This Fit Kid Could Be Yours...................Or Not!

The results of a recently released Canadian study showed that the test participants made a full time job out of sitting still – averaging 44 hours per week. Would it surprise you to know that the participants were all kids?  Obviously not particularly fit or healthy kids.

Dr. Jonathan McGavock, of the Manitoba Institute of Child Health, worked on the 2011 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth, released by Active Healthy Kids Canada.
"Children are getting 44 hours a week of sedentary time," McGavock said. "That's a full-time job in front of the TV."
McGavock said this year's results are the most accurate they've ever had, because for the first time, participants wore a type of step counter, instead of just writing down their activities. The machine, worn around the waist for a week, records everything from the intensity to the duration of activity.
McGavock said most of kids' sedentary time happens after school and on weekends, meaning parents need to make more effort to get their kids off the couch.
(from ctv.ca)
When we allow our kids to come home from school and just sit in front of one screen or another we are fostering the habit of a sedentary lifestyle.  If they are like many other kids they have also developed the habit of making unhealthy food choices during this time as well.  So they are on the couch or on their beds, watching a television or computer screen and munching on chips.  Sound familiar?
It's our job as the parents to disallow these habits in our homes if we want fit kids.  Relaxing is all well and good but it could betters be saved for later in the evening.  That time between school and dinner when your kids are perhaps on their own at home, is the prime time for you to insist they find some kind of fitness activity they would be willing to do.  It could be dance or skating or hockey or intramural sports at school.  Or it could be something completely different like swimming, horseback riding, skateboarding, roller blading or joining an indoor climbing club.  Make a deal with the parent of one of their friends who is also lounging around at home and have them do something with that friend.  Just find something so they are working toward that recommended 60 minutes a day that Health Canada says we need.

Tips from ParticipACTION to help keep kids active after school:

• Make activities fun
• Choose an activity that challenges your child, but also helps build their skills, like a sports team or dance class
• Set a maximum two hours of "screen time," whether in front of the TV, computer or even a cellphone
• Set a good example and make sure you're getting enough physical activity too

Fit Parents - Fit Kids - Fit Families

If we are going to rant about the current state of kids' fitness in the world, or the all-time high level of childhood obesity rates, then we should look no further than ourselves, the parents.  The risk of our children struggling with obesity usually directly correlates to the environment they live in, which is created by the parents or other adults in their lives such as teachers, caregivers, spiritual leaders etc.

KIDS LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE

This isn't rocket science, or a surprise.  If kids grow up in a home where the parents don't make healthy food choices or healthy lifestyle choices, then it pretty much goes without saying that the children are going to be in an uphill battle to obtain optimum health themselves.  In terms of setting patterns and habits, parents, or whoever the adults are who are in charge, have the greatest influence on children before they ever leave the family home to attend a child care facility or an educational institution.  Even if a child begins to go to a daycare as early as one year, they have already learned what their home environment is likely to teach them.  If the caregivers or parents don't take the child outside or don't play with them, engaging them, but instead turn the TV on to entertain the child, and then serves some convenience food they can just heat up and throw on a plate rather than something home prepared, that is all the child will know…or expect.

REAP WHAT YOU SOW

If you make healthy food choices and teach your child the same when they are very young, then that habit will be well established.

Likewise, if you are a fit parent and expose your child to lots of activities and physical fitness learning opportunities they are likely to be fit.   So….

• Practice what you preach
• Show rather than tell…it's much more effective
• Actions speak louder than words

If you make fitness for your kids a priority and get involved and active yourself you should be well on your way to raising fit kids and having a fit family. 

The greatest gifts you can give your children are your time, your unconditional love and support, your wisdom…and because you lead a healthy lifestyle…your longevity.  Teach them, by how you care for yourself, that you know you must lead a healthy life to be there for them.

If you learn to just build activity and movement into your daily routines and make family time to do active things together it really can be a simple matter.  Just have fun.