The Importance of Movement

Yesterday, we began the day with some yoga stretching and poses.  I began taking a yoga class through my local community education program about a year and a half ago, and I love it!  The instructors are great about teaching the poses and safety in the pose, and the hour is nice to take for myself.  In addition to the obvious health benefits, I love yoga for it's stress reduction benefits as well.  I (very) occasionally do yoga at home with my children- not because I don't want to, but because I just don't seem to get to it as often as we could.  :)

I recently was given the opportunity to take a class for work regarding obesity in children, and the role of nutrition and exercise for children.  While the class wasn't quite what I had been expecting prior to going in, it did give me some information to mull over.  The food and activity levels of children and families has been changing with every generation. I have only to look at my own family to be able to observe this first hand.  My parents are farmers, and while we had a television in the living room of our home, I was old enough to remember when we got one in another room, and was a teenager myself before I had my own television in my room.  We were outside, or reading, or building with blocks and cans, or just playing with our toys.  I look at my own children, and other children their ages that I know, and I see many with a TV in their rooms already at 3-5 years old.  I see all the phone and tablet apps out there, with preschoolers as the target audience.  I recently saw an ad to reduce your child's television time- by installing a storybook application on a tablet, to turn bedtime screen time into story time... while looking at a screen!  What happened to sitting down and reading a paper book with your child?  I understand and accept (and use) times when you need to get something done, and the TV is a convenient  distraction.  I get that. But when it is so overused, and used in place of actually spending time with your child, that makes me sad.

Also, while I was growing up, about half our food came from the farm.  We raised meat animals.  We had a garden- which the kids were expected to help weed and harvest, and help preserve.  We had dairy cows, followed by goats several years later. We didn't have to worry about a lot of the preservatives and chemicals that can be found in foods.  And we were all expected to do our part and pitch in.  We had chores in the barn as well as the house.  We didn't have to plan the exercise and activity opportunities that I do with my children- they were just there, ready built into our day.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry both have multiple publications regarding the incidence of obesity in children.  It has become a serious problem, and one that it will take the efforts of everyone involved in the care of children to remedy.

There are some easy ways to begin... One is to do active play and exercise at home.   If you have trouble coming up with things to do with your children on your own, check out Pinterest- there are tons of suggestions available.  Pick up some fun, upbeat music and have a dance party.  Check out your local fitness centers and community education classes, and see what you can do- and then bring it home to do there as a family.  One of the best benefits of beginning my yoga practice is that I can bring it home to do with my children.  They get so excited to get out their mats for practice.

In short, just get out there!  It doesn't matter so much exactly what you do, as long as you are active and getting out there.  And if you are involved, it is so much more interesting for your children.... They want to be just like you!

Namaste