Get Active: Help kids have more free play, watch less TV

• No calories are burned when sitting on your butt!
• TV ads urge us to eat.  95 out of 100 food commercials are for fast foods, soft drinks, sugar-coated cereals and candy.
• Video games are addictive to some, but kids who use two hands on the controller cannot eat!

How?

• Set limits-an hour a day. Mean it. Fact: kids who watch more than 2 hours per day of TV weigh more than kids who watch less. (Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics June 2002)
• Be a model. Watch less TV yourself.
• Read more yourself. Do something creative with your kids. Get involved!
• Ask them to help you to get fit.
• Ask them to go for a walk with you,
• or a swim,
• or a cycle.
• Try it, and keep trying it.

Help your child by becoming active with your child. Play ball with your child or go for a walk.

If a 100-pound child replaces 1 hour of daily TV with a 6-MET activity*, he or she would lose 24 pounds in a year (if the child’s diet didn’t change). Break up the activity to several shorter bouts in a day to accumulate 60 minutes and still get the same benefits.

Various Types of Moderate Activity*

• Bicycling at 10 mph
• Brisk walking at 4 mph (15 minutes/mile)
• Dancing
• Gardening
• Hiking
• Ice skating
• In-line skating or roller skating
• Jumping rope slowly
• Playing doubles tennis
• Raking leaves
• Shoveling snow
• Skateboarding
• Washing and waxing the car
• Weight training, circuit

* Each activity will burn, on average, about 6 times the calories used at rest (about 300 calories per hour for a 100-pound person).