Mother-Daughter Duo Work Together For Youth Wellness

by Maren Larson
November 02, 2011 10:26 PM


With recent statistics revealing the reality of childhood obesity, parents do what they can to keep their kids moving and eating right.

Fuel Up to Play 60 is a school-based program sponsored by the National Dairy Council and the NFL, encouraging kids to eat healthy and be active for at least 60 minutes a day.

One Sioux Falls mother-daughter duo works with the program to better students.

Recess is always a part of the school day kids look forward to but for Nicole Osmundson and her daughter Katie, recess means a lot more than just a break from classes.

"I really just wanted to get my school active through Fuel Up to Play 60,” said Katie Osmundson.

Two years ago, Nicole Osmundson was given a flyer about the program

"I went on the website and researched it out. I thought it would just be a great adjunct to our school that would be a fun and interactive way to get kids excited about eating healthy and being active,” said Nicole Osmundson.

Now, she is not only making a difference to improve school wellness at Robert Frost Elementary through Fuel Up to Play 60, but she is also South Dakota's Advisor of the Year for the program.
     
And her daughter Katie, a 5th grader at Robert Frost serves as one of the nine national student ambassadors.

"I am really excited about meeting all of these new people and getting to do all of this,” said Katie.  “I think it's a lot of fun and I really like it.”

Nicole Osmundson helps implement many different school programs and incentives for the students at Robert Frost; from the Wake Up To Wellness which encourages healthy breakfast options to the Walk It program that challenges kids to take 10,000 steps a day.

"It really makes it fun,” said Nicole. “It's not that we are preaching at the kids, but they are outside and being active for 60 minutes.  They don't even realize what they are doing.  Or they are making the healthy food choices and they realize this food tastes good and so I see that it's a program that works.”

Nicole Osmundson says a big part of the program is making sure the ideas come from the kids and a big way to do that was by signing a pledge.  They even got Governor Daugaard to get involved.”

"I see that we are laying the foundation for lifestyle changes that will affect students in years to come,” said Nicole.

"I hope that they learn to be healthy and carry it on through when they get older,” said Katie.

A mother daughter team working to improve the lifestyles of their neighbors; here and across the nation.

Nicole Osmundson says she is currently working on winter activities for the kids at Robert Frost so they can stay active when it gets too cold to go outside for recess.

Maren Larson
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