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| Physical Activity and Health
Keeping children active is important to a child's
health status. Children who are active have a lower incidence
of obesity, healthier bones, now and in later life, and generally
stay active as adults. Additionally physical activity helps kids
in several ways: it increases self-esteem, increases energy levels,
improves motor coordination, and teaches life long habits for healthy
living.
Children and adolescents need thirty minutes or more of physical
activity most days of the week. You can help you kids get moving
by making physical activity fun.
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can integrate developmentally appropriate physical activity into
their curriculum. Informing children now about the relationship
between regular physical activity and health can promote lifelong
habits that will reduce risk of many chronic diseases.
Dr. Thomas L. McKenzie from the Department of Exercise and Nutritional
Sciences at San Diego State University suggested recently that,
Physical education currently
has so many goals that most cannot be realistically reached given
the current operating conditions and time allocations. To promote
physical activity, physical education needs to provide curricula
and instruction which:
- provide ample opportunities
for physical activity during class time
- are enjoyable
- teach generalizable
movement skills
- teach generalizable
behavioral skills
- teach how to be safe
in active environment
- encourage present
and future physical activity and fitness
Dr. McKenzie further asserts that, Physical education, even
when offered daily, cannot provide children and adolescents with
recommended amounts of physical activity. To further influence
the promotion of physical activity, physical educators need to redesign
their curricula and instructional behaviors to promote out-of-class
activity, modify the school environment so students have opportunities
to be active on campus outside of class time, and work to develop
physical activity linkages in the community. Many teachers do not
currently act in a way to directly promote out-of-class physical
activity and expensive facilities and equipment available at schools
are an underutilized resource.
Having physical educators
work toward linking schools and the community is especially important
because it is estimated that over 80% of children's physical activity
occurs outside of physical education.
The Guidelines for School and Community Programs to
Promote Lifelong Physical Activity Among Young People provide
ten categories of recommendations for school and community programs
to promote physical activity. These guidelines include recommendations
for policy, environment, physical education classes, health education
curricula, extracurricular activities, parental involvement, personnel
training, health services, community programs, and evaluation.
Implementation of these guidelines should produce substantial
increases in youth participation in both current and lifelong
physical activity.
Click
here to read the entire article.
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If you have ideas, comments, letters to share, or questions about
particular topics, please email one of the following Section Editors:
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| Teaching
Children Basic First-Aid Concepts Can Save Lives
Nine year old Daniel Simmons was pouring gasoline into a hot lawn
mower late one afternoon. A spark occurred which ignited the gasoline.
Daniel panicked and spilled gasoline on his clothes. The flames
from the mower ignited the clothing on Daniel's legs and stomach.
Daniel began to run. His brother Jamie, age 11, knocked Daniel
to the ground to start the "STOP, DROP AND ROLL" technique
he learned at his elementary school. Daniel again tried to get up
but Jamie once again knocked him to the ground. He then grabbed
the cover from a nearby gas grill and wrapped Daniel up in the cover,
extinguishing the flames. Jamie then yelled for their father and
they carried Daniel into the house, placed him under the shower
and turned the water on him. He was treated at the hospital for
burns on 21 percent of his body.
Without the use of the "STOP, DROP AND ROLL" technique,
Daniel would have suffered far greater burns, probably fatal. Teach
your children to "STOP, DROP AND ROLL" if their clothing
catches on fire. Ask them to demonstrate and have them practice.
They will enjoy the game while learning a lifesaving technique.
When children panic they will do what they have practiced, not necessarily
what they have been told.
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Most people, both adults and
children, will be involved in some type of emergency situation
at some time. It is important to have some basic understanding
of first-aid and emergency care. All teachers and students should
have an understanding of how to activate the emergency medical
services (EMS) and know how to assess an accident victims status.
A person calling 911 should
know the following information:
- Location of the emergency
- Telephone number from where
the call is being made
- Description of what happened
- Number of people involved
- Condition of the victim
- What first-aid treatment
is being given
Look at some of these www
pages for more information that can be used in the classroom
or at home.
Ron
Hager
Health and Fitness Section Editor
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| Parental
Example
It's not always easy for parents to get their children to eat healthy.
The following ten tips from Bridget Swinney's book, "Healthy
Eating for Healthy Kids" (Meadowbrook Press), give parents
a guideline for developing positive eating habits in their children.
- Don't force or bribe your child to eat.
- Set a good example by eating at least five fruits and vegetables
and drinking three glasses of milk per day yourself.
- Try to make mealtime as pleasant as possible.
- Encourage children to help in meal planning, preparation, and
cleanup.
- Learn to back off to avoid mealtime power struggles.
- Accept food jags as phases that will eventually pass.
- Accept the fact that a child is an individual and will dislike
certain (perhaps many) foods.
- Don't give up on introducing children to new foods. Realize
that it sometimes takes ten tries to get a child to accept a food.
- There is a division of responsibility for eating. Parents are
responsible for deciding when to eat and what to serve. Children
are responsible for deciding how much (if any) they will eat.
- Give a child a multivitamin-mineral supplement if he or she
is a picky eater.
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Accurate Dietary Information
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Nutrition information on the Internet is plentiful, but
can often be confusing or contradictory. For example, conflicting
views can be found on issues such as taking dietary supplements,
high protein diets, the benefits of soy, weight gain, and the
influence of dietary fat on good health.
The American Dietetic Association provides consumers
with accurate and prudent information on dietary matters. Teachers
and parents can be confident that the web site of the ADA
and their food
and nutrition guide book can each provide answers to many
dietary questions.
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Flavored, carbonated drinks have been around for 200 years, and
still the popularity of soft drinks continues to grow.
In moderation, soft drinks--like all foods--can fit into a healthful
eating plan. But too often, soft drinks just provide calories
while replacing more nutritious beverages like fruit juice and
milk--especially for children.
A new study in The
Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that
twenty-five percent of adolescents drink more than two cans of
pop per day. And one out of eight pre-school children drink nine
ounces of pop per day.
Many of those kids are missing out on crucial nutrients like
calcium, riboflavin, vitamins A and C, and folate.
There's no need to eliminate soft drinks, but try to get the
nutrients you need from other sources. And, don't forget to watch
your overall calorie intake.
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Check out this www page for Hundreds of Additional
Nutrition Tips
www.eatright.org/ermprev.html
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