfeed during the child care day. Support all new parents' decisions about infant feeding.

If you are a child care provider, funder, affiliate or send your child to one, be sure to check out the Let's Move! Child Care Checklist Quiz to help find ways to make good choices. You can also sign up to receive a free, customized Action Plan to help you, or the child care provider in your life, meet the healthy goals.

Since today is National Child Health Day, I am asking you to take action by becoming a part of the Let's Move! initiative. With one in three children in the U.S. being overweight or obese, there is something all of us can do to make a difference. To learn more about childhood obesity prevention, be sure to read the other articles in this week's Monday Morning Report: Policy Pick: New Brief Recommends Tax on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, The Anti-Soda Movement Gains Momentum and
 The Link Between Abuse and Obesity.   

Evelyn V. Martinez

Chief Executive Officer
First 5 LA

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