Family Fitness
The health of our nation’s children is in jeopardy. The prevalence of overweight young people has doubled in recent decades. Almost two-thirds of overweight youth have at least one additional risk factor for heart disease, including high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Overweight kids also often suffer with sleep apnea or bone and joint problems.
Our government cannot solve childhood obesity! Children’s fitness is a parental issue. It begins in the home. It is the parent’s responsibility to make sure their children are exercising and eating nutritionally. Without question the most powerful influence on children is the behavior they see modeled by their parents. If Mom and Dad are lazy and overweight, there is a good chance the children will be also.
“Did you know you can beat stress, lift your mood, fight memory loss, sharpen your intellect, and function better than ever simply by elevating your heart rate and breaking a sweat? The evidence is incontrovertible: Aerobic exercise physically remodels our brains for peak performance.” In SPARK, John J. Ratey, M.D
There is no sensible reason why schools should cut-down or cut-out physical education classes or recess periods that focus on high levels of physical activity. But that is exactly what has happened. It only makes sense to increase physical activity for children when they live in a society that is increasingly more sedentary. It wasn’t always that way! As Dave Hubbard says, “When I was in elementary school, by the time I had finished two of any given day’s recesses, I had exercised more than many kids today exercise in a month.”
Dave Hubbard has developed a great presentation on How to Get Fit Kids. This presentation, however, is not given to kids, it’s given to their parents, because fit kids come from fit parents!
