Recently, while walking at a nearby park, I noticed several overweight children sitting for hours on park benches, playing their various hand-held games and devices. Although they were obviously having a great time, I wanted to ask them why they weren't enjoying the multitude of workout stations and walking areas designated for the public.
According to the Institute of Medicine, 16.3% of children between the ages of 2 and 19 are overweight. And ever since that day at the park, on my own, I have been noticing about one out of every four children I see are overweight. It saddened me to think of the health future for these children. Not only that, if they are overweight at this young age, how are they going to "take off those unwanted pounds" in the future? I have never been particularly heavy, and I walk three miles each night, as well as watching what I eat; however, I have noticed as the years pass by, it becomes harder and harder for me to keep the pounds off.
Honestly, there are many days I worry about what I have modeled to my children as a parent. In our day to day living, we don't always realize that our children are watching and modeling us in many ways. Thankfully, I don't watch television, I exercise, and I do try to eat well (although that doesn't always happen). Yet on the flip side, I can be high strung, and I like (or used to like) a very clean house. One of my worst indulgences I enjoy is eating out. Thus, my kids do, too, and sometimes we love eating fast food.
Then, as a young adult, one of my children found out they had high cholesterol, and it was suggested they go on medication. Imagine that...a health issue you normally hear about for older people was now becoming a reality for a young person. And, try as I might, I could not recall many younger people I knew from years ago that had battled high cholesterol before the U.S. really began taking on poorer health habits. And yet in the past few years, more and more young people are becoming candidates for diabetes, heart attacks, high cholesterol and cancer. Fortunately, my child began a fitness campaign of better eating and exercising, and it paid off. Six months after the original high cholesterol scare, my child's cholesterol is now within normal limits.
So parents, please don't wait to model good eating and exercising habits to your children. Start when they are young, or start now to make a difference in their lives. Its never too late to work on being healthy!
I have enclosed a link to a fitness company that focuses on children (click on the Learnercise), and they also have great fitness programs for "children of all ages."
https://www.geomotiongroup.com/
