Children and Fitness

FACTS:

  • One in every three children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime
  • McDonald’s distributes more toys per year than Toys-R-Us
  • French fries are the most common vegetable children eat

This cause is so important. We all have to get on the bandwagon to help our kids now! In a society where unhealthy foods are so easy to come by it is even more important to go against the grain and not fall into the traps.

Now that I have a toddler we hang out with other parents and toddlers and I am amazed at the bad habits already started. I don’t know how parents think they are going to be healthy and raise healthy kids with the foods and drinks they give to their kids.

Also as a dance teacher my kids often tell me what they had for breakfast and I can’t believe what I hear. The amount of sugar cereals that are still being served is ridiculous.

As parents and consumers it is our responsibility to keep our kids whole. What do I mean by this? When we feed our kids sugar, processed foods, fast foods etc. we are changing their body’s make up. We change their body’s ability to build muscle and burn fat. Help turn your kid’s bodies into fat burners instead of fat storers.

What about exercise? Kids are natural movers. If you have a child who likes to sit around and watch TV or play video games they are going against the natural way of life. The behavior to just sit around is learned. You must reprogram them. Get your kids involved in moving activities. There are so many things to do. Talk to them about what they like to do other than sit around. Try different things until you find some things that they like. Do activities as a family. Go for walks or bike rides. Go swimming.

Exercise is not only good for our bodies but makes us happier as well. Chances are if you have an overweight child that child is not happy. Exercise helps get rid of depression. Moving the body wakes it up. Not only will your child feel better just by moving but making positive changes to their bodies will help there self-esteem as well.

When I have an overweight child in one of my dance classes it makes me sad. Not because the child is overweight but because I can see that moving is harder for them than for the other kids. They sometimes look like they are not having fun because just getting their bodies off the ground is hard work. This can turn into a downward spiral. They gain weight so it is harder to move and then they don’t want to move anymore so they gain more weight. Yikes!

Something that will help your family is to limit the amount of time your kids spend watching TV and playing video games. Older kids especially spend so much time sitting in school etc. they have to move sometime during the day. If you limit TV it will force your kids to do something else.

For kids change is easy. Kids are natural fat burners. That is how they are naturally programmed. It is when we go against nature that our kids become fat. Just start feeding them healthy and getting them outside and they will naturally get into the shape they are meant to.

Read more about how unhealthy foods change our kids and how to help:

More Fitness Tips for Kids!