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New fitness program aimed at kids raises some serious questions

<em>Photo via Instagram/Ashy Bines</em>
Photo via Instagram/Ashy Bines

Whether your child is a fan of extracurriculars or prefers outdoor play sessions with friends, it’s easy to see the benefits of introducing children to activity, keeping them active and helping them build crucial relationship skills. While teaching children the importance of a healthy lifestyle is a must, the repercussions can be damaging if the focus is primarily on fitness and weight management.

Fitness Blogger Ashy Bines recently launched a fitness program called Ashy and Friends, a cartoon show aimed to teach children ages one through six about health and fitness. The Australian cartoon’s website claims this new series will help children fight obesity statistics.

<em>Via Ashy Bines</em>
Via Ashy Bines

“Our society is becoming less active, less healthy and more overweight every year,” reads the website. “Obesity has been identified as the most significant health problem currently facing our nation. The rates of obesity have increased significantly in recent times. In 1985 11% of children were deemed obese; this figure jumped to 20 per cent by 1995, and now almost 30 per cent of children are overweight or obese.”

ALSO SEE: The right way to talk to kids about their weight

While health is an important topic, the Australian personal trainer is coming under fire for promoting unhealthy obsessions to children as young as one year old.

CEO of the Butterfly Foundation Christine Morgan told Kidspot the message employed by Bines’s brand can be damaging. The Butterfly Foundation is an organization that supports those living with eating disorders and negative body image.

ROYAL BLUE This wed 21st @tonedbyashybines

A post shared by Snapchat : Ashybines1 (@ashybines) on Feb 18, 2018 at 1:20pm PST

“I’m concerned about messaging of dieting that has behind it ‘lose weight, lose weight, lose weight.’ People call it health management or healthy eating but the messaging behind it is ‘don’t let yourself put on weight’. So there’s an immediate subjectivity that if someone puts on weight that’s bad and if they lose weight, that’s good,” said Morgan.

ALSO SEE: How much exercise do kids really need?

Morgan believes the problematic nature of Bines’s new series could have lasting effects on children from an even younger age, promoting dieting to those who may not even be aware of negative body image yet.

“I would have thought at a young age, for kids, food is about energy in order for them to live their lives – to fuel their little bodies and to fuel their growth,” said Morgan. “You’re starting to buy into a whole message that fat is bad and skinny is good and that’s absolutely problematic because you can’t interpret it at that age.”

The first four episodes of this new series are available on Bines’s website, featuring characters with talents such as “arts and crafts” and “super fit and really fast.” While the episodes seem innocent enough, tackling topics like drinking water, eating healthy food and treating “sweets as treats,” the remaining episodes raise concern over what this program will ingrain in young minds.

Morgan believes when it comes to health and weight management, parents need to carry the brunt of responsibility.

“[Kids] have got no capacity to understand macro-nutrients or micro-nutrients. That’s what parents are there for, and for parents to make healthy food choices for them, and for parents to encourage them to play outside for healthy exercise.”

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