One important factor parents should remember when trying to help their child lose weight is to lace up your combat boots and join the fight. Nobody wants to go to war alone, so get in the trenches with your child and start moving. Be interactive. After you have sat down at the table and had your dinner then take a walk. Start out with a fifteen to thirty-minute walk and gradually increase to an hour. This is a great time to see what's on your child's mind, or to simply experience some quality "together" time. Make it fun. Pick out a tree or car and race to it. Take the bikes out and ride them; take the football along and throw it, or take the basketball and dribble. Get a jump rope and see who can get to the end of the block the fastest. These kinds of aerobic activities build stamina and help strengthen the heart and improve the body's ability to deliver oxygen to all of its cells. If every day is not realistic, shoot for every other day — just get moving.
Many children in the U.S. are simply not getting much exercise in their Physical Education (PE) programs; some schools report only allotting 15 minutes per week for exercise (this is indicative of the actual amount of time exercising). Still the range has been reported between 15 and 150 minutes per week, depending on the school. The national standard for PE programs is 150 minutes per week for grades K through 8 and 225 minutes per week for high school grades 9 through 12. If these standards are not in place in your child's school find out why and lobby your school district or local lawmakers to get your child's school up to standard.
Our friends in the U.K. have just concluded a study conducted by researchers at the Universities of Leeds and Aberdeen, which involved more than 1,000 students in primary schools (grades four through seven). Researchers found in cognitive tests given at the end of the day, students who engaged in 15 minutes of exercise in their classrooms outperformed the students who did not exercise. Though more research still needs to be done, the study seemingly validates the idea that simply increasing exercise is beneficial to better concentration, focus, as well as the fight against obesity.
