Fit Kids

When you were a kid and wanted to play, what did you do? You got on your bike and rode to your friend’s house or went outside to play kickball with the other kids that lived on your street. What was your favorite activity? Riding your bike? Playing with your friends till the sun went down? Playing football in an empty grass lot? How many of you remember playing marbles or building ramps with your friends so you could launch your BMX bike off it? Or how about playing AYSO Soccer or PAL Basketball when you were in grade school? The sad truth is that although this may seem like only 10, 15 or 20 years ago, to a lot of kids growing up today it is something that seems extremely foreign.

Why go outside and play when I can play video games online or through my Xbox or PS3? Why go out and make new friends when I can log onto my Instant Messenger and meet hundreds of people on any given day? Why meet up with my friends to hang out? I can just log into myspace and tell people what I have been doing and see what they have been doing.

A lot of kids spend more time indoors than they do outdoors. As a society we have made our lives extremely easy. We can shop from our computers, talk to others through email and messenger services, we can even earn our College degrees through online classes. Our children look to us for guidance, support and to be an example. If we look at the obesity rates in the United States we can see that they have been on the rise. Adolescent obesity has been climbing as well. Diseases that usually affect adults are being found in our young people.

We cannot be hypocrites, if we expect our children to live healthy, exercise and eat properly, then we must do the same. We must set a good example. Taking baby steps we can influence the youth of today to choose to be healthy.

1.) Set a time aside each day after work to do physical activities with your kids. Go walking with them, play with them at the park or take them for a ride on their bikes.

2.) Reward them with video game time. Lots of kids are hooked on video games. Instead of letting the PS3 be the focus of their attention use it as a reward instead. Such as letting them play for an hour after their chores and bike riding.

3.) Close the drive through window more often. It is easier to take our kids to a fast food restaurant than it is to go to the grocery store for ingredients, then going home to cook. Cutting back on the frequency that you eat at fast food joints could add up in saving your family extra pounds and money.

4.) Encourage them to join team sports or be supportive of any other activities they enjoy outside of the home such as band, chess club or other clubs.

5.) Start doing more outdoor activities as a family. Such as going to the beach to go swimming or heading up to the mountains to go hiking or biking.

6.) Fitness should be fun. The key to having it be fun is to incorporate things that each individual enjoys. Dad likes to golf, so why not do more exercise things that include Golf, such as a day at the course with the family, walking the length of course could burn a lot of calories as well as time well spent with family. Dad gets his workout and “fun” time as well. Son likes to play Soccer, so why not take the family to the park and kick the ball around. You can all get some exercise and he can improve his Soccer game.

If we expect to do anything about the health of our youth we need to start with ourselves, our own families. Let’s break the cycle of obesity in our youth. Let’s build a healthier country, by starting with building a healthier home.