Yes, Kids Need Exercise, We Get It!

Maybe it’s because I’m in the business of following fitness trends, reading and writing about them and discussing how to build your exercise program. Maybe because I work with young children and I have one of my own, I’m a little more sensitive to the issue. But could we please stop using the words “alarming,” “dangerous” and “overwhelming” when we are referring to the issues of childhood fitness, obesity and health? Yes, obesity is an issue. Yes, kid fitness is an issue. Yes, we need to be doing something about it. But parents, teachers, caretakers and many others are becoming … Continue reading →

Be the Role Model For Your Kids

Do you know what it means to be a healthy role model? Have you ever asked yourself what qualities your role models possess? Do you believe that values and actions are what you admire most about your role models or is it something else? The simple truth is – to be a good role model, you shouldn’t be critical or judgmental of the people around you. Instead, you demonstrate and live your beliefs so that others can see and appreciate them. Specifically, when we’re talking about our kids – it’s important to demonstrate making healthy choices – if you eat … Continue reading →

Does School-Based Fitness Fade Over the Summer?

I’ve made my feelings known on the P.E. requirements at schools and how I think they need to be higher. I’ve also made it clear that it’s just as much a parent’s responsibility, if not more, than a school’s to see that their child’s fitness needs are met. Even if you can’t afford to send them to classes, there are a number of free offerings available over the summer from community centers and more – and taking your kids out for walks and bike rides doesn’t cost you much more than some time. So when studies find that school based … Continue reading →

Dad’s Parenting Affects Your Child’s Weight

This is interesting. A friend of mine sent me an update in the mail over the weekend and it detailed a recent study that was to be presented to the Pediatric Academic Societies in Toronto. According to the study that included 5,000 children, in the 4 to 5 year old age range and their parents found that Dad’s parenting style presented a major influence on their children’s weight. The Daddy Game It seems that researchers discovered that permissive fathers (those who offered no limits to their children) or disengaged fathers who were not involved with their children were more likely … Continue reading →

Children’s Fitness: New Global Health Threat in the Form of Video Games?

I’ve talked about World of Warcraft here before and I’ve addressed problems from concerned parents about the amount of time their kids spend playing video games versus how much time they spend on physical activities. Today, I want to take this discussion a bit further and I have my own personal reasons for maintaining my level of concern and this concern is something that I am working on here in my own family. My seven-year-old nephew loves to play this game and plays it at his father’s house a great deal. We can limit his game time when he is … Continue reading →

Kid Fitness: Play Now; Pay Later

I told my daughter not to do something the other day and another mother suggested that I was being too protective. I considered her comment for a long moment and then said, “Maybe so, but no matter how flexible she is now and how quick she is to bounce back from hurting herself – if she doesn’t do something right and learn how to do it the right way now – long term stress injuries are going to plague her later.” Maybe it’s because I write about fitness for a living or maybe it’s because I have my own host … Continue reading →

Coach Mom: Making Up Your Game Plan

You know, when we became parents no one mentioned that being parents made us: Chefs Doctors Nurses Teachers Coaches Nutritionists Physical therapists Psychologists And much, much more But in essence, becoming a parent makes us the jacks and jills of all trades. We provide for our children and our families. It’s amazing, in some ways, that as parents we become even more aware of the needs of the rest of our families as well. We pay attention to the health of our parents, our siblings and our grandparents. So when it comes to our family’s fitness – we’re the primary … Continue reading →

The Idiot Box & Fitness

In the February issue of Pediatrics a magazine, a study was published that may actually surprise you – it certainly surprised me. It states that if your teenager or child is not getting enough exercise – the blame does not lay with the idiot box or television. In fact, the study also revealed that there was no relationship between the amounts of time a teenager spent watching television and their level of physical activity. While this may fly in the face of conventional thinking because we tend to think of the television as leading to couch potatoes and the couch … Continue reading →

Does Your Child Get Enough ZzzZzzz’s?

Tuesday, my daughter wanted to go to school desperately, but she was exhausted. She kept falling back to sleep. Against my better judgment, I went ahead and took her up there, but as soon as she was in her classroom, she kept laying her head down on her table and her teacher and I had the same thought – she was either feeling ill or she was too tired to be there. Either way, I took her back home with me. She napped most of the morning, curled up on the sofa. She napped a part of the afternoon as … Continue reading →

Hoops for Hearts – A Daughter’s Goals

I talk about my daughter a lot and I talk about the things I do with her and the things she says, but rarely do I get an opportunity to demonstrate so amply the type of person she is becoming. Let me preface this by saying the two schools she’s been in have done fund raisers before. Usually the fund raisers were about raising funds for the school or playground equipment and involved selling some product or other. She never evinced much interest in either of these attempts. A Change in Her Attitude She came home from school two days … Continue reading →