To a generation of parents who spent their childhood years playing in the backyard or at a neighborhood park, childhood seems to have moved indoors. Kids today spend an average of 4-7 minutes a day outside in unstructured play. Those kids who spend all their free time in front of a video screen don’t know what they’re missing. Rather than simply tell them, parents can show them – by taking part in family outdoor activities.
That is the purpose of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation’s new national Together Counts™ campaign. It encourages families to engage in physical activities together and to eat more meals together to promote an active healthy lifestyle among children. I am serving as one of the key spokespersons for this campaign and the ANNIKA Foundation is very involved as a partner.
The initiative couldn’t come at a better time. About one-third of American children are obese or overweight. We have seen a leap in rates of type-2 diabetes and high blood pressure among children. The Together Counts initiative is countering this. It is helping families to lead active and healthy lives, articulating (through the Internet --- www.togethercounts.com – and other communications vehicles) the advantages of shared family activities and meals.
One of the best ways to get ideas for what you can engage in with your kids is to go straight to the source – ask them. Or think of things you used to participate in.
Please register on www.togethercounts.com, taking the pledge to engage in physical activity together and eat meals together as a family. Through a family profile page, families are able to log their results and gain points – compare their results with overall results in their communities and across America.
Parents who make it a point to engage in healthy physical activities with their kids can have a big impact. Expert papers, such as Make Physical Activity a Family Event, by academics at University of Northern Iowa have pointed out that children model their behavior on the adults in their lives.
Children are more affected by what they see their parents do than what their parents say. Oh, and there is one more reason parents should engage in physical activities with their kids. It’s a lot of fun!
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