Healthy Kids Archives:
Encouraging Healthy
Habits
By Christine Bannister Moore
It is no secret childhood obesity is becoming
an epidemic in our country. According to the American Academy of
Pediatrics, today's children are much less physically fit than
previous generations. In the United States alone, the percentage of
obese children has more than doubled since 1976.
This alarming increase in overweight children
stems from a variety of factors. Busy schedules leave less time for
home-cooked meals, physical education is on the back burner in
schools and TV captivates our attention in the evenings.
Despite the assortment of factors affecting
your child’s weight and overall health, the strongest contributor of
unhealthy influence may be the most overlooked: parental influence.
No one is pointing a finger at parents saying,
“You made your child fat.” However, there is no denying that
parents are the single most influential people in a child’s life.
Your position on everything, from money matters to fashion sense to
politics is picked up by your child and reflected in their own
attitudes and decisions. This includes eating habits, views on
exercise and even unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking.
Whether you or your child is overweight,
underweight or perfectly average, there is no time like the present
to take action and use your influence to encourage a healthy
lifestyle for your family.
So what can you do to set a positive example
your child can follow?
To begin, reflect on your own opinions and
ideas about what being “healthy” means to you. Marine Corps Base
Quantico Dietician Tammi Impellitteri, suggests parents analyze
their own behaviors when assessing a child’s unhealthy habits and/or
risks of obesity. Ask yourself: What is my exercise regimen? What
are my eating habits? What healthy or unhealthy activities do I do
in front of my child? Is being healthy and active important to me?
What, specifically, do I do that reinforces my answers to these
questions?
Before talking with your child about their
weight or your family’s health, carefully examine your answers to
these questions to better understand why your child might be
accumulating unhealthy habits.
The next step is to take control. Hold a
family meeting to discuss your concerns about the family’s lifestyle
and habits. Take great care as to not single anyone out.
Acknowledging one child’s eating and activity habits over their
siblings’ may increase levels of insecurity and feelings of being
left out or different. Even if just one of you needs to lose a few
pounds, being healthy is a goal for the entire family. Then, as a
group, decide the changes you will make to better your lives.
Next, set goals as a whole and for
individuals. List things that the entire family needs to work on,
like getting more exercise, watching less TV, eating 5 fruits and
vegetables a day, or cutting down on sweets. Then tackle individual
objectives. Write down what you wish to accomplish and devise a way
for tracking and acknowledging completed goals.
Make your goals a priority. If you decide the
entire family is going to take walks after dinner, but a special
presentation of child’s favorite movie is on TV, what do you do?
Perhaps you take that walk before the movie and eat during the
show. Do sit ups, pushups and even stretches during the
commercials. Or simply decide that getting the exercise is worth
missing the first 20 minutes of a show your child has already seen.
Make sure your family understands healthy behaviors come first.
Nothing is tougher than walking the walk. If
you don’t stay true to your decisions and goals, your child likely
isn’t going to either. If your child never sees you eat broccoli,
go for a walk or put down that donut in exchange for a banana, why
should they? Certainly don’t try to convince your child that you
can break the rules, but they can’t. Set the goal, set the example
and stick to your guns.
One of the best ways to express your influence
over your family’s health is at the grocery store. Make sure what
you buy is inline with your healthy decisions. No snack cakes in
school lunches or soda pop at the dinner table. Send homemade
peanut butter crackers to school and serve milk at dinnertime
instead.
Last, but not least, be sure to take time for
yourself and enjoy several of your own activities. When a child
sees you going on afternoon bike rides or morning jogs, the idea of
a healthy lifestyle is reinforced tenfold.
Use your influence to make positive changes in
your family’s lives and help your children avoid the downfalls of an
unhealthy lifestyle in the future.
Articles in the Healthy Kids Series are
presented by the Marine Corp Marathon’s Healthy Kids Fun Run.
The Marine Corps Marathon’s Healthy Kids Fun
Run will be held on October 30, 2004 in Arlington, VA and is an
exciting and safe way for kids to participate in an organized
running event and be exposed to the joy and satisfaction of being a
physically fit individual. Visit them on the web at
www.marinemarathon.com. Christine Bannister Moore is the
Public Relations Coordinator for the Marine Corps Marathon.
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