We all know about the importance of fitting exercise into our daily lives. However, millions of Americans still do not get exercise regularly. With the obesity epidemic all around us, it is time for every parent to take healthy steps to get or keep their kids eating healthy and moving their bodies.

You are the parent and you are in charge. Help your kids eat right and be fit, by providing healthy snacks and meals, by limiting the amount of empty calories or junk food they consume, and figure out a way to get them moving for an hour every day (or as much as you can).

Use Words to Encourage Your Kids to Move Everyday

It is not uncommon for one of my boys to say, “Look mom, I’m exercising” or for someone else to say, “Is this exercising?” as they hop around the house or do a jumping jack.

Kids are naturally busy. They have spurts of energy throughout the day. It is usually obvious when your kids need to get moving because they start jumping around the house, or climbing on furniture or each other. Try to get your kids outside or doing some activity before their energy takes over. Take them outside to play and run around or do a fun indoor activity that involves movement.

• Tell your kids, “Your body was made to move around.”
• Talk about strong bones and building muscles
• It is important to talk to your kids about eating healthy foods and getting exercise to have a strong growing body.

Make Moving Your Body Fun

It is very easy to get kids to move around and burn off energy. Just stay conscious of the need to move your body and theirs. Plan a time when everyone goes outside for an activity or think of an indoor activity to get them up and moving.

• Go outdoors
• Ride bikes
• Play hide and seek
• Swim
• Play a game/ hopscotch
• Hopping lily pad game
• Bowling
• Obstacle course (in/out)
• Relay race or sprints
• Red light, green light or simon says
• Soccer, basketball or baseball

I even do little games with my kids just to break up the day and get more physical activity into a cold or rainy day. I will start doing an easy exercise and after a minute I will say, “How many bunny hops can you do?” and then, “Let’s see if we can all hop for 2 minutes.”

I tell my kids every day its time to, “Get Outside and Move Our Bodies” It is important for you to make physical activity a part of your child’s day. If you think about it, it is often television, computers or a video game that keeps our kids sitting down. If you turn off the tv and video games, kids will naturally move their bodies. So make sure to limit their viewing or playing time and encourage board games, pretend play, art, or physical exploration and play.

Be a Good Role Model for Your Kids – Let Them See You Move Your Body Everyday

Let your kids see you moving or exercising. You can accomplish this through a walk, or gardening, doing stretches, lifting weights, jumping rope or just being silly and doing a game like Simon Says or races with your kids.

My husband and I often do short races across the backyard with the kids. Sometimes we win and sometimes they win.

Sometimes, I do little things like lifting the laundry bag up and doing curls 10 times and I say, “Look how strong I am.” And, as you know, kids like to copy.

There really is no excuse for not adding some type of physical activity into most of our days. If we make exercising a priority, then the kids will take notice and realize it is something important we should all do. Can you commit to adding in physical activity to your day and your kids’ day-even if it is only for a few minutes?

Get Your Child Involved in a team Sport or Activity

A team sport is a great way to introduce your kids to a physical activity and a team environment. There are many benefits to signing your child up for a sport involving physical activitiy. It helps them follow directions, teaches a set of rules, it rewards them for physical effort and teaches the value of working our bodies and it teaches team work, while helping kids feel a part of something and improves self-esteem.

A few good team or physical sports are: Soccer, T-ball, Dance, Gymnastics, Basketball, Baseball, Tennis, and Karate.

For ideas to get your younger kids up and moving with Look and Find and other activities, check out the Get Up and Get Moving Activities at ZiggityZoom.com

Check out http://www.mommie911.com for Fun Activities for Kids. There is a list and links to Youth Sports Organizations.

Do you and your kids fit in some form of moving your bodies most days? What do you or your kids do to get moving and fit? Are you willing to fit in little spurts of movement? What ideas or stories can you share with us about getting your kids Up and Moving?

What kind of exercise is most effective for burning fat in children? A new study delivers an objective answer. It’s no secret that childhood obesity has become a major problem, nor that physical activity is an important tool for preventing and reversing weight problems.

As far as I know, a recent French study is the first study to measure the effect of different intensities of exercise in both lean and obese children. The kids in the study were pubescent boys with an average age of twelve. They worked out on an exercise cycle at varying intensities and the actual amount of fat they burned at each level was measured.

The results were published online April 2, 2008 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

For the lean boys, maximum fat burning (fat max) measured in mg of fat burned per minute (total mg, not just percent of calories burned in fat) came when exercising at 60 percent respiratory capacity.

The obese boys, though, burned very little fat at that level of exercise – it was hardly better than not exercising at all. Their peak fat burning came at 30 to 50 percent capacity.

It appears that increasing the amount of time spent in low-intensity aerobic activities such as walking, biking, and casual outdoor play may be a valuable way to reduce fat in those who are already obese, while more strenuous activity, such as running, basketball, or soccer, may be the best way to burn fat and to prevent obesity in those who do not yet have a weight problem.

Zunquin G, Theunynk D, Sesboue B, Arhan P, and Bougle D. Comparison of fat oxidation during exercise between lean and obese pubertal boys: clinical implications BJSM Published Online First: 2 April 2008. doi:10.1136/bjsm.2007.044529

A fun, practical, affordable way to help overweight kids? My friend and colleague, Dana Weintraub, MD, from the Division of General Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine and the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, led a team that studied the effect of an after school soccer team on weight. The results of SPORT (the Stanford Sports to Prevent Obesity Randomized Trial) were published in the March 2008 Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Treatment for weight issues is not available for all kids. When it is, the treatment is often expensive, difficult, not very fun, and meets with limited success. Dr. Weintraub, determined to make a difference especially for disadvantaged kids, designed an innovative study that I hope will change what we do nationwide.

The kids in the SPORT study were low-income, overweight 4th and 5th graders from ethnic minorities. Half of the kids were randomly assigned to a supportive soccer team for overweight kids, and given shin guards, uniforms, and water bottles. They practiced after school for 75 minutes 2 days a week, plus 45 minutes of homework help from the coaches. The practice time included 15 minutes of warm-up/stretching, then skills drills, then a scrimmage game. A third session each week was ‘game day’. All sessions ended with a celebratory cheer, and recognition of positive achievements. Total sessions increased to 4 days a week in month 5 of the study, at the request of kids and parents, because the team was so much fun. Medals and awards were given out at the end of 6 months. Most of these kids had not been involved with team sports before.

The other half were randomly assigned to 25 weekly sessions where the kids received state-of-the-art information about nutrition, health, and exercise. This was also enthusiastically received. All of the kids in both groups wore accelerometers to measure their physical activity. Remarkably, all of the kids in both groups completed all 6 months of the study, though they did vary widely in how many sessions they attended.

Those who played soccer, instead of learning about what to do or focusing on nutrition, had significantly better results – with medium to large improvements in their BMIs compared to the other group. They also showed significant improvement in total daily activity, moderate, and vigorous activity. When questioned afterwards, almost all of these kids requested to continue the soccer team.

This appears to be the first study of sports teams of overweight kids as a strategy for preventing and treating obesity. I hope this spurs larger, more comprehensive studies.

In the meantime, team sports with supportive coaches and other overweight kids on the team may be an inexpensive, fun way to get weight under control. Besides the increased physical activity, it might be motivating because of the supportive adult attention, friendships, and sense of accomplishment. I’d love to see this available to all kids struggling with weight, as we sort out exactly what works best.

Weintraub DL, Tirumala EC, Haydel KF, Fujimoto M, Fulto JE, Robinson TN. Team Sports for Overweight Children: The Stanford Sports to Prevent Obesity Randomized Trial (SPORT). Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2008;162(3):232-237.

As parents, it’s our job to teach our kids about the wonders of the great outdoors. It’s also important to keep them healthy and safe so they can get the most out of their outdoor experiences. Dr. Greene’s Great Outdoors Topic Center is filled with information about what you might want to bring on your adventures- both big and small.

Whether your child is a baby or a teen, now is the best time to be sure that active, physical play is a part of her life for at least 30 minutes every day. Childhood obesity in the US has doubled in the last 20 years. February 2002 guidelines released by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education draw on evidence of benefit from over 40 scientific studies to urge those caring for children to be mindful each day of encouraging movement and motor skills. Boring calisthenics are not what the doctor orders. Instead, look for anything fun that gets kids walking, running, rolling, balancing, jumping, kicking, throwing, or dancing. If they’re too young for these, engage them in tummy-time or playing with a rattle. One of our important tasks as parents is to teach a lifelong habit of active fun.

Scooter injuries have skyrocketed since May, sending a total of 27,600 people to emergency rooms (including over 23,000 children), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report in the December 15th, 2000 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. On the other hand, scooter use has skyrocketed even more — from virtually zero this time last year up to about 5 million scooters now sold. While two people have died tragically while using a scooter (an adult fell and struck his head while showing his daughter how to ride the scooter and a 6-year-old boy rode into traffic and was struck by a car) most injuries were cuts, bruises, strains, sprains, or broken arms. Riding in a car is more dangerous than riding on a scooter.

I am excited about the scooter craze. It is a fun way to get children moving, active, and outdoors. It is a nice counterbalance to the huge sedentary pull of school, computers, video games, and television. As with riding a bicycle, the key is to use scooters safely. Helmets are a must. Pads are wise in most situations. And these marvelous scooters are designed for use during daylight hours on smooth, paved surfaces without traffic. Water, sand, gravel, or dirt increase the risk of falls. Be careful with scooters, but have a great time!