The number of overweight children has tripled during the past two decades, bringing with it harmful psychological and physical effects, according to the U.S. Surgeon General's Office. But kids are not likely to be worried about things like high cholesterol, coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke. Help children understand the basics of a healthy diet and physical fitness, involving them in the process and creating activities they see as fun, not work.
Nutrition Math Game
The U.S. Department of Agriculture provides specific recommendations for calories, vitamins and minerals for children and adults. Most packaged foods and drinks have nutrition labels with calorie, vitamin and mineral requirements on them, as well as percentages of daily recommended values. Have your children use the labels on foods in your home to create daily meal plans that provide the correct amounts of calories and nutrients each day. For example, the USDA recommends boys and girls between the ages of 9 and 13 get 8mg of iron each day. Have your children make sure they include enough foods with iron in their daily meal plan. Let them use the Internet to research whole foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, for nutritional content.
Physical Fitness Test
You can motivate children to exercise by setting goals, creating charts and tracking progress in specific skills, such as number of push-ups or sit-ups, vertical leap, length of time performing an aerobic exercise or number of minutes jumping rope. Create a list of physical activities, and test your child in each area. If you test cardio capacity using a treadmill, record the speed and incline you use so you can use these settings for later re-testing. To measure vertical leap, have your child jump as high as she can next to a wall, holding a piece of chalk in one hand and making a mark at the peak of her jump. Don't push her too hard during the initial testing activity or she may injure herself; use the test to learn her current physical fitness level. Write down the results, then discuss what kind of exercises can help her improve. For example, to improve vertical leap, she can build leg strength by performing squats and lunges with dumbbells, and by performing box jumps. Re-test every two weeks to see how she is improving and to let her see that her work is paying off.
Teaching Time
Instead of telling kids how to exercise, have them teach you one way to exercise each week. Let them use the Internet to research the proper technique for exercises such as crunches or push-ups, or activities such as using an exercise bike. Buy a heart rate monitor, and have them teach you how to calculate your target heart rate for exercise, based on your age, gender and fitness level, and how to input this information into the monitor. Have them explain to you the data on the heart rate monitor after you have finished a workout.
References
- Office of the Surgeon General: Overweight in Children and Adolescents
- Institute of Medicine: Dietary Reference Intakes: Recommended Intakes for Individuals
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration: How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label
- Numetrex: Use a Heart Rate Monitor to Get Your Kids Moving!
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