My Gym Offers Back to School Tips to Ensure a Healthy School Year

NASHVILLE-(Business Wire)-September 28, 2009 - According to the latest childhood obesity statistics from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, "an estimated 16 percent of children and adolescents ages 6-19 years are overweight" – and even more are at risk of becoming overweight. In order to address childhood obesity, My Gym has developed a series of back-to-school tips for parents in order to foster healthy body and minds in their children.

Eating Healthy and Getting Enough Rest

Decrease the amount of screen time to less than two hours a day, which includes time spent on the computer, watching TV, and playing video games
Pack healthy lunches; make sure your child is eating healthy snacks at school. Do not give extra money if you know he or she will use it to purchase items in the vending machine.
Encourage your child to get a good night's sleep, keeping in mind that teens need about 9 hours of sleep, children between the ages of 6 and 12 need about 10 to 11 hours of sleep, and that preschoolers and toddlers need even more.
Most importantly, encourage healthy eating and a healthy weight instead of pushing "dieting" on your child.

Promote Fitness

Be a good role model – kids do what you do, so the more physical you are, the more they will be
Walk whenever possible – to the parks, to the library, to school, etc. When driving, park farther away and walk to your destination. And, make the walk more fun: collect different objects (flowers, leaves, etc); play Eye Spy or the color game; count different objects; sing songs
Play fun outdoor games in your own back yard:
- Jump rope
- Hula Hoop – even if your child can’t do it, you can jump in and out of it, roll it, drive the giant wheel, make it a space ship around you
- Hide and seek or tag
Dance – this is a super fun way to get them moving and they love it and work up a sweat! Put on their favorite songs and cut a rug!

For more information, please visit www.mygym.com.

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