{"id":14850,"date":"2019-10-05T18:00:09","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T23:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/?p=14850"},"modified":"2019-10-05T11:26:44","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T16:26:44","slug":"tennessee-tipping-the-scales-against-childhood-obesity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/2019\/10\/05\/tennessee-tipping-the-scales-against-childhood-obesity\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Tipping the Scales Against Childhood Obesity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-334883\" title=\"Tennessee Department of Human Services\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Tennessee-Department-of-Human-Services.jpg\" alt=\"Tennessee Department of Human Services\" width=\"250\" height=\"91\">Nashville, TN<\/strong> &#8211; The Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS) is receiving recognition for new requirements designed to promote good health in state licensed child care agencies.<\/p>\n<p>The National Resource Center (NRC) for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education cited those changes in a report <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nrckids.org\/files\/Final.ASHW.2018.Report_8.19.19.pdf\" >https:\/\/nrckids.org\/files\/Final.ASHW.2018.Report_8.19.19.pdf<\/a> ranking Tennessee\u2019s regulations as the most supportive of obesity prevention in the country.&nbsp; This is the first time Tennessee has topped the NRC\u2019s annual report and it marks a substantial improvement from the state\u2019s previous 39<sup>th<\/sup> ranking.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_467357\" style=\"width: 490px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Scales.jpg\"  class=\"thickbox no_icon\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-467357\" class=\"wp-image-467357 size-medium\" title=\"A new report ranks the state number one in the nation for child care licensing regulations that support healthy weight practices.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.clarksvilleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Scales-480x313.jpg\" alt=\"A new report ranks the state number one in the nation for child care licensing regulations that support healthy weight practices.\" width=\"480\" height=\"313\"><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-467357\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A new report ranks the state number one in the nation for child care licensing regulations that support healthy weight practices.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>Some of the licensing requirements that went into effect last year include:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Adopting the USDA\u2019s Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) nutritional guidelines.<\/li>\n<li>Requirements for moderate to vigorous active play for both toddlers and preschoolers.<\/li>\n<li>Screen time limitations on usage and age of exposure.<\/li>\n<li>Active teacher engagement in physical activities with children.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cEarly childhood years are critical to building good nutrition and exercise habits that ultimately lead to a thriving Tennessee,\u201d said TDHS Commissioner Danielle W. Barnes.&nbsp; \u201cOur licensing requirements are designed to promote healthy environments for children and we\u2019re thankful the NRC is recognizing that work with our state\u2019s number one ranking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The new licensing requirements came from a collaborative effort between TDHS and the Tennessee Department of Health to identify specific ways to improve health practices in licensed child care agencies across the state.&nbsp; Those changes focused on key areas including infant feeding, nutrition, and physical activity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTennessee\u2019s child care licensing regulations are now setting the standard as the most supportive of obesity prevention and healthy weight practices in the nation, and we\u2019re proud of this achievement and our collaboration with DHS,\u201d said Tennessee Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey, MD, MBA, FAAP. \u201cIt\u2019s so important to form good habits early in life to set children on the path for a healthy and prosperous future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>TDH and TDHS have partnered on the Gold Sneaker Initiative to offer licensed Tennessee childcare providers the opportunity to improve the health of children in their care by adopting policies related to physical activity, healthy eating and a tobacco-free environment. Learn more at <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tn.gov\/health\/goldsneaker.html\" >www.tn.gov\/health\/goldsneaker.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>[320left]TDHS is responsible for licensing and regulating approximately 2,300 child care agencies.&nbsp; The process is designed to promote early childhood environments that are safe, healthy and educationally rich.<\/p>\n<p>Parents in need of assistance choosing child care are encouraged to visit our interactive database where they can search for licensed providers in their area <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tn.gov\/humanservices\/for-families\/child-care-services\/find-child-care.html\" >https:\/\/www.tn.gov\/humanservices\/for-families\/child-care-services\/find-child-care.html<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp; They can also get tips for choosing child care <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tn.gov\/humanservices\/for-families\/child-care-services\/resources-for-parents.html\" >https:\/\/www.tn.gov\/humanservices\/for-families\/child-care-services\/resources-for-parents.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp; Based upon income level and family size, parents may be eligible for help paying for child care.&nbsp; See details about the child care payment assistance program <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tn.gov\/humanservices\/for-families\/child-care-services.html\" >https:\/\/www.tn.gov\/humanservices\/for-families\/child-care-services.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nashville, TN &#8211; The Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS) is receiving recognition for new requirements designed to promote good health in state licensed child care agencies. The National Resource Center (NRC) for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education cited those changes in a report <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nrckids.org\/files\/Final.ASHW.2018.Report_8.19.19.pdf\" >https:\/\/nrckids.org\/files\/Final.ASHW.2018.Report_8.19.19.pdf<\/a> ranking Tennessee\u2019s regulations as the most [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[2555,1416,11673,284,12508,369,261,513,769,1458],"class_list":["post-14850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","tag-childhood-obesity","tag-children","tag-danielle-w-barnes","tag-nashville-tn","tag-national-resource-center","tag-obesity","tag-tennessee","tag-tennessee-department-of-health","tag-tennessee-department-of-human-services","tag-usda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14851,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14850\/revisions\/14851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paristn.net\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}