Danger! Our kids' health is at risk...
The American nation on the whole faces a very serious problem at
present. It is obesity.Now matter how much time adults spend in
the gym, it will not change the situation much till we do not
pay attention to the need of physical activity for our children
who are going to track the risk factor from childhood to
adolescence and, finally, adulthood. The problem of nation's
overweight is to be dealt with starting with the youngest
representatives of our society.
The American children, one in eight being obese, are on the
verge of such health outcomes as diabetes, cardiovascular
disease, hypertension. And this are only a few to mention. This
is dangerous as unhealthy children will grow up into unhealthy
adults. So far, the effort of the officials to promote physical
actibvities in children has not brought evident results. On the
contrary, countless social, cultural and environmental factors
have caused the increase of sedentary life style in children.
The public opinion poll's results are sad and clear: the
children at present prefer watching television and playing video
games to going for sports. The hours kids spend on this useless
pastime reach up to 25-27 a week. Average kid though spends only
14 minutes a day on physical activity!
And we cannot blame them as our schools are very poor at
providing children with sufficient physical training. Of course,
there are physical education classes at school. But however
ridiculous it might sound, they are more into theory rather than
drawing kids into physical activity (sports). It feels for
teachers and instructors together with parents more safe for
children's safety. And lack of play grounds is another negative
factor.
To achieve sufficient results every parent, teacher and all the
agencies and persoanlities involved this way or that should show
team approach do his/her best to:
1) limit time children spend on watching TV and playing computer
games 2) to raise kids' interest in active games by playing with
them during recess at school and physical education classes 3)
take measures to assure the kids' health and life are safe
during the physical activity
Role of the parents in raising interest for physical activity in
their children is under question the social quests tell.
According to the recent data, the fact that both parents are
involved actively in sports and healthful way of living in
general does not mean that their offspring are as much active if
active at all. Maybe being too busy with their own fitness
program or whatever, they leave their kids' physical activity
life up to school staff.
On the other hand, if youngsters are forced to take physical
training, they are more likely too ignore physical activities
when they are grown up. This issue is to be taken care of with
great delicacy, first of all on the parents' part who must
choose playful form of exercising to encourage their kids to be
active. Playing in the backyard with kids or even fooling around
with them in the house can become an excellent alternative to
the bring and, unfortunately, useless physical training classes.
And short 5-10 minutes active breaks during a day will give your
kid necessary 30 minutes activity a day. In addition, do the
following to support your children:
1) don't hesitate to tell a kid again and again and again that
he is really good at this or that activity 2) encourage regular
physical activity no matter where a child is: at home, school,
etc. 3) give preference to the activities that the child enjoys
and never force him. 4) Don't forget about the individual
approach and choose an activity adequate for a child
The significant effect can be achieved only if the measures are
taken by all the institutions related to a child, that is as
much by an educational institution as by a family. And as
earlier we start the physical education of a child in the full
meaning of these words, as better the result will be. So,
promoting physical education in primary school must become an
every-day life issue.
In conclusion, it is necessary to underline that to sustain
health of the nation children must have adequate conditions for
sport and physical activities in general. And traditional models
of physical training are proved to be ineffective, therefore,
are to be substituted for modern ways to encourage love for
healthy living. Children and their families must kept informed
about al the progressive innovations in physical activity and
stimulated to make them part of their routine. This measures
will serve to awake healthy behaviors in our children which is
so needed to improve the health situation in the country.
You can read more at children
health articles.