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Start teaching children early about being healthy. Stressing healthy habits from birth is important. But it's not too late to start now. Being physically active and eating wisely with your children set the "healthy" example. Spending this time shows your child that you believe good nutrition and fitness are important. As they get older, keep talking to them about it.
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Be a healthy model for your teen. Your child looks to you for advice and wisdom. The exercise and diet patterns that you have developed will become their models. They will notice if you eat balanced meals, handle stress well, and are active. The whole family can join the "Y", a sports league, a gym, etc.
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Limit activities that involve little or no physical activity. Television, video games, and computers offer a lot of inactivity! Limit the amount of time each day that your children have access to these and any other sedentary activities like card playing and board games, talking on the telephone, etc. Don't forget that their days already have sedentary activities built in, with school and homework.
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Encourage activities that are full of physical activity. Joining after school intramurals, recreation, or sports teams is one way to do this. Other ways include joining fitness centers, activities like dance groups and karate, or walking to school. Activities are also more popular if done with friends. Instead of listening to music in their rooms alone, they can wear a Walkman and be physically active while listening to music and walking with their friends.
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Volunteer or do community service. If your teen finds it difficult to join a sport team or activity, how about volunteering at the local senior center? A place such as this offers teens somewhere to feel important and feel needed. Senior citizens love to spend time with youth and they love to have the opportunity to be physically active, through dance and exercise. There are also opportunities for teens to join and train for local walkathons and other similar activities.
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Do not reward your teens by using food. Although celebrations are often accompanied by food, eating as a reward is not a good habit for your children to learn. Offer other rewards such as activities. Roller-skating/blading, skateboarding, swimming, ice-skating, and others are all great activities that teens love doing.
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Include your teens in household cooking activities. Involve your teens in buying food and preparing meals. This is a great way to teach your children about how good nutrition helps our bodies reach and maintain good health. Moderation (not too much) and variety (different kinds of foods) are the keys to good nutrition. Eating a variety of foods in moderation can help us acquire the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that our bodies need.
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Keep healthy snacks around the house. Snacks that are high in sugar, fat, or salt are all right as a treat, every once in awhile. But the rest of the time, teens need healthy foods - fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat proteins. Try offering snacks your teen hasn't tried before. Try mangos, kiwis or a yogurt/fruit smoothie; fresh vegetables dipped in cottage cheese or hummus; brown rice chips or a whole-grain cereal bar; nuts or seeds. You may both be surprised at how much your teen likes them.
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Tune into what your teens like. Teens are more apt to do things if they enjoy doing them. If they like activities that include friends, be sure to include them whenever possible. A lot of teens also like technology. Buying a pedometer or heart rate monitor can give your child that added push to be more active. The pedometer counts how many steps your child takes a day. Your child can be in control of meeting the goal of 10,000 steps a day. A heart rate monitor shows how many times your heart beats each minute. The heart rate monitor is a great tool for knowing when your heart is in its target heart rate zone. It helps you know when you need to work hard, are working hard enough, or too hard.
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Helping around the house. Teens can get a lot of physical activity by helping with chores around the house. Lawn mowing, gardening, vacuuming, shoveling snow, etc. offer lots of time for physical activity. Be sure to tell them how much you appreciate their help.
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Get involved at school. Meet with your child's teachers to ask about the school's physical education program. Many physical education departments throughout the state do not meet the 100 minutes per week of health and physical education required by the state. If your child's school doesn't offer enough time for health and physical education classes, ask the administrators for answers. Advocate for your children. Show your children how to be an advocate for themselves, too.
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