Active Kids Mean Healthier Kids

Health and Science for Sunday 112810

Hey folks,

OK. I know some of you are not going to be happy with me on this one. I know, I know. It's a different day and age. I know it seems too simplistic. But it really is pretty simple. Active Children are HEALTHIER Children.

Remember the ELMM Diet I told you about? The Eat Less Move More Diet. Guaranteed to work every time for anyone. Simply put, if you burn more than you take in, you lose weight. You are healthier. You feel better.

Kids have a higher metabolism than Adults. For the most part. They have more energy, and they burn more energy. They do not have to be over weight, even if Fast Food is included in their diet. The key is activity.

What brought all this to mind was this. According to Clubmum.net - Keeping the Kiddos Active in the Cold Months This post brought to you by Chef Boyardee Posted on November 08, 2010 by Jodi Grundig

Okay, I'll admit that November is one of my least favorite months of the year. It's just the beginning of the winter, when the leaves are bare, the cold has settled in, and the days get shorter. Since my kids spend so much time outdoors in the summer, I really have to work hard to keep them active in the winter.

My kids are constantly trying to get me to turn the television on, and honestly, the temptation is strong to give in. After all, they are quiet and easy to manage when they are watching television! But they have loads of energy to burn, and believe me - it's best for the whole family if they burn it off in an organized, mindful manner!

This month, I have a few tricks up my sleeves to keep them active indoors - without me having to refuse them television constantly. First of all, they are each enrolled in weekly gymnastics classes – which they absolutely love. It's a good forty-five minutes of solid exercise, AND they are learning some great skills that they can utilize in the future.

For more ad-hoc play, I like to do dance parties. My son just loves using my iPad to play music, and we all dance around together until we collapse in exhaustion. We also do some really fun "Olympic-style" games, with skipping, hopping, and jumping as "sports". If they get sick of that, we do obstacle courses and relays.

What do you do to keep your kids active in the winter months?

When I was growing up, my activity was Seasonal. In the Spring and Summer, we played Baseball, Smear the,,uh, one with the Ball. You know, throw the ball up and whomever caught it got slammed by EVERYONE else. Boy Girl, it didn't matter, and we are not talking Tag. We would also go out from Dawn til Dusk making stuff up as we played, rode Bikes, ETC.

In the Fall, Football. Again, Boys and Girls. Football. Not Tag. Full contact, full force. No mansy pansy "careful, someone might get hurt," or, "Hey careful you may brush something and it may be considered 'harassment,'" Again, from Dawn till Dusk, or at least after school, til Dinner.

Winter? Of course SLEDDING. Snowmen. Snowball fights. Shoveling out the Neighbors for some extra cash. Yeah, it was cold. We put on coats. Instead of Texting to see what our friends were up to, we went to their HOUSE.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not completely against Texting. Not against Computers, or Video Games. Although, try the Wii, or Kinect for Xbox 360. They will satisfy the Virtual Reality Excitement craving, AND they will get plenty of exercise at the same time.

The point is, let Kids be Kids. Teach them how to use their imagination, then LET them. If you have to, RESTRICT the amount of time they spend Online and sitting in front of the the Boob Tube. If you live in an area that is not safe for them to go out unsupervised, then why not sigh them up for something like the Martial Arts, Gymnastics, Organized Sports, or even Boy / Girl Scouts. Some thing. Any thing.

Just because the temperature is dropping outside, doesn't mean that they have to hibernate for the Winter. There will already be more and more foods. Lets not let them more less and less. That's what too many Adults do. Hence the increase in Gym Memberships in January. You know, the ones that usually see a influx of new People for about a Month. {Smile}

Anyway, as I said before. It's Sunday. Three / Four days removed from Thanksgiving, and I'm still feeling it. Of course I just finished off the Pies and other left overs yesterday. Josh? Me and him hit the Mall Friday. He spent the day with Nana and his friend Saturday, and we are heading off to Church and then a Daddy and Son adventure in just a couple of hours. I have a feeling we will be working some of it off.

Happy Holiday Season to you all. Make it a Happy and Healthy one.
Peter

Sources:
Clubmum.net - Keeping the Kiddos Active in the Cold Months

HS For Sunday 112507

Children See, Children Do

Hey folks,

You all know that I love my Son Joshua. He is Two and a half now. He is my shadow. Everything I do, he does. Where ever I go, he goes. He is a little sponge, soaking up EVERYTHING, all the time.

Now this is normal, and most of the time taken for grated. Everyone knows this. That is why we are told to watch what we say and do.

I have already told you that I will be making sure that Joshua learns how to, and never loses his ability to use his imagination. I will , I’m sure, be telling him, go out and play. I do not want him just locked in his room, Online, Watching TV, or playing Video Games. I would much rather have him outside running around, burning energy off, and broadening his mind, then joining the statistic of the most obese and over weight society.

It seems that we NOW have the experts telling us, I’m right. More than I even knew. Apparently, even before they were born, Parents have a profound effect on how active their kids will be, by what they do BEFORE. I think. According to the AFP - Active parents raise active kids, study shows

PARIS (AFP) - Active parents can, by their example, encourage their children to be physically active, but the effect is less than widely thought, according to a study of more than 5,000 10- and 11-year-olds published Friday.

Its findings touch on strategies for reducing diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular conditions and diabetes that are growing at epidemic proportions due mainly to a couch-potato lifestyle.

A team of British and US researchers led by Calum Mattocks of the University of Bristol monitored 4,451 children for at least 10 hours a day over three days, tracking the intensity and frequency of their exercise with accelerometers attached to their ankles.

The children were also asked to record any time they swam or rode bicycles because the devices do not monitor these activities accurately.

The researchers then compared the results against statements provided by the parents on their level of physical activity in several categories.

These included maternal walking or swimming during pregnancy, parental exercise when the child was 21 months old, maternal smoking during pregnancy, and parental smoking at an early age.

Surprisingly, children of smoking parents tended to be slightly more active physically than kids whose parents were non-smokers.

"Few of the early life factors were associated with later physical activity in 10- to 11-year-olds, and for those that were, the association was modest," says the study, published in the British journal The Lancet.

But even the scarcity of links is important, the researchers said.

It can help health officials provide guidelines to parents which emphasise the factors -- however few -- that are known to work, they said.

Well, I'm glad we worked that all out. More wasted money. Now Cigarettes are GOOD and help your kids be more active? Right?

Look, trust me, they do not say in this study, but I guarantee you, if you actually SPEND TIME with your kids, outside, playing, they will grow up to be healthy and active. Let them BE Couch Potatoes, they will not be.

When I said I would be telling Josh to go out and play, I was not implying that I would do so from in front of the TV. Kids see, Kids Do. Would that not have saved a lot of money in research?
Peter