Parents Have The Power: First Lady Michelle Obama Hosts Parenting Blogger Event

Originally Posted by Debra Eschmeyer, Executive Director of Let’s Move! and Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition on March 16, 2016 on the Let’s Move! website

The First Lady invited parenting bloggers and other online influencers to the White House on Tuesday to have a conversation on the health of our nation’s kids because as she said, “If we want to keep seeing better food options for our families, then we need to keep raising our voices.”

Parents Have the Power: First Lady Hosts Parenting Blogger Event — In support of the “Let’s Move!” initiative, leading parenting bloggers, online influencers, and content creators listen to First Lady Michelle Obama’s remarks about children’s health, in the East Room of the White House, March 15, 2016. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

And voices were raised as #LetsMove was trending nationwide on Twitter during the entire event as we heard from our esteemed colleagues from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Agriculture, the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition, and the Partnership for Healthier America. There was a myriad of federal nutrition policy accomplishments covered from MyPlate to healthier school meals and discussion on the impact of the Let’s Move! programs:

1.6 million kids attend healthier daycare centers
2 million kids now have a Let’s Move! Salad Bar in their school
Over 10 million kids attend Let’s Move! Active Schools where they strive to get 60 minutes of physical activity each day
Over 30 million kids have access to healthier school meals
Nearly 80 million people live in a Let’s Move! City, Town, or County
200 corporate partners have made commitments for a healthier America

When you add it all together, it’s working. As the First Lady said, “After so many years, childhood obesity rates have stopped rising, and rates for our youngest kids have actually started to fall. And I have no doubt that if we keep pushing forward on this issue, one day, we will look back on the food we used to feed our kids and it’ll be like looking back on the days when we didn’t wear seat belts or bike helmets or sunscreen. We’ll be like, ‘Man, can you believe we used to eat that stuff?’”

So six years after launching Let’s Move!, we’ve seen incredible progress, and we have much more work to do together.

Make sure to stay engaged in our efforts by following us on Twitter and liking us Facebook. And you can now see the White House Kitchen Garden as it grows throughout the year on our new Instagram account: @WHKitchenGarden. You can also check out the delicious Must Have Tuscan Kale Salad To Go that White House Executive Chef Cris Comerford prepared during the event using kale from the White House Kitchen Garden.