Get the kids involved!!!

One of the biggest questions I get asked as a fitness professional is how do you keep your child active in a world of convenience and video games……the answer seems simple….keep the video games to a short spurts and go outside and play…….honestly growing up I don’t remember on a sunny day sitting in the house with any sort of computer, TV or video game so how did this become such a habit of our kids???  How did so many American children get to be overweight???  I don’t know that there is one cut and dry solution to this problem but here’s my opinion…..we need to make going out and playing FUN for our kids, make healthy eating FUN for our kids…..we need to make going to McDonalds (dun dun dun) less fun for our kids…..how do we do this???  My family is by no means perfect, don’t get me wrong, my son eats a happy meal every now and then (he is actually eating a piece of pizza as I write this) BUT I have from the time he was little talked about food choices with him, helping him understand why he should have the apple instead of the bag of chips……we even made a game out of it when he was little, take an apple, a candy bar and a bag of chips put them out on the table and ask them which one is grown by nature….they know….now ask them which is a better choice for a snack, show them the labels, there are even words Mommy can’t pronounce, they will 90% of the time say that is “yucky” or “why would I eat that Mommy?”  Think about it children choose things because of the influences around them, when babies we feed them apples and say yummy apples, right??  So how do they begin to think yummy cookies??  They were influenced to try them…..yes, they will be exposed to things as they grow up BUT if they are taught to make smart choices young then honestly that is what they will do as they get older…..my son is now 9 and given a choice between the same 3 snacks listed about, he 90% of the time picks the apple……I feel it is our job as a society to give children ALL the education they need to be successful, strong, healthy people so why wouldn't food choices be there as well?  Let them help make dinner one night, let them toss a salad, pick out fruit for desert……make healthy eating fun….going apple picking show them how people can get their food right from the source not a store, plant a vegetable in your house or yard…..I live in Manhattan and we grow our own basil right in the window and pick it to make pesto sauce, take them to a farmers market and play the find something that grows on a tree game (this is a game we used to love…my son had to go around and find 5 things for each category….grows in a tree, grows underground, grown in a field, etc….then I would challenge him to find food made in a factory – which was hard at a farmers market)…..I still take him to all of these places any chance I get J  As far as keeping kids moving…..turn off the TV…..the biggest obstacle with kids getting out and moving is the family dynamic today…some days it is hard because both parents work, single parent homes or the amount of homework that kids get, BUT on days you can get out do it together as a family!!!!  You get quality time plus you are setting an example for them.  My family goes running every Sunday; we take turns running with my son so we can get our full workouts in.  When we don’t go or are running behind schedule my son always asks when we are going, he loves this time we spend and it gets his energy out J  It is our special time, we schedule it out….of course life can get in the way but then we make sure we go for a walk in the park or just something small…..give your kids something to look forward to and of course, after we go for our run we go for brunch J  It’s our little treat …….kids NEED to work off some steam just like grown ups why not channel it into something healthy??  Just my thoughts :)