HEALTH and NUTRITION

Children and Calories

MOST PARENTS DON’T COUNT CALORIES FOR THEIR CHILDREN,
but with so many children overweight, it might be time to start thinking in numbers. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, children’s calorie intake increased by approximately 80 to 230 extra calories per day, depending on the child’s age and activity level, between 1989 and 1996. The increases in calorie intake were driven, in part, by increased consumption of foods and beverages high in sugars, such as soda, juice drinks, and snack foods. Just 80 extra calories per day can result in a child’s gaining eight extra pounds per year. On a 75 pound child, that equals a ten percent gain in body weight! Those numbers add up to trouble for anyone—young or old.

How many calories do children need?

Age	Average Calorie Needs Each Day
4–6 years 7–10 years 11–14 years Boys 11–14 years Girls	1800 2000 2500 2200

In general, knowing how many calories your child needs each day can help you plan and manage your child’s dietary and nutritional intake. An eleven year–old active girl only needs 2200 calories per day, the same as an active 30 year–old woman. All too often, parents give their children foods that they wouldn’t think of eating. An example is snack time after a soccer game. Parents pass out bags of cookies or chips and juice drinks. Without thinking, the girls consume 300–500 calories of fat and sugar. An 80 pound eleven year–old girl only burns 150 calories for 30 minutes of soccer play but has consumed an extra 150 calories of junk. Over the course of a year, those extra calories from snacks quickly equal extra pounds of fat. Not only does being overweight affect a child’s athletic performance, but being overweight also affects a child’s self–esteem and confidence.

What can a parent and child do? Learn to read food nutrition labels, and talk about not only the calorie content of foods but their nutritional value as well. Have a child keep a food diary for a couple days and count daily calories. Both the parents and the child will be amazed at how many calories a child can consume without thinking. Once you begin to understand the caloric content of foods, move on to fat, sugar, and calcium content.

Proper nutrition in childhood can reinforce lifelong eating habits and contribute to your children’s overall well–being. What parents don’t want that for their children?

©2005 by Claudia Pillow and Annalise Roberts

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