By Debbi Miller Gutierrez
A recent study conducted by Ohio State-Temple University researchers found that 20% of America’s four-year olds are not only overweight, but obese. Though a great deal of this can be laid at the feet of poor diets, lack of exercise is also a prime culprit. Over the past few decades, more and more U.S. children and teens are drifting toward weight gain through a sedentary lifestyle. With many schools either reducing or eliminating their physical education programs due to impossibly tight budgets, parents are beginning to ask themselves: What can I do to get my child to exercise? Below are five simple suggestions:
1. Nifty Fifties’ Fad: The Hula Hoop
This inexpensive toy can get your children up and moving. Watch them wiggle and wriggle their hips trying to keep the hula hoop spinning. Set up daily or weekly goals as to the number of times they can spin the hoop without stopping or how many hula hoops they can spin at once. Reward them with gold stars, trips to the library, or one hour of TV a day. Better yet, challenge them to a contest. Children love to outdo their parents and will work hard to show you up.
2. Try a Trampoline
Investing in a child-safe trampoline can be well worth the money when you see your child rushing outside to fling themselves willy-nilly on their own trampoline. In no time at all, they’ll be bouncing back to health!
See our personalized children’s books about sports where your child becomes the star of the story.
3. Dance, Dance, Dance!
With the success of TV shows like “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Dancing with the Stars”, children can see first-hand what fun dancing can be. You don’t need to fly your kids all over the country for auditions. Just put on a CD and have them put on a dancing show for you. Or buy an inexpensive dance exercise video, or rent one from Netflix or On Demand, and away they go!
4. The Wonderful World of Wii
If your child is a video game addict, a Wii Fit might be just the ticket. With activities from snowboarding to cheerleading, your kids can be running, jumping, swinging bats, kicking, and punching their way to fitness. Even Jillian Michaels, the exercise guru from TV’s “The Biggest Loser”, has a Wii exercise game out that the whole family can use together.
5. Good Old Walking!
Walking is one of the best ways to get your child exercising. It’s free, natural, and helps families bond. Add your dog into the mix and everybody benefits.
Getting your children to exercise can have even more health benefits than weight management, stress reduction, good muscle development, and mental stimulation; it just might get their parents off the couch too!
by Zabrina Way
As a parent, you have to juggle numerous questions about what your child should be taught, and how. Add the trend of political correctness to the mix and it’s hard to know how to react when your child asks about a person with a disability.
Some parents brush off their children’s inquiries with a short, “Don’t stare, it’s rude,” or treat a person with a disability rudely, passing along cues to the children to follow suit. Instead, use this opportunity to teach your child about treating everyone with equal respect.
When your child points out a person with a disability, briefly and quietly tell them that the person has a disability that affects their vision, hearing, movement, or mind, but that person is “just like us” in every other way. Emphasize that your child should treat him or her just the same as anyone else, as it can be embarrassing and frustrating to be treated differently because of a disability.
Often, a curious child won’t even ask you, but will ask a person with a disability, “What’s wrong with you?” or something similar. When this happens, resist the urge to apologize and drag the child off. Curiosity is a part of childhood that should be encouraged. Instead, tell the child to be respectful and see how the person reacts.
Visit Personalized Storytime Book’s list of Young Children’s Books.
Many people with disabilities are actually very willing to tell a child what makes them “different”, and don’t like parents interfering with a chance to educate an impressionable segment of the population on disabilities. Children will remember the experience for a long time, and it will affect how they treat people with similar disabilities in the future. For a person with a disability, this is a great chance to connect with someone who sees nothing wrong with acknowledging and asking about the disability, when others sometimes shun or ignore them because they simply don’t know how to react.
If the person seems unwilling to speak, angry, or embarrassed, then quietly apologize and wait until you’re in a more private place before taking the opportunity to capitalize upon the experience. Let your child know that some people don’t like to acknowledge that they’re different, or are embarrassed to be called out on it in public, and then teach your child about that disability yourself.
Above all, children should be taught to respect people with disabilities and treat them like anyone else.
Whether you call it colic, reflux, or overstimulation, many babies just have a tendency to cry – and cry, and cry, and cry. Colic is a vague diagnosis which even doctors can’t agree upon or understand. Since babies can’t tell us what is bothering them, we can only focus upon solutions. Thankfully, there are some relatively simple things you can do at home to help your baby calm down. Before you try any medication or technique, see your pediatrician to rule out serious health problems.
Sing along with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy
Party with the Wiggles
Sing along With Elmo and Friends
Veggie Tales Silly Songs
Sing along with Disney Princess Tea Party
Barney and Friends CD
Sing along with VeggieTales