Are America’s children overweight?
The best way to solve this problem, as a parent, is to provide healthy nutrition and exercise opportunities for our children every day. In our busy culture, it’s much easier to rush through a drive-thru restaurant on our way to a school activity, or to allow our children to be entertained by game systems, computers or television for hours. Even the best of parents would probably admit that they enjoy the peace and quietness that filling our children’s mouths with food they enjoy rather than possibly healthy foods and "plugging your child in" to an electronic babysitter can bring. When the children are happy, it makes our lives as parents seem so much easier. And, most parents would also probably agree that on occasion there is nothing wrong with a trip through a fast food restaurant or some time spent with electronics. But, as a nation our children are growing more and more out of shape.
In addition to proper nutrition, there’s some easy ways to get fit. Simply put, just get up and get active for one hour a day. It makes for some great family time, too. It doesn’t even really take much effort. It doesn’t require a gym membership. It doesn’t require signing up for any special lessons. It doesn’t require much more than an hour of time, preferably spent with children and their parents. So, what do you do in this hour? Here’s some ideas for starters:
- Remember Freeze Tag? This is a great game that really only requires more than one child (or a child and a parent) and some room to run. There are variations on how to play, but this is the one my cousins and I learned: it’s the typical game of tag where someone is "it," and their job is to touch someone else to make them become "it." The game goes on and on until it’s time to quit. Freeze tag is simply a variation of the game of tag in that when someone is tagged, instead of becoming "it," they freeze in the position they were in when tagged. They have to remain in that position until everyone has been successfully tagged and frozen, and then the first person to be frozen becomes "it," and the game goes on.
- Play Frisbee! Get a simple little plastic disc and toss it back and forth. All this requires is a parent and a child or two children or more. The average child takes awhile to get really good at catching and throwing a Frisbee, so expect to do a lot of running after a Frisbee disc.
- Kick a ball. Just get a giant playground ball and kick it around. The bigger the ball, the better because it just makes it more fun somehow to have a ball almost the size of your child.
- Play Hippity Hop ball! These are those rubber bouncing balls with handles on them. All sorts of creative games can be developed through the use of these Hippity Hop balls. Set up an obstacle course that you have to weave and hop through. Have a race. Or see who can stay on hopping the longest.
- Hopscotch - Here’s an age-old game that never dies. All it really takes is an area of driveway or sidewalk where you can draw your hopscotch design with chalk. You’ll also want a rock or bean bag for the child to pick up. There are many variations of how to play Hopscotch, but the basic way I was taught was to throw the rock, gently, and then hop in the pattern of one foot down, two feet down, one foot down and so on until you reach the numbered square that contains the rock at which point, you bend down to pick it up without falling over and continue on hopping to the top and back.
- Play bean bag throw - Just get a simple bean bag and toss it or kick it around. Try to keep it in the air by kicking it up with the inside of your ankle. There are numerous things that can be done with a bean bag.
- Play on a playground.
- Go for a walk
- Go on a bike ride with the family. Be prepared to run after and/or stop a lot until all your children know how to ride or are equipped with training wheels. And, please use helmets so the fun family activity doesn’t end in a trip to the ER.
There are so many more things to be enjoyed by a family or just a parent and their child. Use your creativity. All it takes is an hour a day of outside activity for a child to start with staying fit. But, if time is limited for you, start with 10 minutes or 20 minutes. It’s better than no movement and no connection as a family. Anytime you have, give it to your children and their fitness. Not only will you see a healthier child’s body developing, but you will see your relationship develop as well.
