What crucial role can early childhood professionals play in working with parents to confront the crisis of overweight and obese children? The program cites Preventing Childhood Obesity – Selected Standards from Caring For Our Children: “There is solid evidence that physical activity can prevent a rapid gain in weight which leads to childhood obesity early in life. The early care and education setting is an ideal environment to foster the goal of providing supervised, age-appropriate physical activity during the critical years of growth when health habits and patterns are being developed for life.”