Preventing Obesity in Our Children
Do you remember when our generation was growing up. You walkedout of your house and all you saw were kids running around on thestreets playing football, hockey, tag and many other physicallyactive games. It didn't matter what time of year it was, kidswere running all over the place. Whether it was on the corner orin the park, they were out tearing it up.
Now let's fast forward to 2009 when you barely ever see a childout playing like we did. Sure there still kids playing organizedsports, but the youths are nowhere to be found. When we weregrowing up, you didn't have to be in a baseball league to playbaseball. Any day that you walked over to the park with a gloveyou could find a pick up game. Same can be said of football andhockey, there was always a game somewhere that needed anotherplayer.
This downward trend probably got its roots in the late 70's asvideo games first came onto the market. Pong came out and all ofa sudden, kids weren't on the streets on Christmas day, theywere inside playing this great new video game. As the yearsprogressed, Atari and Intellivision hit the market and you justnoticed that you friends were not hanging out as much anymore.
Zoom ahead a few more years to Sega and Playstation, and peopleplaying outside became virtually non-existent. All these kidstalk about these days are what game they just got, how to beat acertain level with the cheat codes and what new games are comingout. It is actually not out of the norm for a child to not onlyhave one system, but have 3 or three of these high end gamingsystems. That is actually amazing when you consider the actualcosts of them.
As all this was happening, there was a noticeable change in theyouths of our society. There were getting fatter and fatter.While there were definitely obese children when we were growingup, you are probably hard pressed to remember 5 names that youcan put to children in your class that would have been consideredobese. That is far from the case now as WebMD reports that about"one out of every five children in the US is overweight orobese." That is a scary thought.
There are of course more reasons than being sedentary that willresult in obesity. The most common reason being genetics.Children that have it in their natural genes are fighting ittheir whole life and there really is nothing that they can do.However, this same issue was relevant when we were growing up.There are simply not that many people that are geneticallyinclined to be obese to make up the number that we are faced withtoday.
What we need to do is get out YOUNG children off of the videogames and out playing again. It is such a serious concern thatthe NFL has actually started a campaign to get children out ofthe house and playing for just one hour a day. It is amazing thatit has come to this but it has.
Parents today need to take an active role in their children'shealth. That means making sure that they eat properly and thatyou supply them with the right toys early on in their lives andintroduce them to physical activity. Instead of buying them thathand held video game, buy them a pedal toy that will start to letthem enjoy activities that are physical at an early age.
Pedal toys are a great way to have them active and keep theirinterest in activity that will hopefully keep them in shape andnot have them fall into the category of being obese. If you areworried about getting your child on the pedal toy, don't bebecause they come in a variety of shapes and sized and also comein some of their favorite television characters.
They can choose a plane, a car, a fire engine and or just a plainold tricycle. Remember how happy when we got our first bike orBig Wheel? This is what we have to get our children back to if weare going to fight of this horrible trend that is sweeping ourcountry.
If you think it is being overstated, you are wrong. When you lookat the possible conditions that your child may be susceptible toif they are obese, your heart should skip a beat. Things likehigh blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and high cholesterolare but a few, but you can see how serious they are. Each andevery one of these conditions can be debilitating.
Take the time with your child and get them involved in physicalactivities again. Take them shopping for a pedal toy and tellthem they can have anyone they want. Imagine the excitement ontheir face knowing they are going to be able to go home with theexact pedal toy that they choose! It's the equivalent of yourspouse taking you to the car dealership and telling you that youcan have your pick. Are you getting the idea! More importantlythan putting a smile on your child's face, they will be well ontheir way to a much healthier life.
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This article was written by: Kim Michael. To find these and many other selections of Educational and Fun Toys, Children, Toddlers and Baby Furnishings, please visit us online at: http://www.TheUniqueToyShop.com
Read More Articles From Kim Michael:http://thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/d/index.shtml#Kim_Michael
Categories: Diet Plan, Diet Program
