Childhood Obesity Awareness Month
The month of September is quickly drawing to a close, but we couldn't let it get by without bringing your attention to the problem of childhood obesity. September is Childhood Obesity Awareness Month – a perfect opportunity to evaluate your child's diet, exercise, and medical conditions that may cause weight gain and health issues. Childhood is the ideal time to instill healthy, positive habits that will last a lifetime.
Dr. Anatoly Belilovsky, a renowned New York pediatrician with more than 20 years experience advising parents on child weight issues, offers some fun ways that your family can stay active on the weekends — an important victory in the battle of childhood obesity.
Hiking is great. Hikes ending in a picnic are better. You can set the place, but not the time, for the picnic, this way there will be less tendency to slack off. (If you know where the food is, you will go there faster. If you know when, you may be tempted to whine away the time). Many areas have bike trails and urban hiking works just as well as the country variety.- Pick-up soccer games need only two participants, one ball, and something to mark off a goal on the ground. You can play in an 8-by-12-foot space and have a blast doing it. There a plenty of games to keep everyone occupied in a park.
- Visit local museums, botanical gardens, or fairs. Tap into resources and events happening in the area.
- Go on a GPS scavenger hunt. Walk the path alone with "reward" items (obviously something of no value to a casual passersby -- like a note of congratulations, or a certificate redeemable only from you). Mark GPS waypoints wherever you drop them. Give the GPS unit to the kids and have them find the items. Remember the GPS is only accurate to about 20 feet! No GPS? Take photos at waypoints with your phone and send them to your kids' phones, see if they can figure out the locations!
- Go on a foxhunt. Put an old remote control into a recess so it is not easily visible. Put a rock on the buttons so it is constantly transmitting (it will put out a flashing infrared signal). Most cameras will see the infrared easily -- have the kids find the remote! This one works best indoors or outdoors in dim light.
What are some fun ways that your family stays active? Share your suggestions with us?
