Campers enjoy water activities during Camp Strong4Life in 2012.

Ever heard of a summer camp that combines swimming and rock climbing with cooking lessons and a grocery store tour? Welcome to Camp Strong4Life.

 

Organized by Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Camp Strong4Life caters to children ages 9 to 17 who struggle with their weight -- specifically, those with a BMI above the 85th percentile -- and works to address all of the health and social issues that accompany that struggle.

 

In many ways, the week-long overnight camp is like any other summer camp with archery, zip-lining and fun group activities. But its goals are more than just creating fond childhood memories. The camp aims to give kids and their families an opportunity to hit the reset button on their lifestyles by giving them knowledge and tools to make healthier choices.

 

Camp Director Lauren Lorenzo said children with serious health and weight problems often are self-conscious about their bodies or physical abilities, making it difficult for them to be as active as their peers in sports or other physical activities. But by bringing children with similar health issues together outside of their everyday environments, Camp Strong4Life hopes to give them the self-confidence they need to take on their health challenges.

 

"We want to teach them lifelong fitness and health, but it's also about letting them experience new things that they might not have tried otherwise," she said. "Hopefully the camp helps them adopt some healthier behaviors and also helps them become more confident about themselves outside of camp."

 

Children attend Camp Strong4Life for a week during the summer, but the camp actually begins in the spring, when kids and families who have registered attend a family weekend at Camp Twin Lakes in Winder, Ga. Each child and family meet with camp staff to set a personal health goal based on CHOA's four core healthy habits: drinking more water, eating more fruits and vegetables, limiting screen time and getting 60 minutes of physical activity every day.

 

While kids take advantage of the swimming pool or the rock climbing wall, parents get more intensive lessons from CHOA professionals about how to help their children make changes in their diets and physical activity. Child psychologists discuss ways to help picky eaters try new foods or realize when they are hungry and full. Registered dietitians lead classes on easy healthy cooking and take parents on a grocery store tour, helping them decipher product labels and learn which foods are healthiest.

 

Teaching families is as important as teaching children, Lorenzo said, because parents are the ones setting daily routines for their kids.

 

"We know that the kids don't make decisions about their schedules, about grocery shopping or about what happens at home. So it's very important that the caregivers that do this have some baseline knowledge of healthy habits," she said.

 

After the camp is over, CHOA staff keep tabs on how the kids are doing in meeting their personal health goals. Camp attendees gather again in the fall for a family reunion weekend and meet with their health coaches to talk about their progress. Lorenzo said CHOA is also working on developing a telenutrition program, which would make it easier for staff members to check in on families from afar.

 

Kids learn about healthy habits at Camp Strong4Life in 2012.

Camp Strong4Life is in its fourth year, and attendance has grown from 18 children in its first year to 90 kids who attended last year. CHOA hopes to host 130 kids at this year's camp. Lorenzo said the program certainly hopes to address the state's major childhood obesity problem, but its main focus isn't on waist sizes or numbers on the scale.

  

"It's not really about weight as much as it's about changing health outcomes for these children and their families and helping them create a healthy lifestyle," she said.

 

If you know a child who could benefit from Camp Strong4Life,
visit the program's website to learn about eligibility, medical requirements, applications and cost. For more information, email
the Camp Strong4Life staff at campstrong4life@choa.org or call 404-785-7228.