Helping Your Child To Live a Healthy and Fit Lifestyle
Posted by Denny on 16 May 2008 at 03:36 am | Tagged as: Parenting Tips
Obesity in the United States continues to rise and is now affecting our children. Kids are becoming lazier each day and therefore less active which then naturally leads to overweight. With video games, computers and television taking the place of any “real” physical activity - and I hate to be the bearer of bad news parents…but buying your children the Nintendo Wii DOES NOT constitute exercise.
Kids don’t even go over to their friends houses anymore. Instead, they text or IM each other. So here is a great idea to help your child stay out of the obese category and live a healthy life.
They have to earn credits to watch tv or play their video or computer games. The credits are tied to a physical activity. This setup can benefit your child in a number of ways.
First, if they don’t want to exercise they don’t have to - but then they aren’t able to watch any time or play any games. They may actually begin to read more, which can lead to study more, which may in turn, lead to better grades in school. Wouldn’t that be a treat?!
Second, they will learn to schedule their TV time. If they REALLY want to watch a show, then they have to make sure they have the credit time to do that.
Third, they will begin to learn how to budget - which a much needed skill in most adults these days. They can spend all of their credits today that they earned, or they can save some for later in case a better show or movie comes on that they did not know about.
Finally, they learn that being healthy won’t kill them. Find creative ways to keep them active and make sure most, if not all of those ways, include you! Remember, you are the role model. Yelling at your child from the couch with a soda and chips in your lap is not good parenting!!
Now, you may be thinking, “How can I limit their TV time when I am not at home with them?” Well, I have the answer to that question. Want to know what it is? Then click the comments button below and leave me a comment about what you think about this article. If enough people reply I will post the answer next Friday.
Great blog!!
I can remember as a kid, I was never in the house…always outside, running around, playing sports and had a ton of friends. Kids nowadays have too much technology to keep their interests and they fail to use their own imagination.
We live in South Africa, I have 2 boys, 5 and 6 they love playing TV games etc, although they go the crèche full day (get a lot of exercise) but on weekends our boys are not allowed to watch TV (during the day) and we limit their playtime in the house meaning they have to be active outside, they know that on weekends they are allowed sweets and take aways but none at all during the week, only in the evenings before bed are they allowed to watch a DVD but they are so tired in the evenings that they don’t finish watching it, we also have strict routines: in the week they have to be in bed by 8h00pm and on weekends they can stay up until they are tired, but not exceeding 11h00, if they don’t stick to this we take away their benefits which they get on weekends. We try not be at home weekends as we love camping and so does the kids, They are also involved in activities like rugby and play ball. They also have to help in the house, i.e. taking out the garbage, cleaning their rooms etc (for this they earn pocket money)I think obesity in children is the parents fault, they allow their children to get lazy and overweight, parents have to start routines from a very early age as well as discipline, kids are not born overweight and undisciplined etc, it is the way that they are brought up.
Well that was my point of view.
Thanks
Carlyn
Parents role model and proper guidance is vital important.
Cook delicious food at dinner time and do not buy any junk food including soft drinks.
Do physical activities with your child together and motivate/force them to do some regular exercise as a part of daily tasks either at home, with friend or any sports.
Helping young children to understand some important moral principles will solve obesity problem automatically. Any person has to be responsible for his/her physical wellbeing, beside they are so many benefit to be fit.
Or simpley set up what you expect your child to do everyday and leave entertainment to be last as a condition. Choice and freedom create many problems in our lives and to society as we do not know how to use them.
Thanks for your blog.
Jasmine
Good subject.
I will ponder on this one for you over the weekend.
I am very aware of the problem and would like to contribute.
Denny:
I did receive the May 16th email which I got to read today (5/22). I also checked out your blog and especially liked the Help Kids Lead a Healthy Life.
I like your idea of making the kids earn credits for TV and video game time. I need to talk to Dave to see if he agrees with the strategy.
I am always interested in more ways to increase exercise and decrease weight in myself and Josh and Dave.
Thanks.