Another Reason to Eat Right and Exercise: Your Children
When you’re a parent trying to raise good and healthy children, the world seems a dangerous place. You worry a lot. Trust me, as the mother of two young girls, I know the feeling. You worry about your kids doing well in school and whether they’re learning the proper values. You worry about accidents and illnesses, about sex and drugs, about guns and knives.
The one thing that you tend not to worry about is your children’s physical education. Many parents assume that because kids take PE at school a couple of times a week that they’re physically fit. That’s a bad assumption.
Truth is, children and teenagers are just like adults: They require at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day--not just Mondays, Wednesday and alternate Fridays. And sitting in front of the television or computer doesn’t count for a single second. Unfortunately, too many kids think Mortal Kombat or other video games are more fun than playing in the yard.
According to a recent U.S. surgeon general’s report, only one in three American children participate in daily physical exercise, and about a fourth of all people older than 12 get no vigorous exercise at all.
The results of this inactivity epidemic are predictable. The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports says that one in four school-age children is considered overweight. Worse, about 75% of kids have three or more risk factors for developing heart disease later in life.
The problem, however, is not just lack of exercise--though the American Council on Exercise reports that physically active children have fewer chronic health problems than their sedentary friends, as well as more confidence and stronger self-image.
The problem is also diet.
Many of us assume that it’s OK for kids--just because they’re kids--to eat a junk-food diet. We rationalize all those pizzas, French fries and cheeseburgers as being a natural part of childhood.
Well, here’s the rub: The habits that children develop are reinforced in their teens and carried into adulthood. The woman who wakes up one day in her 30s or 40s overweight didn’t get there overnight. Poor eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle learned in her youth are often responsible.
Parents need to realize that children are like baby ducks: They model behavior. I was lucky enough to grow up in a house where staying inside to watch television was not an option. My parents encouraged me to jump rope, bike ride, play kick-the-can and tetherball. I built my world outside the classroom around physical activity. It was a big part of my life then, and a huge part of my life now.
I can already see how my daughters, Katie, 9, and Perrie, 6, model my behavior. Their feelings about exercise and activity are positive because my husband and I not only expose them to a wide variety of activities, but we also stimulate their interest by making these activities fun family affairs. And because our refrigerator is stocked with fresh and healthy foods, Katie and Perrie have also discovered that nutritious food can taste better than junk--although cheeseburgers and chocolate have a proper place on the menu. It’s been a gradual process, but it’s worked.
This notion of how to inspire our children was recently brought home to me in a new way when I attended a lecture by noted educator Lucy Calkins, who was discussing her new book, “Raising Lifelong Learners” (Addison-Wesley Publications).
Her message is that parents who want their children to be good readers, writers and speakers ought to make reading, writing and speaking fun. Organize their activities as a family affair, she suggests, so children associate doing them with positive feelings that will stay with them all their lives.
The same is true of exercise and proper eating. I remember when the Crosby, Stills & Nash song “Teach Your Children Well” came out in 1969. I thought I knew what it meant. Then I became a parent and all bets were off. Now the words have a fuller meaning. I’ve learned that we teach our children by example. We owe it to them to exercise and eat properly, because by taking good care of ourselves, we teach them by deed, not just by words.
Copyright by Kathy Smith.
*
Kathy Smith’s fitness column appears in Health on the first Monday of the month. Reader questions are welcome and can be sent to Kathy Smith, Health, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053. If your question is selected, you will receive a free copy of her video “Functionally Fit Peak Fat Burning.” Please include your name, address and a daytime phone number with your question.
