1/6/04

Fit Kids (2)
I have to take my lumps here too. My kids eating habits are not the best. But their visits to a fast food place is limited to about once a month. AOL News - Study: A third of kids eat fast food daily is a frightening statistic - considering they're peddling various composites of empty carbohydrates, fat and salt. And my children are also not nearly as active as I would like them to be - but we're working on that.
I don't understand why fitness facilities are not developing extensive programs for children. It seems that the market exists as well as the need. As kids get fatter, they drift from competitive sports toward the isolation of the tv, xbox, or computer. I contend that fitness programs focused directly at kids could be a winner. If you could drop your kid at an aerobics, or kickboxing, or aqautic exercise class while you got in a workout - wouldn't you go for it. I sure would.
We started a walking club at our school and tallied kids miles. They got a little foot token for every five miles they walked. The walker with the most miles at the end got a little trophy. This was attainable to ANY kid in the school willing to put in the effort. We charted the overall miliage for the school and they walked from Pennsylvania to California. We had a California day celebration and the kids wore surf shirts and we played Beach Boys music at lunch. It was a ball and the kids LOVED it.
So I'm feeling it almost as a mission to see kid fitness become more accessable. It needs to be fun and challenging but non threatening. I'm starting with my kids aquatic program this spring - but I'd like to see it spread through the facility where I work. I know some Y's have these types of programs. If the money grubbing owner of our gym could be convinced of the profit potential - it could be game on.
Anybody out there have sedintary kids, kids not into sports. What would you like to see? Is there a fitness niche we could develop that would draw your kid in? Help me with my vision.Written by sunflowerkat321 .

This entry has 3 comments:
readmereadyou - I wish I could make them walk. We live in a development that's not in walking distance to anything! Bad choice in that regard.KatComment from sunflowerkat321 - 1/6/04 4:35 PM

My daughter, Redhdka-Brand New Day, will tell you a trick I had that still has her loving vegetables today. I'd leave the vegetables until last and the table and when the kids began to squabble at the dinner table, I'd say, "If you don't stop that, you can't have any vegetables tonight!" Worked great. Makes veggies a treat. One way to stop kids from being so sedentary is to not drive them everywhere they want to go. Let them use the feet God gave them. : )Comment from readmereadyou - 1/6/04 4:15 PM

Being a mostly sedentary adult myself who really needs to run on the Ellipses machine and do her Firm video tapes more often, my advice is to buy a whip, Kat. Snap that sucker any time you think one of your kids is lolling about too much. They'll hup to.Seriously, though, I know most kid's eating habits are formed while they're young. Feed 'em lots of veggies and fruits. And don't forget the vitamins. Vitamins make you hungry for GOOD foods.Them's my two.Comment from andreakingme - 1/6/04 4:01 PM