Fit For Life

Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way! Dr. Seuss

Last week I wrote about how a healthy diet is important for kids overall health. A good diet is definitely essential, but a good diet alone is often not enough of a guarantee for good health. To keep physically fit, a good diet should be accompanied by a good exercise plan. The best time to start your kids off with a good exercise plan is when they are small. By starting young it is more likely that your children will carry this good habit with them for the rest of their lives.

One of the best benefits of exercise is that it enhances learning. In a CNN article published on April 12th, 2010 called Studying the link between exercise and learning By Elizabeth Mo CNN Medical News Intern, Wendy Suzuki, professor of neuroscience, discovered a link between learning and exercise. Students, in her course designed to discover the effects of exercise on learning, did notably better on tasks after exercising than they did prior to exercising. While this is only one example of such a study, there are many other studies with similar results. I, too, have noticed that my students who are more physically active usually do a bit better than their sedentary counterparts. And, even if they don't do noticeably better than their peers, the many other benefits of exercise are well worth noting.

In addition to enhancing brain performance, exercise produces endorphins, or in other words, the "feel good" chemicals in your brain. So, it only stands to reason that kids who exercise will probably feel better about themselves, and in general, have a happier outlook on life. Usually the kids who have a positive self image are the kids who strive to do their best, and these kids usually find themselves in the top percentage of their classes at school.

It is relatively easy to get your children to adopt exercise as a way of life. When your children are small, set aside time for them to play outdoors. You will need to monitor them, so it is probably a good time to engage in some activity with them, like playing catch, taking a walk, or old fashioned jumping rope. Think of all the things you did as a child, that kids no longer seem to do because they are glued to video games or television programs. Playing tag, or Hide and Go Seek, or simple games of chase, Red Light Green Light, and Mother May I?, were all forms of exercise when I was a child. I am sure that small children would still find these games fun and inviting. They wouldn't even know they were exercising! If you have older children, they can help the smaller ones to play the games.

As your children outgrow these low cost, low maintenance games, you may need to replace these with things like biking, hiking, swimming, tennis, joining sport teams, or perhaps even a family membership at the local gym. And, if your child is addicted to X-Box, purchase the exercise games, and play these as a family.

Many cities have local swim teams. My daughters loved to be in the water, and they loved to be active. When my oldest daughter was six and my youngest daughter was about to turn four, I took them to join our city's swim team. The one requirement to join the team was that they could swim across the high school pool unaided. My oldest daughter was able to swim across with little or no effort. Not to be outdone by her older sister, my youngest daughter jumped in, and while the swim coach walked along the side of the pool as she "swam", my youngest daughter made it to the other side of the pool doing her own invention of some crazy swim stroke. When she reached the opposite side of the pool, she got out of the pool, and announced to the coach that since she made it across the pool she was now a member of the swim team! The coach didn't have the heart to say no. My youngest daughter swam in the eight and under category for almost five years. She was seeded number one in the eight and under category at championships the year she turned eight. Swimming was an integral part of my girls' lives, and we have so many amazing memories of attending swim meets, camping in the pouring rain at championships, going to Cape Cod to attend US Swim Team meets, and the many people we became friends with along the way. Swimming was a great way for our family to keep active and healthy.

If you aren't sure how to get started with getting your kids to "get on their way" you can look up organizations on line that cater to activities that your family is interested in. The local YMCA will also have a list of the activities they offer each season. Ask your children what activities they would like to participate in, and don't take "I don't know" or "I don't feel like it" for an answer. Remember, you are doing what is best for your child, and sometimes doing what is best for them may sometimes be getting them to try something they are not all gung ho about. I guarantee though, that once they are involved, and you are their best cheerleader, they will find themselves having a great time, whether they like it or not!

So, your mountain is waiting, get on your way!