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Get Active: Help kids watch less TV, play fewer video games, break away from the PC
- No calories are burned when sitting on your butt!
- TV ads urge us to eat-95 out of 100 food commercials are for fast foods, soft drinks, sugar-coated cereals and candy.
- Video games are addictive to some, and prevent skill development-with other kids and at sports.
How?
- Set limits-an hour a day. Mean it. Fact: kids who watch more than 2 hours per day of TV weigh more than kids who watch less. (Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics June 2002)
- Be a model. Watch less TV yourself.
- Read more yourself. Do something creative with your kids. Get involved!
- Ask them to help you to get fit.
- Ask them to go for a walk with you,
- or a swim,
- or a cycle.
- Try it, and keep trying it.
Help your child by becoming active with your child. Play ball with your child or go for a walk.
If a 100-pound child replaces 1 hour of daily TV with a 6-MET activity*, he or she would lose 24 pounds in a year (if the child's diet didn't change). Break up the activity to several shorter bouts in a day to accumulate 60 minutes and still get the same benefits.
Various Types of Moderate Activity*
Bicycling at 10 mph Brisk walking at 4 mph (15 minutes/mile) Dancing Gardening Hiking Ice skating In-line skating or roller skating Jumping rope slowly Playing doubles tennis Raking leaves Shoveling snow Skateboarding Washing and waxing the car Weight training, circuit
* Each activity will burn, on average, about 6 times the calories used at rest (about 300 calories per hour for a 100-pound person).
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