Childhood Obesity

The childhood obesity rate is raging out of control. Concerned researchers at the American Academy of Pediatrics say as many as 1-in-3 children are overweight or obese. But as a parent, there are things you can do. Here are 10 ways to get you and your child more physically active. Put away the video games and remote control and take these steps in the right direction.

1. Ask your child to walk briskly whenever and wherever he walks.
2. Create an environment for active play both inside and outside the home.
3. Participate in activities the entire family can enjoy together.
4. Expose your child to as many different kinds of activity as possible in a nurturing, non-intimidating environment.
5. Provide opportunities for normal-weight children to safely climb, run and jump to help develop muscle strength and bone density. Consult a physician about which activities are safe for your overweight child.
6. Don’t impose adult exercise goals on young children who have an immature metabolic system.
7. Reserve at least one day each weekend dedicated to fun family fitness activities.
8. Don’t draw attention to sedentary activities. Rather, spend your energy praising your child when he chooses to be active and play.
9. Require that when he watches television, he has to do some kind of exercise or movement during commercials. If he’s watching a movie or video, turn it off every 30 minutes and ask him or her to dance, jump rope, or do crunches for 5 to 10 minutes.
10. Offer choices such as vacuum your room, walk the dog, shovel snow, dance in your room, rake the leaves or go for a bike ride.