This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Tosa YMCA Does Its Part in Struggle Against Childhood Obesity

Grant from Blue Cross Foundation supports program that helps families learn healthy habits.

The memory of a mother crying over her obese son resonates with Christine Prange-Morgan, the New Kids at the Y instructor at the in Wauwatosa.

 "She said that her son was teased at school, and it bothered her because he fed into it, because it gave him attention," Prange-Morgan said of the mother, who was new to the program. "These people love their children so much, and now they can come together ... we are saying to her at the Y that we are going to work on this together."

New Kids at the Y at the West Suburban YMCA, 2420 N. 124th St., is a family-centered program that aims at instilling healthy lifestyle habits with children and their families to help them overcome obesity.

Find out what's happening in Wauwatosawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The program is the result of a collaborative effort between the YMCA and Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. Children in the program are referred by a physician and are in the 85 percentile or above in weight.  

"It helps reinforce those healthy lifestyle behaviors that we may have learned once before, but sometimes we need a refresher to get back on a path to a healthier lifestyle or a jump start into a healthy lifestyle," said Stephanie Navarre, area director of healthy lifestyles at the YMCA.

Find out what's happening in Wauwatosawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The New Kids at the Y program is in its sixth year. In March, the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee received a $81,500 grant from the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation to support the program. The West Suburban YMCA had 13 families go through the program this winter.

"It's our most popular site by far," Navarre said.

Families participate in the New Kids at the Y program for an hour a week for six weeks. The parents and child participate together in 15-minute educational interaction activities at the start of each session. The children then participate in physical activities while the parents are taking part in healthy lifestyle education.

"We encourage families to make better choices about what they do with their time and with their diet," Prange-Morgan said. "They commit to being less sedentary together."

Both Prange-Morgan and Navarre emphasized that the program is not intended to get children and parents to lose weight but to live a healthier life that involves eating a balanced diet, drinking plenty of water and exercising on a regular basis. 

The program also emphasizes small incremental changes that, over time, will have more of a chance to become part of the family's and child's lifestyle.

"We don't expect weight loss and we don't promote it," Navarre said. "Six weeks is a short time to see weight loss. We hope that they grow into... a healthy weight."

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Wauwatosa