Kamloops pediatrician Dr. Trent Smith will be giving a free presentation in Williams Lake today, Thursday, April 27, at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex.
Dr. Smith will encourage people to think about the choices we as a society have made over the last 60 or 70 years and whether those have been the best for our children to live healthy, active lives.
Smith said he has watched the evolution of his own perceptions over 25 years and how he has weighted children’s health and obesity.
When he started, the primary focus was on obesity as its own outcome measure and being a problem.
Today he is much less worried about what the scale says and pays attention to other medical health measures such as blood pressure, blood work results and those sorts of things.
“I’ve also come to realize the medical system in general is really good about treating diseases and problems that have risen, but that we are probably not the right people to prevent those problems from happening,” he said.
Through his presentation he hopes to inspire people to connect the dots about children’s behaviour and think about decisions that will improve child health, emotional and academic well-being.
There is research showing if children are physically active in the hour before they are expected to sit down and spend the day in the classroom it helps them to manage their behaviour and focus better academically.
“Generally we leave home at the last possible minute, pop the kids in the car and drive them to the school and watch them run in and expect them to immediately settle down in class and begin work,” he said. “We all kind of take that for granted.”
Responses to his ideas vary and he admits he is advocating we think about changing our culture and recognizes any cultural change is difficult.
“I don’t think there has ever been a cultural shift that is immediately and widely embraced by everyone,” he said. “Maybe the use of cell phones is the exception to that rule because that is a huge cultural shift that we have done and not many people oppose it.’
A favourite example he gave is the smoking and non-smoking legislation policies introduced in the past, adding he is old enough to remember when they were rolled out.
He remembers there was a huge uproar and the general feeling was that all restaurants were going to go out of business and bars would all shut down because no one would go because they couldn’t smoke at the bar.
“I don’t think people were making those concerns up. They were expressing what they thought might happen and low and behold that didn’t happen and most people would never go back to having to sit in a restaurant beside someone who is smoking or on a plane next to someone smoking.”
Cultural change requires some discomfort for some people, he suggested.
The idea of driving less requires discomfort from pretty much everyone because cars are “crazy, comfortable” things with air conditioning, heated seats and a great stereo, almost better than his living room, he said.
Looking forward to coming to Williams Lake, he said he hopes to encourage good conversations and get people thinking.
Joining the Chilcotin Road PAC in hosting the event are Streets for All Williams Lake, School District 27 board of education and the SD 27 PACs.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m., Smith’s talk begins a 6 p.m and a light meal will be provided.
READ MORE: Inspiring physically active children in Williams Lake focus of pediatrician presentation April 27
monica.lamb-yorski@wltribune.com
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