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Activate Fitness for Healthy Kids
Childhood
obesity is a growing problem and the only working solution is for
parents and adults to make the choice to activate fitness and health in
kids. We grownups are the ones who have to do this for kids until they
are able to make healthy choices for themselves. It is no different from
many of the other choices we make for them because we do not feel they
are old enough or mature enough to grasp the full meanings and possible
consequences of some of those choices.
It should
also be grownups leading the way, as we are truly the responsible
parties for allowing children to become as unfit and at risk for serious
health problems as they are when the suffer from obesity. We are
teaching children to lead lives of poor health and fitness twofold,
first by leading inactive lifestyles ourselves, by allowing television
and video games to monopolize time that children should be spending
active.
Parents
have to place limits on the amount of TV, video games, computer, and
other inactive pastimes they give permission to their kids to pursue.
Replace them with pursuits that require physical exertion to accomplish.
Parents should introduce children to a wide range of physical activities
for them to become involved in and to activate fitness for them. Most
schools and/or school districts offer a variety of different sports for
children to become involved in, and if soccer, softball or other such
"typical" sports do not interest your child, what about dance classes or
swimming.
Schools
should consider opening gymnasium doors on weekends so that kids can
continue to be active. If that means asking parents of students to help
supervise the students while gym equipment and space is in use, so be
it. Institute fitness challenge breaks when shifting between courses
taught and have students challenge each other to see who can do the most
jumping jacks or other exercises in a 2-minute period. Provide kids with
daily fitness and health tips they can use to activate fitness for
health within themselves.
Activate
fitness for healthy kids outreach programs should be occurring in every
community across the country. They should happen as often as possible to
ensure that all kids receive the important message about getting active
and the tools they need for fitness and health. The health problems kids
suffer as of a result of being unfit and unhealthy have consequences for
everyone, even adults without children. We have to pay the rising costs
of the health care services needed to treat these problems which places
a heavy strain on our economy. Parents, teaching professionals, and
members of the community can band together to find other ways to
activate fitness for health in kids.
As a
nation, we should hold the manufacturers of products that encourage
children to be inactive to be more responsible by not marketing their
products to children but rather market them to adults who have the age
and maturity to balance inactive pursuits with active pursuits. Kids are
a huge market that these manufacturers can easily tap into for massive
annual sales and profits. However, just because it is easy to entice
kids into wanting these products and to plead with parents to buy them
does not mean it is right to do so. We need to start holding corporate
America responsible for their part in childhood obesity.
Getting
kids active is only one part of the solution. Kids also need
high-quality nutritious foods to fuel their newly active bodies. They
should find healthy food choices at home, school, and the places where
kids like to hang out. Nutritious food should be readily available to
them, while "junk" food should be something that is less attainable. As
it stands now kids have far easier access to foods that do nothing to
promote fitness or health. This will only change when we grownups start
demanding change. Let us all join in a loud collective voice and demand
the changes needed. Activate fitness for health in kids today.
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