Raising Healthy, Active Kids…Am I doing enough?

Article by

Appears courtesy of Marissa at Let’s Move it Momma.

I’ve battled weight most of my life, especially as a child/teen.

When I started my weight-loss journey, I promised myself I would do EVERYTHING possible to raise healthy, active children! Expose them to everything outdoors and encourage them to find what they LOVED to do for exercise! When I taught P.E., I noticed how certain activities excited certain kids and others would cause that child to completely shut down. ??

I know that there is no RIGHT or WRONG way to raise your children, but how do we know that we are exposing our preschoolers to all of the right things when it comes to exercise, fitness and nutrition? Will it be enough? Will they choose jumping, playing, and hide and seek VS. video games and watching TV??

clip_image003

We play outside often…

clip_image001they join us for our 5K races…

clip_image002We play at the beach…

…and lots of swimming too! Am I doing enough? I know that I’m being paranoid and it’s most likely because I grew up overweight and do NOT want the same for our children…How can I clip_image004make sure I am giving them the proper tools for a healthy life?

These are probably normal questions that we ask ourselves from time to time, whether it’s dealing with math, science or healthy living. There are so many resources available for parents when it comes to these issues, the question is…will we use them?

Do we know where to find them? I love American Heart Association’s website under Healthier Kids, where they offer guides for parents and children to find success when it comes to healthy living as a family! I encourage parents to seek answers and information when it comes to these issues.

What do YOU think about this topic/issue?


About Guest Contributor

An amazing guest blogger published this post, please visit their website, leave a comment below or follow them on their social media accounts. If you're interested in appearing here, like this blogger did,  please see our Contribute page for details on what we publish and how to send it in.

Comments

  1. Rita Barry says:
    June 30, 2011 at 10:25 am

    This has definitely been a big topic around our house but we’ve done the same, focus on making fitness just a fun part of what we do as a family. At almost 5, our daughter doesn’t remember her first 3 years of life when we sat and watched tv all the time. She just now thinks that all families go hiking, do triathlons on the weekends and she loves nothing more than coming and running with me.

    The thing that is so cool to watch is when they do run, it’s truly for the love of using their bodies for what they were made for, there’s no judgement, no running off a donut, it’s just bliss.

  2. Noemi says:
    July 3, 2011 at 12:52 pm

    Good work getting your kids ready for a lifetime of fitness. I firmly believe that parents who live healthy, have kids who live healthy. If I eat broccoli, my kids will eat it too. If I exercise, my kids will too.
    @healthymamamd