With the digital age well upon us we may start to see a steadier decline of the amount of children and adolescents playing out in the fresh air, playing pick up games of soccer, shooting hoops in the street, riding bikes, and getting good old fresh air and Vitamin D.
Instead, our youth have been exposed to computers, television, and video games, all fine in moderation, but often overindulged. The rate of physical activity has declined, and most likely will continue to do so. The percentage of childhood obesity has risen, along with childhood diabetes.
We must all work together to keep our children, nieces, nephews, younger siblings, cousins, and students educated in proper health and wellness, nutrition, fitness, and physical education. Be sure that your whole family is educated at the same time. Children are a product of their environment and will mimic what they see day in and day out such as overeating, excessive television use, laziness, and other bad habits so provide a good image and model positive behavior. Contact your child's physical education teacher and find out the scope and sequence of their school year. Question what they will be learning in health or if there is any influence on healthy lifestyles and fitness. Introduce them to MyPyramid and healthy eating, pack nutritious alternatives in their lunch, make sure there are "family dinner" nights at home with wisely cooked food instead of takeout. Mount a basketball net to a tree in the backyard, explain to them what a pedometer is and go on walks or runs together at night and compare steps, buy some used exercise equipment at a yard sale and set it up in the garage.
Evaluate your family's and your own personal health and wellness habits and lifestyles. That is the first step in keeping our youth fit.
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