How to get your kids fit for life

Tomorrow morning I will be part of a small group of wellness professionals meeting with Congressmen Patrick Murphy (D-PA). The meeting was setup to discuss ways to implement wellness initiatives for children in the Congressman's district. As you know, First Lady Michelle Obama is championing the fight against childhood obesity. This initiative created the Let's Move program.

Tomorrow we are talking about how to implement community-based healthy kids programs. I intend to work hard with my colleagues to create a meaningful difference in the way kids in Central Bucks County think about fitness and nutrition. What are some things you can do to improve your child's health and wellness? Here are a few suggestions:

1) Be a role fitness model. Kids will follow your example. If you make exercise a regular part of your day, talk about it openly (brag about it even), and involve your kids you will see that they take on some of those traits.

Two examples, one of my clients needs to get a walk/jog into her regular routine but works full time and has two pre-K children. So she gets one in the stoller and her son on his bike and off they go for 20-30 minutes. It is healthy for her and gets them to understand how important fitness is to their health. Another friend of mine brings her pre-K daughter to the gym regularly but before putting her in the gym's day care she takes her to the Spinning room and out to the fitness floor so she sees where mommy is going. This routine will stick with her.

Check out my article from an issue of the Bucks County Womens' Journal for more about being a fitness role model.

2) Be a Nutrtion Role Model. Make your food choices a part of the daily discussion around the house. It is ok to say, "should I have a bowl of grapes or should I have ice cream?" and let everyone know you are choosing grapes. If they see that you choose healthy over harmful it will become part of who they are.

3) Pack Your Child's Lunch. School food is dreadful. Terrible, pre-packaged, processed, microwaved gunk that they call eggs, pizza and cheeseburgers. Thankfully, many schools have gotten rid of their soda machines but there is so much work to be done on school menus. Don't have time? Yeah, your parents probably didn't either but most of my generation went to school with a bagged lunch. Include some lean meat, fruit, yogurt and a healthy drink and they will not only get better nutrition, they will be more alert for class.

4) Let Your Children Try Different Activities. Kids don't need to "be a future star" to enjoy multiple sports/activities. It is not just organized sports that give you exercise, let them play in the pool (supervised, of course), take a hike in the park, rent a canoe or kayak or paddle boat, play frisbee or tag. Just MOVE!! In addition, try some of the more traditional and less traditional sports, baseball and soccer are popular but how about skateboarding or BMX riding. All movement counts.

Off to see the Congressman,

Paul