Children’s Storybooks with Lots of Kid Appeal
Heart “E” Heart (our protagonist) and his friends Lazy Heart, Tidy Lipid, Sticky Lipid, Smoker Heart, Fit Fat Cell, Bulgy Fat Cell, Smoker Heart, Healthy Blood Pressure, Risky Blood Pressure, and Thundering Triglyceride star in this series of fun children’s books. The brightly illustrated, easy-to-follow stories are written for small children of various ages: eighteen months to three years, three to five years, and five to eight years. Teachers can purchase the books to read in the classroom, or parents can buy them as gifts for their children. Children should be encouraged to read the books with their families—part of the all-important “home” connection built into the MILILH program.
Tips for Parents
When Mother Nature Intervenes...
So what happens on the days that the weather throws a kink in your usual outdoor activity? Don’t let rainy days or cold winter weather keep you and your kids from your fitness routine. Use these tips to keep your kids in shape despite being forced indoors.
• It may seem like a no-brainer, but good old fashioned chores can be one of the best ways to keep in shape. Let your kids help around the house by doing chores that involve cardiovascular activity. Vacuuming, dusting, mopping, sweeping, and taking out the trash are all good examples of ways that your kids can do their part for the family while helping to get in the physical activity they need each day. Crank up the volume on some good music during chore time to get everyone moving and the house will be clean in no time!
• Instead of sitting the kids in front of a movie for the day, pop in a beginners level exercise video! Join in with your kids and use the time to set an example and do the exercise together.
• Who says you have to stay inside? On snowy days, get bundled up and get moving! Go sledding, make snow angels, and have a snowball fight with your kids. If it’s raining cats and dogs, throw caution to the wind and spend an afternoon jumping from puddle to puddle. It beats sitting inside being a couch potato!
• These days kids and video games come hand in hand, and it’s hard to avoid the inevitable. If your kids are begging for a video game system, look in to a console like Nintendo’s Wii. The Wii offers games that get kids moving, including the newly released Wii Fit that offers an exercise program and keeps track of your progress. It’s a great way to make sure that if your kids are in front of the TV, they are moving at the same time!
Beat the Heat
Have the dog days of summer caused your kids’ activities to come to a screeching halt? As the temperature climbs during the summer months, it can be hard to resist a lazy afternoon in the air conditioning. However, a little bit of water can make an afternoon in the sun just as enjoyable—and beneficial too! Just make sure to have plenty of SPF on hand and make sure everyone stays hydrated!
• A baby wading pool can be an inexpensive and fun way to create hours of fun activities for kids of all ages on hot days. You can create different challenges each day that will get the kids moving. For example, set up the pool on one end of the yard with a large container on the other end and give each kid a small cup. A water brigade relay will ensue with kids racing to fill their containers while trying not to spill water out of their cups. Create an extra challenge by making a small hole in the bottom of the cup and having each player place the cup on their head to plug the leak while running to fill the bucket. Kids will stay cool and get a great cardiovascular workout at the same time!
• Play musical sprinkler! As a watery twist on the classic game, have kids run and dance around the sprinkler before it’s turned on. Once the water starts, have the kids freeze in whatever wacky pose they have ended up in. You can also create a race to see how many jumping jacks, toe touches, or push ups kids can do between “sprinkles.”
• Sponge tag is a great way to get kids moving. You can play with the traditional “tag” rules, only the person who is “it” uses a wet sponge to tag the other players.
• Whether you have a pool in your backyard or you are members of the public pool in town, it’s a great opportunity to get your kids exercising without them knowing it. Swimming is a great aerobic exercise, and kids love to splash around in the pool. Whether swimming laps or playing with diving rings, the pool can be a great place to stay cool and squeeze in a little workout on a hot day.
A Family Affair
The most effective way to help your children to stay healthy is to lead by example. If you make healthy choices, they will notice, and will do the same in return. After all, what kid doesn’t want to be just like mom and dad? Here are a few simple tips to get you started:
• Children love to hear stories about their parents from their own childhood. Start out by telling your kids about some of your favorite games from when you were a kid. Teach them all about Red Rover, Mother May I?, Duck, Duck, Goose, and Red Light, Green Light and then spend an hour after dinner involved in a family game. It’s a great way to stay active and create some special childhood memories for your own children. Check out www.gameskidsplay.net for a complete listing of instructions plus other suggestions for new games to learn and try together!
• Buy each member of your family a pedometer and create a goal that the whole family can work on together. Set a number of miles for the week and chart each family member’s progress at the end of each day. At the end of the week, if the family has achieved their collective goal, then celebrate with a movie night or a special (low-fat!) frozen yogurt treat.
• Make exercise a daily routine: Whether it’s a thirty-minute walk after dinner each night or a weekly trip to the local walking trail, make exercising with your family a consistent routine in your day-to-day lives. When it’s a part of your regular schedule, like going to Grandma’s on Sundays or eating spaghetti on Thursday nights, your kids will expect it, and you can all look forward to the additional family time it provides!
Food for Thought
Keeping kids active is not the only way to make sure they stay fit. Maintaining a healthy body weight includes making good choices at the dinner table as well. If children learn to make good food decisions at an early age, they are equipped with the tools to be much healthier adults. Here are a few ideas to get the ball rolling at your house:
• Beware of beverages: One of the biggest calorie culprits is the sugary drinks our kids love. It’s easy to forget that what we drink can have as much of an impact on our waistlines as the food we eat. While water is a great alternative to sugary juices and soft drinks, it can be hard to convince your kids to drink up. As an alternative, freeze fruit juice into ice cubes to put in the water you are serving to give it a great flavor with fewer calories!
• Everything in moderation: Don’t make any food off limits. As long as food is consumed in moderate amounts, it’s okay! Making something off limits can cause your child to binge on treats when they are available at school or at Grandma’s.
• Encourage their curiosity: You should never turn your child down from trying something new, even if you know better than they do about what suits their own palette. Always encourage their interest in trying new foods and you will be rewarded when they discover they do like broccoli and Brussels sprouts!
• Let them help out: Kids love to help in the kitchen, and by allowing them to be a part of the food prep process, you can seize a great learning opportunity. Explain to them why you use certain foods and techniques to be healthier. It can create a sense of ownership over the meal and they will be eager to gobble up a healthy dinner that they have helped to cook!
Want more ideas on how to create a healthier lifestyle for your family? See Section 3 of the Move It. Lose It. Live Healthy. book for more great tips on how to get you and yours on the road to being fit!
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