GAME ON

An approach to youth – their activities and their health

By Marty Hansen and Kari Hill – Feb. 19, 2010

Having kids is a great privilege.  As parents, the privilege can be viewed as our opportunity to challenge ourselves to bring out our best, to show and act on our concerns, and to see the great purpose our approach has on the fulfillment of our children’s development.   What would we debate to be the most important for our kids?  Among others, health, happiness, and a prosperous future are all fundamentally important.  Parenting in the present societal landscape presents specific challenges to the quality of our kids’ upbringing.  How often do we see families place more importance on the right cell phone plan for their kids instead of focusing on the healthiest food plan for the week or parents who lose sight of how vital their role modeling is for the wellbeing of our youth.  As parents, we still have a hugely significant influence on our children when they are between the ages of 8-12 years.  

The scope of this article is to shed light on two areas:  Activity and nutrition for youth 8-12 yrs.

This is what we know:

·         Obesity has increased from 15% to 26% from 1979 to 2004 in Canada amongst youth (Statistics Canada).

·         A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported 80% of overweight kids aged 10-14 will be obese as adults.

·         The average child may get up to 6 hours of screen time in one day.

To turn this around or even just slow it down, we need to change our culture and our collective thinking.  Our kids are gaining weight and in turn having heath challenges.  In too many cases, activity levels in our youth are staggeringly low.  The average youth can manoeuvre the most complicated video game, negotiate the internet and program a cell phone but has little to no understanding of how to eat or to move (which is in the moment less exciting).  It’s a natural parental instinct to not see their children’s habits clearly and to think that their children’s activity and nutrition are better than they really are.  Let’s set priorities and let’s cut to the chase on this one.

The landscape for a young person is much different for our kids than when we were their age.  Here are some examples:

We

·         Walked to school

·         Participated in one scheduled activity at a time leaving more time for imaginative play

·         Had only 1-2 channels of TV

·         Were called in from outside for dinner

·         Played simple games like catch, hopscotch, street hockey, etc.  and knew how to skip!

·         Had Phys Ed every week if not every day

·         Ate little to no pre-packaged foods as they did not exist!

Our kids

·         Are driven most places

·         Have 60+ TV channels and countless other forms of screen time

·         Have and use the internet

·         Are subjected to non stop advertising while watching TV or the internet

·         Use video gaming and other entertainment over simple games

·         Are not allowed to play in the park unsupervised as they would most likely be the only one there

·         Inherited our fat diet and replaced it with sugar and now with HFCS (high fructose corn syrup)

Telling our kids the old story that our parents told us about walking the hours to/from school, up hill both there and back, in the winter storms and spring rainfalls, doesn’t work any longer.  So, what are we going to do about slowing down the path to obesity?

For a start, encouraging activity and healthy nutritional choices are fundamental.  Keep in mind, this encouragement doesn’t end after one conversation.   Because we are in competition with online and video activities that promote fitness (which only represent about 40% of the effort of a real activity), we need to be repetitive and consistent, role models and leaders.   

What should we do from here?

Our youth should:

·         Do a daily physical activity that produces sweat and heavy breathing.

·         Eat 8-10 fruits and vegetables daily

·         Be in sunlight or outdoors daily

·         Have about 1 litre of water per day (2 if they have not had their fruits and vegs)

·         Sleep in darkness for at least 9 hours (1 hour before midnight is worth 2 hours after midnight)

How do we make a change and realize a different outcome for our kids and ourselves?

FOOD & WATER

·         Food should be as close to its original source as possible and not adjusted

·         Make a family food plan for 3-4 day increments (Sunday & Wednesday evening are good times)

·         Involve your kids in cleaning out your pantry and fridge to make way for fresh foods.  Preserved foods that have been there for a while should go

·         Change the portions slowly to include more vegetables, less starch, and maybe the same amount of protein (if you know what you’re doing here)

·         If you are going to have a starch based meal (pasta or pizza) add protein and vegetables in balance

·         Avoid some so-called health foods that make claims such as flavoured soya milk, the 10% real fruit, energy and sport drinks, etc.  If you have to stop and read the label, perhaps there are better choices.

·         Understand that a “treat” is not something that is a bright, artificially flavoured & coloured candy.  Change your approach to “treats” by considering the long term cost on your child’s health:

o   Spend the time to read the ingredients - if you don’t know what they are, GOOGLE them.

o   When you hear yourself talking – “it is not that bad” or “we don’t have it that often” or “we can start this tomorrow” – knock it off and step away.  Self justifying comments like this prolong the step forward to what you have known all along.
 
ACTIVITY or PLAY  
 

·         Age 8 is the best time to learn jumping (90% of coordination is developed by age 12)

·         Young kids love to climb, skip, play hop scotch, throw, etc.

·         Activity will spark appetite for real food and not a processed facsimile

·         Walk after or before dinner

·         Sweating when you eat is not an activity

·         Get your kids up in the morning to have physical activity

·         Avoid the weekend morning wake up with TV or computer games

·         Limit screen time to max 2 hours per day (school as well in mind) and have them go outside

·         Remember chores:  Clean the room, shovel or sweep the walk, help prepare dinner, etc.

·         Obesity is not as genetic as it is habitual

·         Understand that realizing a change is just a series of transitions!

 

And let’s be HONEST with ourselves here!  Take a good, long look at your family’s culture.  Of course, recognize and embellish the good but STOP the bad habits.  And remember, if you do not agree with this information or think you are already doing a great job, look again as somebody is making our kids inactive and fat.

 

NEXT STEP:  GAME ON!

 

In many to most instances that we come across at M-2 Sport, the situation is more about creating and engendering preventative family practices than it is about dealing with a well rooted problem.  The majority of our clients are already in good health and are seeking advice to improve their own fitness as well as that of their family.  As parents, consider our role as a guide for our kids to learn and understand what a healthy choice is.  Our kids will eventually make their own choices.  In the years 8-12, our guiding role is to set them up for the successful independence they’ll require in their teen years and beyond.  Perhaps this guidance role is where you can use some assistance or objective support.

 

Consultations are available with M-2 Sport to create family strategies on activity and food choices.  Click here to purchase your 90 minute consultation with Marty (just scroll down the page to the Paypal arrow for Training Assessment 90 mins.)