One of the biggest health threats facing society today is obesity. Scary as that is, childhood obesity has also been on the rise, which is even scarier. Not only are today’s adults getting bigger and less healthy, so isn’t our future generations. That’s not good. How do we change it? I have a couple ideas.

There are a lot of reasons why this has become a problem in the first place. Whether it’s political, societal, socioeconomics, or whatever, I don’t really want to get into all of that right now. My biggest theory is simple: it’s the gross lack of physical activity of kids today. Plain and simple, kids everywhere do not move and play as much as they once did in past generations. I’m not THAT old, but my brother and I used to be outside all the time. Skinned knees, skinned elbows, bumps, bruises, scrapes, bee stings, bug bites, eating dirt, black eyes were plentiful and a regular occurrence. Now we live in a time where people are afraid of their kids getting hurt, which puts some limits on the child. The best way for a kid to grow, cultivate a sense of self, develop creativity, and, for lack of a better term, “toughen up”, is to be active, be outside, play, explore, get dirty…and frankly be a KID. Instead, they sit at school all day, often times in front of a computer screen, and get limited time to move and be active due to scheduling constraints or the removal of certain programs/classes like gym and phys. ed. Often times, this can happen at home as well. TV’s, video games, iPad’s, iPhone’s, iThis, iThat are accessible. All this crap that’s turning kids into little zombies sitting on their asses with their faces buried into some sort of electronic device, and probably snacking on something while they do it, is making them pack on the pounds.

Children are sponges that absorb everything, even, and maybe especially, the bad things we do or say. If you have bad habits, don’t exercise, eat crappy food, etc. then so will they. You are setting both yourself and your children up to fail and fall into a lifetime of health issues. Conversely, if you have positive lifestyle habits, they will pick up on that too. Take a second to think about some of your habits. Could you make some adjustments? Remember, it’s not just for your well-being.

I know this may seem like I’m up on a soap box telling people how to raise their kids. That’s not my intent; my intent is to bring to light something that is a big problem and becoming a bigger problem. The health of our nation/world is deteriorating. People are becoming less healthy and relying more and more on drugs, medications, and surgeries to cure what was ultimately a lifestyle choice. I think a good start in correcting part of the problem is starting at home and getting our kids into good habits that last a lifetime. I’m not bashing anyone as a parent, you can raise your kids how you want, but use this as a friendly reminder to check up on some of YOUR habits. I get it, we all get busy and we get a little too relaxed with certain things or into certain routines, especially ones that don’t seem that detrimental, but ultimately can be. I’m hoping this just serves as a little reminder to stay active and foster a lifetime of wellness for your whole family. Get out and move, play, be active!

Here are a few things to think about while trying to make those moves to a more active lifestyle, especially with kids in mind.

Get out there and skin a knee or two.