New Exercise Program for Kids

My daughter was a chunk of a baby. (See for yourself.) But she has since shed her baby fat and grown into a perfectly sized preschooler, who can outrun all the girls and all but one boy on her soccer team. When I watch her sprint after the ball I often reminisce about her former Michelin Man legs. Man, was she chubby (though, very healthy, according to her doctor). I’m not afraid to speak about my child’s hefty beginnings, but perhaps I should since these days the tide seems to be turning against baby fat. In a recent article published … Continue reading →

Is Your Child Getting Enough Exercise?

According to a recent study, the percentage of overweight children in the United States has doubled in the last 30 years. And while many factors have contributed to this epidemic, most health experts agree that kids are simply not moving as much as their parents did when they were young. The bottom line: We are a nation of sedentary individuals and our children are the youngest victims. In a recent report the American Academy of Pediatrics noted that the average child watches roughly 3 hours of television a day. What’s more, those same kids spend an additional 2.5 hours sitting … Continue reading →

Kid Fitness – How Does a Garden Grow?

I love gardening. I talk about it here as a great way to get exercise whether you’re pulling weeds, mowing the lawn or planting new flowers. It’s a fitness choice that you can perform several times a week (though I wouldn’t recommend mowing several times a week unless you have multiple lawns to mow – your yard just wouldn’t like you). For kids, gardening can be a multitude of things – including a great way for them to get exercise. Outdoors and Out of the Box Getting your kids involved in gardening lets them get outside, learn about gardening, flowers, … Continue reading →

Birthday Cake – Get Out

First it was fast foods and the short line, then it was soda and now it’s birthday cake. School districts are going to start banning anything that doesn’t fall into the ‘healthy’ part of the food pyramid, I just see it coming. What’s started this? An Illinois school district just approved a new health plan. This health plan would ban students (and by extension their parents) from bringing cakes or cupcakes to the classroom in order to celebrate their birthdays. Pause for a moment to consider that. Yeah, okay. The reason they announced this plan is that they want kids … Continue reading →

Are Sports Not Working Any More?

Sports were the typical activity to keep kids fit. Nobody really planned them outside of the idea that they were fun. There was Little League, soccer and of course football or basketball. Kids got together and started games themselves or they went with their parents into organized activities. Today, we have a lot more options for extracurricular activities and parents and kids alike are going to them in droves. So why isn’t it helping? Because sports, by their very nature, are biased against overweight kids. Why do I say this? Because I’ve been spending this whole week getting ready for … Continue reading →

Sticks and Stones …

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can’t hurt me. This is a childhood saying that we teach our kids because we want to teach them that just because someone says something nasty to them, they don’t have to respond with fists or kicks or scratches. But words are powerful things, they can help and they can hurt. The child who is labeled ‘fatso’ or ‘four-eyes’ is immediately singled out by classmates for being different. The difference doesn’t have to be profound or even unusual, it just has to be different enough that the other kids can pick … Continue reading →

10 Fit Kids Ideas for Summer

It’s started. Kids are getting out of school and the flood gates started opening in some areas this week. I’m lucky, I still have another week and half before my daughter’s school lets out for the 12 long weeks of hot summer days and boredom in the afternoon. But you can take advantage of the long, hot days to work on your fitness and your children’s fitness as well. Here are 10 great ways to take advantage of the fitness: Incorporate physical activity into the daily routine. From household chores to an after dinner walk, keep your family active every … Continue reading →

11,000 Steps A Day

Hey Moms and Dads, are you doing the 10,000 steps a day program to maintain your fitness? You might consider buying a pedometer for your kids because according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, boys should be taking at least 11,000 steps a day and girls should be taking 13,000. Easier Said Than Done Why do they want kids taking that many steps? Simple, they are doing studies and they found in their sampling of 709 kids, that 30 to 40% of those not getting that many steps a day were overweight. Overweight kids are a big deal in our … Continue reading →

Get Fit With a Dancing Cheetah Girl

When Sabrina Bryan showed up on Dancing with the Stars, my daughter went nuts. I had no idea who the blonde bombshell was until my 7 year old informed me that she was a “Cheetah Girl” in that tone that suggests I should have been paying attention. While we were crazy for So You Think You Can Dance last summer, we’ve never fallen for the Dancing with the Stars until this year. Healthy Kids Fitness Challenge The Healthy Kids Fitness Challenge is committed to promoting a healthy body image for young girls as well as combating childhood obesity. It turns … Continue reading →

Walk to School Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow is National Walk to School Day. We talked about this last year and I’m a little flummoxed that it’s here again so quickly. It feels like just yesterday that my daughter and I were strolling along with a few hundred others in the walk to school effort in our own neighborhood. She still has the sticker they gave her last year. She came home with the flyer from school yesterday and was bouncing up and down. She wanted to meet several of her friends and walk with them on the walk to school effort. I could go too, but … Continue reading →