Get Kids Moving!

Experts recommend that kids get no more than 1–2 hours of TV/computer/video games a day — most kids get 4–6 hours. You know your child needs to watch less TV but you’re dreading the screaming, yelling and crying that may follow. First and foremost, remember YOU are the parent. You run the show; part of your job is to set limits. Here are some ideas about how to limit your kid’s sedentary time.

• Have a plan. Be prepared to offer READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

Exercards, the flagship product of Get Kids Moving, has been awarded the 2008 SEAL OF EXCELLENCE from Creative Child Magazine.  Exercards will appear in the magazine’s November Holiday Toy Guide Issue and on their website soon. Exercards won the award in the Educational Products category.

Exercards® Exercise Card Game not only gets kids moving, but also integrates the academic concepts this age group needs, based on various state objectives and guidelines for kindergarten classrooms.

Children can create a foundation for a lifestyle of healthy habits including exercising while learning such things as the alphabet, counting, patterns, shapes, days of the week, months of the year, rhyming and much more! Research proves that adequate exercise stimulates the brain’s learning powers.

All learning styles (kinesthetic, visual, auditory, tactile, right brain, left brain…) are stimulated through the Exercards® game, which was developed based on brain compatibility research for optimum cognitive development.

Parents can prevent threats of and complications stemming from childhood obesity due to a sedentary lifestyle by incorporating physical activity into the lives of their children. With Exercards® parents can accomplish this in a manor that is easy and fun for everyone! Incorporate healthful energy balance (energy in = energy burned) into young lives!

Best of all parents can get their workout in too while spending fun, quality time with their children!!!!

To learn more about Exercards and how you can purchase them, visit Products by Get Kids Moving.

#2 in a series

Back-to-school shopping is for some a sad reminder of summer’s end being far too near, for others an exciting adventure anticipating new discoveries, and for everyone a simple necessity.  As a parent, when helping your kids find all their school supplies, don’t forget a few important items that will support their health throughout the school year. The next in our series of back to school supplies is the…

Back Pack Recent research suggests that at least 50% of school aged kids will experience lower back trouble and pain during their youth; it is believed that one major cause of this upswing in youth back issues is the improper use of a school backpack. The range of trouble from an ill-fitted backpack goes from back pain, to muscle strain, to nerve impingement. This can lead to serious issues down the road, if kids go on year after year without regard to proper portage of their weighty supplies. Some pointers for keeping growing spines healthy and stress free:

• Show kids how to pack the backpack so the weight is distributed evenly.
• Make sure they use both shoulder straps and don’t sling the entire pack over one shoulder.
• If the backpack has a waist strap (good idea), use it. This keeps the load as close to the back as possible.
• If they like the one shoulder messenger bag, have them switch shoulders half way through their walk.
• Prioritize what will go in the backpack, so that it’s overall weight is no more than 15% of the child’s body weight (a good math lesson too!).
• Teach kids to lift the pack using their legs (bend at the knees and don’t use your back to get the pack off the ground) when lifting a heavy backpack from the ground.
• Choose a backpack with reflective stripes for higher visibility at night; remember, daylight is longer when the school year starts, but many kids will be walking in a dark morning or evening during the bulk of the year.

Help your kids stay healthy throughout their school years and into their adulthood by choosing and using backpacks appropriately.
A good place to start your search for the right backpack is at the GKM Amazon Store.

#1 in a series

Back-to-school shopping is for some a sad reminder of summer’s end being far too near, for others an exciting adventure anticipating new discoveries, and for everyone a simple necessity.  As a parent, when helping your kids find all their school supplies, don’t forget a few important items that will support their health throughout the school year. The first in our series of back to school supplies is the…

Lunch Box  Many children buy lunch at school on a regular basis ranging from the once a week pizza purchaser to the daily buyer. Schools today are subjected to federally mandated wellness policies, and many comply by having healthier choices on the menu. This is good, but you can make it better! If you can work packing lunches into your busy schedule, your child’s health will surely benefit.

School lunch programs have created much healthier offerings than in years past by working to eliminate “empty calorie” choices (foods high in calories but low in nutrition) such as sweets, deep fried foods and refined grains. Despite their efforts, many empty calorie foods remain on the lunch menu; there is often a wide margin in how the nutritive value of a food can be determined. And to rub salt into the wound, many foods on the school lunch menu are very high in sodium, even if they are not considered empty calorie foods.

When shopping for school supplies, grab a lunch box and be determined to pack it as often as possible with truly healthy foods.  Pack as many fruits and vegetables as you can. Cheese slices or sticks. Sandwiches on whole grain bread. Low fat and low sodium whole grain snack crackers or pretzels. Protein rich foods like eggs and dairy products, beans and nuts (deli meats have way too much salt). Read labels on prepared foods; do the nutrients per serving out way the fat and sodium content? For lots of healthy and time-saving lunch box ideas try some of these books.  You can also share your own great ideas for quick, healthy lunch box packing ideas.

Medical News Releases > Medical News Releases >

Girls, young women can cut risk of early breast cancer through regular exercise

By Caroline Arbanas

May 13, 2008 — Mothers, here’s another reason to encourage your daughters to be physically active: Girls and young women who exercise regularly between the ages of 12 and 35 have a substantially lower risk of breast cancer before menopause compared to those who are less active, new research shows. Read More