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You can prevent childhood obesity by getting your child to have fun while moving. You can start with the three (3) easy to do activities here. Of course you know it is great to create healthy habits when children are young. But the question is how and what can I do as a parent or caregiver to make movement fun and get my child to exercise and move. One thing that will make it easier is if we start with the right mind set. Movement is something that we do naturally every day, we don’t associate effort with it. On the other hand exercise brings to mind images of sweat, exertion and hard work. So first we are going to put ourselves into the right frame of mind.

What comes up for you when you hear the word “exercise”. Just hearing the word exercise brings up images of sweat, lots of effort and hard work. Who wants to do that? Not me even and I do it practically every day. It’s kind of hard to get motivated and be in a positive mindset when you feel you are about to do something that’s not fun and also hard. But one of the reasons I can do it practically every day is because it’s fun and enjoyable. It doesn’t feel like work. You want to have the same type of experience with your child. You don’t want them to be conscious of all of the effort that is going into an activity. You want them to be so engaged and having so much fun that they don’t even notice the effort.

Listed below are six (6) ways that you can get your preschooler moving while having fun. Remember in addition to burning calories, movement also develops the brain. It will be easy I promise and you and your child will want to do it again and again. To keep it fun and interesting remember to add variety and variations so that neither  you or your child are bored.

MAKE IT A GAME

Having a problem getting your preschooler to pick up after themselves? Why not shoot a game of hoops with the dirty laundry or play soccer with the dirty launder by kicking it into a laundry basket turned on its side. Children love kicking especially little boys, but don’t leave the girls out of this one. Because laundry isn’t a ball it will not move once it’s kicked which means they will have to keep kicking it until it’s in the basket. Built in reps how cool is that. Put the laundry on a broom stick or similar object and have the laundry fly into the laundry basket. Leap over the laundry before putting it into the basket. You get the idea, make it interesting and fun for them.

DO IT IN SMALL CHUNKS OF TIME

You don’t have to schedule a whole lot of time for these activities, starting in ten (10) minute increments is fine. Have several activities planned out in this amount of time. These activities can be themed based like “doing the laundry” or just random, like let’s see how long we can stand on one leg. If you run out of ideas, just explain to your preschooler that you have to think of different ways to move your body and ask can they help.

NOTICE WHAT YOUR CHILD IS INTERESTED IN ALREADY

This can work in one of two ways if your child loves dancing or particular sports have them show you what they do in that sport and pretend to do that sport, you can have the actual equipment or not. In fact having them to pretend they have the props is even better because they are learning to use their imagination. The other way is to take an activity that is not normally associated with movement like cooking. You could pretend to make a healthy chicken and vegetable soup from scratch. Make sure you run and catch the chicken, you walk or jog to the farm, you feed the cow because you are going to need some milk to go with your soup and you also have to milk the cow. Ask them questions of what you should do next to engage them more, build esteem, pride and creativity and imagination.

As you can see getting your child moving is more than just Jumping Jacks and Push Ups and Sit Ups. You can burn calories right around the house and make it fun. Incorporate movement into your daily activities. Things like having a 10 minute movement or dance break where you just turn on the music and dance around the house. Cleaning your house to music and dancing a little in between turns a chore into a choice.

For more information on keeping your child healthy get your free report at http://www.healthykidsweightloss.com . Also please feel free to share your comments and experiences with us. We’d love to hear from you. Until I do hear from you,  have a blast moving and getting fit.

Movement is what develops the brain. Movement is also an essential and important factor in preventing childhood obesity. You can combine these two facts to come up with a winning combination in eliminating excess weight. There are other factors that contribute to weight gain like food consumption and diet as well as emotional factors, but for the purpose of this writing we will be dealing with burning calories through movement and how you can optimize movement so that you develop your child’s brain.

It is recommended that children receive 120 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day, every day. Sixty of those minutes should be with an informed adult  with structured activities and sixty unstructured , like free play. During these times children should also have outdoor time. This serves a dual purpose in that the children will be receiving Vitamin D from the sun while exercising and moving their bodies.

One point that I want to make is, play is a vital part of movement. It is a child’s work and the way that they learn about themselves and their world and how they fit into it. So to adults things may look like play and seem useless. But an informed and knowledgeable adult knows that very important changes are taking place.

Growth and development on many different levels are taking place. They are growing socially by learning how to get along with others, share, work together to achieve a common goal, learn that they matter and their contribution counts. They are also learnng emotionally by experiencing how certain activities make them feel, whether it be fear, confidence and pride or curiosity. Cognitive and intellectual learning is also taking place as they learn about sequences and patterns and cause and effect.  Communication and creative skills are being developed and nurtured as well as physical development.

All of these factors contribute in developing a child that is smart in a lot of ways. Howard Gardner called this multiple intelligences.  So it is not a matter of whether your child is smart or not but how. The great thing about movement is that it is experiential and combined with music whether through dance or just as an accompaniment enhances the learning experience greatly for children and develops the brain.

One thing to remember is that all movement counts. Whether your child is writing, painting, building with blocks or legos, making mud pies, drumming, stirring, chopping or cutting or running, jumping, skipping , hopping or climbing, it all counts. So you can break it up into 10 -20 chunks of time through out the day. Just make sure that there is some vigorous movement  that gets their heart rate up. You also don’t need a lot of space. You can do a lot of things utillizing vertical space which a lot of people forget about. Things such as hopping, jumping, twisiting, touching head, shoulders, knees and toes all use vertical space.  So just use your imagination and that of your child and see what you come up with. Please come back and share it with us how your experience was and what happened. I’d love to hear from you.

Believe it or not being happy is one of the easiest things that you can do to prevent obesity, this goes for both adults and children. Something to think about huh? Never thought about the correlation right, but stop now and think about it. Do you know what makes you happy? Let’s break that down because so many people are just barely getting by and surviving, that happiness seems like a luxury.

Happiness makes you feel good plain and simple. So let’s start there Read more »

Getting babies to dance is very simple. Just put the music on and let them have a blast. Or as my friends across the pond say ” have at it!” But something more is going on than just moving and shaking.  Brain architecture is being created, which means this little baby is building intelligence and a better brain. They are also building the foundation for three essential elements for a happy and productive life.

By moving to music babies are expressing themselves and developing spatial awareness and learning about themselves and their environment. They are learning about the world and how they fit in it and what to expect from it. They are also having a great time.

Secondly they are  having a great time while learning is very important because fun makes the learning experience more pleasurable it is likely to be repeated. Although babies are naturally curious anyway, learning and experiencing the sensations in their bodies encourages them to want to learn more and be confident about learning. So dance away with your child. You will instill within them a love of movement and exercise which can lead to creating healthy habits for the future.

The third thing, but not certainly the last, is that your baby will develop a positive attitude about trying and exploring new things. They will develop an “I can do it ” attitude. Their confidence will grow and become stronger.

So you can shake and shimmie with your baby, clap hands, pat your knees, turn around, hands up and down and legs to for that matter. You can play patty cake, head shoulders knees and toes and the hokey pokey all to music and do them again and again and again. It is not complicated and you can make it up on the spot . Your child will love it and suck up the attention they are getting. It’s also a great method for bonding . So remember don’t make it complicated, just move and have fun.

If you’d like more information on raising a healthy child, get a free ebook on it from http://www.healthykidsweightloss.com

Getting your child to sleep whether they are infants, toddlers or preschool aged can be really challenging. It’s enough to make you want to google “how do I send a child back”. And although you wouldn’t do it even though you feel like that and really wish that there was a way to do that and then pick them up after you’ve both had a good night sleep, we all know that’s just wistful thinking. I ‘d like to share with 3 things that will help you with this dilemna. Read more »

Kids are so funny and can give you such a great laugh with the things that they do and say. I’d like to share some of those moments with you now.

My girlfriend has an adorable 3 year old boy. Her and her husband went out to dinner with him recently. After being seated they removed all of the knives from the table, as a safety measure. Well he was not having that and yelled to the top of his voice:”GIMME BACK MY WIFE!”

His father just recently got braces on his teeth. After admiring his father’s braces he said to his parents:” I want bracelets on my teeth too.”

His mom was driving and trying to figure out which way to go. As she was deciding he screams from the back seat: ” GO TO NEW YORK CITY AND MAKE A LEFT!”

My friend and I were having such a good laugh.  It felt so good to have a break  and laugh. I marvel at how wonderful her little boy is. In addition he is also very smart. They were in the grocery store and he says to his mom: “Mommy that’s just stupendous!” Shocked his mom looked at him and then he replies “You know Mommy stupendous like awesome.

Wow!!!! isn’t that amazing that not only did he correctly pronounce the word but he actually knew what it meant. That is a joy and a pleasure to hear.

Just wanted to share a chuckle with you to brighten up your day. If you have any funny things that your child or children have done or said please share them with us we’d love to hear them. Please post your comments below.

Can you imagine? Some one that conditions others to be stellar players collapses and dies. Wow that’s a lot right, but what does that have to do with my child you say. It relates to your child because a simple thing like dehydration was suspected as playing a major role in his death. And by the way dehydration is a very major thing that we do not think about too often.

Research indicates that the Read more »

A really fun way to prevent childhood obesity is by letting your child lead you in performing exercises. Notice the operative word here “perform”. There is a vast difference between doing exercises and performing exercises. Your child naturally knows this Read more »

Making sure that your child begins to drink water early is a great way to ensure that your child gets proper nutrition and creates a great habit to prevent obesity in their future. Even though water has no calories or nutritional value it is still very valuable to your toddler. A good amount to probably start with is 10-15 ozs.

According to pediatricians you should not give a baby younger than 6 months old water. First, there is enough water in their formula and breast milk( 94 percent water). Also, giving a baby younger than 6 months water can interefere with the body’s ability to absorb the nutrients that are in both formula and breast milk. And although small sips will not hurt the baby, it is much better to be safe than sorry, and to check with your pediatrician.

There is also a consideration of water intoxication. This happens when too much water dilutes the concentration of sodium that is in the body. This upsets the electrolyte balance and causes the tissues to swell. Water intoxication can also cause seizures and even coma.

It is a good idea to introduce the child to water before juices and other drinks with sugar in them, even 100 percent fruit juice. After milk make that a child’s second choice. So when they ask for something to drink give them water first. Another good idea is even with 100% fruit juice you can add water to dilute it slightly.

If your child absolutely does not like drinking water try giving them items that are made of predominately water like actual fruits, soup, milk, smoothies  etc. Also try making sure the water is cold as children don’t really care for room temperature water. Vegetables are also an excellent source of water, even though it’s not as direct.

You want to make sure that you don’t over do it. Giving a toddler too much water tends to make them feel full and could limit the amount of food intake that contributes to their growth. Remember toddlers have small tummies that can get full really fast. So you don’t want to diminish their appetite and jeopardize vital calories and nutrients that they need for growing.

This is the same reason why you do not want to give a toddler more than 4 ounces of 100 percent fruit juice. In addition to not wanting to spoil their appetite you also want your child to get the fiber from fruits and the additional nutrients in the actual fruit itself. 

Lastly, make sure you are a good example also by drinking water yourself. It is so  much more effective and impactful when you model the behavior you want your children to have.

It is easier than you think to prevent childhood obesity using specific movements designed to integrate the left and right hemispheres of the brain. These movements are particularly  fun when they are done with and to music. They can be dance movements, sports moves or moves that you wouldn’t ordinarily think of as something that would help to prevent obesity and get kids moving.

Really you say? Yes, really I say, this is because all movement helps to develop the brain. When children are moving they are learning. Read more »