Globe Syndicate
for release Friday October 24, 2003
Another Way
by Melodie Davis
Getting Your Kids to Be More Active: Everybody Wins
How do you get your kids to be more active? How do you get yourself to be more
active?
The two go together of course. It is hard to get your kids off the computer
chair if you spend half your time there yourself. And we all know the proven
formula: improved health equals moderate diet plus exercise.
What are some of the health benefits of exercise besides helping to lose or
control weight?
My greatest inspirations in the "gotta get that exercise" department are not the
young curvies on workout tapes and magazines, but rather two older women, both
in their upper 70s. One of them is my mother who has been walking about a half
hour a day four times a week (and this is religiously) for the last 20 years
ever since her doctor told her that her cholesterol was way too high. She is so
disciplined that it gets me going, so my mother is still wordlessly pushing me
to get up off my chair even while she lives 600 miles away.
Another older woman says what keeps her going is the knowledge that your bones
and joints simply work better if they stay in use as you age. Exercise helps to
stem the tide of bone and tissue loss leading to brittle bones and osteoporosis.
Of course it is not a cure-all-sometimes exercise causes injury. But for the
most part and done carefully, exercise helps circulation, maintains muscles,
helps keep stronger bones, keeps the heart pumping, and keeps blood flowing to
the brain. I often feel that I think clearer on days that I've gotten in a good
walk.
Our society is in great angst about the incidence of overweight and obesity and
who is at fault. I was struck by the differences which may come from city living
versus country living the last time I went to a large city. I felt like I was
seeing far fewer hugely overweight people in the city, and as I watched everyone
walking to get to where they were going, I wondered if this is partly the
reason. Yes commuters might use bus or subway for the majority of the trip but
at the beginning and end of the day they are probably walking at least several
long city blocks to get to their mass transit connection. That's regular
exercise. Few of us in the "country" actually get farmer-type exercise anymore.
A natural beginning point is to try to get all the exercise we can as we go
about our daily routine. This doesn't cost anything or take up much extra time
(like parking at the far end of the parking lot, using the stairs).
Not to point fingers, but I have been a little unhappy with the physical
education programs in our public schools. Not that P.E. ever really got anyone
in shape when I was a kid, but at least we worked the whole period long at
whatever sport was "in" for those six weeks. Too often now, at least according
to my kids, many gym periods are "free for alls" where kids just shoot baskets,
kick a ball or throw softballs in an unorganized way. The teacher/coach is away
in an office working on defensive or offensive strategies for his or her team.
The kids who don't feel like shooting baskets sit in the bleachers and talk or
even escape behind the bleachers and hang out. There have been notable
exceptions with good teachers but I have a suspicion that my kids' experience is
not uncommon in many of our schools.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a campaign encouraging
children (and their parents) to get active. It's called VERB: It's What You Do
and focuses on finding ways for parents to do fun and active things with their
kids. They have a great website with lots of ideas for pursuing things
(especially this fall), such as starting a family tradition of taking a walk
each Wednesday after work/school (or maybe Sunday afternoon), a game of touch or
Frisbee football, making games out of raking. Or what about encouraging those
old childhood pastimes of hopscotch and rope jumping? Playing tag, hide and
seek, "green light, red light," and even "duck, duck, goose" are all games that
get you running and being active.
"Children are more likely to continue physical activity if they enjoy it," says
Dr. Jim Marks, director of the campaign. The extra benefit for families is that
kids usually love to do anything that gets them playing with their parents (at
least while they're younger). If you establish those kinds of activity bonds
while they are younger, we hope they will want to keep doing active stuff with
you as they get older even if the sport changes from tag to swimming or
wall-climbing.
Now, go do something!
Visit the Verb web site for kids 9-13 at www.verbnow.com <http://www.verbnow.com>
and an accompanying site for parents is www.verbparents.com <http://www.verbparents.com>
Write to: Melodie Davis, Another Way c/o Name\Address of YOUR newspaper; or
e-mail: Melodie@mennomedia.org.
You can also visit Another Way on the Web at www.thirdway.com.
Melodie Davis is the author of seven books and has written her column since
1987. She taught feature writing and has won awards from the National Federation
of Press Women, Virginia Press Women and the American Advertising Association.
She and her husband have three daughters.
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