Hillary Chybinski: Keeping Your Kids Fit

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Keeping Your Kids Fit

Have you seen the latest statistics on childhood obesity?  Nearly 17% of children are considered obese.  It's downright scary.  And everyone from the First Lady to the Nickelodeon Network, are encouraging kids to move more.


While we currently do not have weight issues with our kids, teaching them healthy habits that will last their lifetimes is important to us.  I recently learned about a website, started by WebMD, Discovery Education and Sanford Health, designed to help teach kids to be healthy.  The website is called Fit 4 the Classroom, and has resources for teachers and parents alike.  Fit 4 the Classroom is designed to move nutrition and wellness education from the gymnasium and the cafeteria, into the classroom.

What's so fascinating is that Discovery, WebMD and Sanford Health have looked at where this type of education has failed in the past, and designed tools for teachers - such as dynamic lesson plans that play on health-related STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Math) subjects backed up with compelling digital media.  It encourages our kids to become the gatekeepers of their own health.  

There are four main sections:  food, move, recharge and mood. In each section, there are lesson plans, videos and activities.

I am planning to pass this information along to my Parent-Teacher groups at both the boys' schools.

The partnership also includes a national sweepstakes for elementary school teachers, awarding one grand prize winner a school assembly, a $5,000 prize and $5,000 in funding for the teacher's school to extend programs that benefit student health and wellness education.  There's plenty of time to enter, the deadline is February 14, 2013.

How does your school (even home-school) teach your kids good health and fitness habits?



catch you soon -

note - I did not receive any compensation for this post; and as always all opinions are my very own.

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