Helping Your Kids Get and Stay Fit.

The National Institutes of Health reports about 55% of adults are overweight or obese. This is up from 43% in the 60’s.

How heavy and how healthy we are often is related to our habits when young.

Our kids now are becoming increasingly sedentary, only 19% are physically active by the time they reach high school.

In the past 20 years, obesity in 6 to 11 year olds has increased 54%!

Why are our kids gaining so much weight?

Kids are playing in much less active ways and getting far less exercise.

A large part of this is technology… with the rise of phones, tablets, the internet, video games, plus more and more tv time.

These technologies lead to prolonged sitting and often very poor postures which can wreak havoc on our bodies.

We can teach kids about the importance of exercise, fitness, and good eating habits. It has to begin with us though.

Kids will follow our example.

4 quick tips to help your kids stay healthier and more active…

1. Be a good example. Our kids will follow our example. Exercise and eat right.
2. Avoid doing too many sedentary activities with them. We, as adults, and our kids are really getting enough time sitting already.
3. Stay active with the kids, walk, hike, ride bikes, play tag or catch, and go run around at the park with your kids.
4. Get them involved in sports that are physically demanding and that they enjoy doing, like martial arts.

Regular exercise and good habits (diet, sleep, etc) will help your kids become more fit and healthier adults.

They’ll feel better and they’ll feel better about themselves.

They’ll be more confident and have higher self esteem.

This will help them achieve more in life because they’ll believe that they can.

Fitness and good body weight is associated with reduced risk of so many health problems including depression, anxiety, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

As parents, it’s up to us to help our kids develop the healthy habits that they need to be successful in life.

It can be difficult at first, both for us and our kids…

The upside is we’ll end up having fun and spending a little more time with our kids. Our own health will improve and we’ll reduce our stress which is out of control in today’s world for most of us.

The payoff is definitely worth it, even if it’s hard to start!