Peer-reviewed article
Child Participation and Experiential Learning in Food: A New Approach to Childhood Obesity
Benedetta Faedi Duramy ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This article addresses childhood obesity as a public health issue and argues for a children's rights-based approach. Rather than framing obesity as a matter of personal or parental responsibility, the author proposes that children's right to participate in decision-making should be central to solutions. The article suggests that experiential food learning opportunities integrated into early childhood school curricula could be an effective way to implement Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child while addressing obesity.
Key points
- Child obesity is a major public health issue with alarming projections
- Obesity has traditionally been framed as a matter of personal and parental responsibility
- A children's rights approach can hold governments accountable for preventing child obesity
- Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes children's right to participate in decision-making
- Experiential food learning in early childhood curricula may offer promise as an effective solution
Limitations
The document is conceptual and does not present empirical data or evaluation results. It does not provide evidence of whether the proposed approach actually reduces childhood obesity or improves outcomes.
Abstract
Child obesity is a major public health issue. Alarming obesity projections have sparked widespread concern, albeit not much consensus on how to address the problem. Obesity has been often viewed as a matter of personal responsibility, and especially of parental responsibility when it concerns children. Elsewhere, I discussed the importance of adopting instead a children’s rights approach to hold governments accountable for preventing and combating child obesity. This article focuses instead on the right of children to participate in decision-making processes affecting their lives recognized under Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The article argues that its implementation through experiential food learning opportunities integrated into early childhood school curricula deserves much attention and holds some promise for effective solutions.