All about weight awareness campaign

Even though this title, "all about weight" is very off putting, I think this Pennsylvannia campaign itself is actually promising. In conjunction with KidsPeace, a 126 year old private children's charity which helps kids overcoming various crises, and their web affiliate TeenCentral, their goal is to help children with the emotional roots of overeating or undereating, an often overlooked problem.

This campaign will reach 1000+ schools throughout PA and provide free access to TeenCentral.Net's websources, study and workshop guides, and TeenCentral's safe, anonymous online resource. Their online "all about weight" awareness campaign includes information on eating disorders, exercise, nutrition, genetics, body image & self-esteem, what's eating you?, and obesity & overweight.

I really like the fact that these experts are looking at not only the physical aspects of weight but also the emotional lives of teenagers. These days, it's hard being a teenager--trying to navigate issues of normal teenagedom as well as deal as with family, social, and environmental issues. I think this is a population that is often not given enough importance, so I'm really glad that there is a resource like this out there for them.

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I took a look through their website to see what it was all about. For the most part, I thought it was well done and age appropriate. There are several interactive gadgets to keep kids interested as well as good information on a number of topics. The new health "all about weight" module provides quizzes, graphics, and information arranged on a virtual scale. Their emphasis is, "sometimes it's not what you're eating, it's what's eating you!" My only qualm is that they do not address overexercising in the exercise portion.

I think the part I found most compelling was the "share a teen" story. This is where teens write in with a problem and receive advice from TeenCentral.Net's counselors. There were stories of dealing with divorce, relationships, sexuality, cutting, depression, eating disorders, and many more related to the angst of teenagehood. It's one of those nostalgic reminders of how much I hated being a teenager and couldn't wait until adulthood. Not that adulthood hasn't presented itself with it's own set of problems, but there is just more of an awareness now. It's where you wish you could tell any one of those teenagers to get help and to know that they can get through this difficult time period in their lives.