Blog

By Christine Dunbar

CHILDHOOD OBESITY IS ON THE RISE IN THE UNITED STATES

It has been said that between 16 and 30 percent of the children in the United States today are overweight. That means that they are more likely to have health problems now and in their futures.

Our children are not getting the exercise that they need to stay healthy. When the video game was introduced to the world no one would have imagined the impact that it was going to have on the children of today. All too often parents use the video games as baby sitters and by doing so we are teaching our children to do the same thing.

Instead of sending our children to their room to play video games, we should be sending them outside to play sports. Any sport is good as long as they are running, laughing, playing and breathing healthy fresh air into their lungs.

Children who have weight problems run a higher risk of having emotional problems than children who don’t. Sports are a wonderful way to help a child’s self esteem to grow. This in turn helps children to be more emotionally healthy. Lack of exercise can contribute to many problems for children such as anxiety, depression and obsessive compulsive disorder.

CHILDREN NEED EXERCISE IN ORDER TO BE HEALTHY

If children spend all of their time indoors playing video games and never getting the exercise that they need you can expect them to have high cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease when they get older if they don’t already have these problems. Playing sports is a great way to ensure that your child has a healthy body and a healthy mind.

Playing sports teaches our children some very important life lessons such as we all need to get along with each other even if they really don’t like the other person. Playing sports teaches our children that we don’t always have to win to be important and that team work, works. Playing sports teaches our children to be self motivated, loyal and dependable as human beings.

PLAYING SPORTS IS FUN

The number one reason that a child should play sports is that sports are fun and children need to have fun. They need to see Mom or Dad in the bleachers cheering them on whether they are winning or losing. Going that extra mile to get them to and from practice every day. Children will remember these things as adults and incorporate those values into their own family lives. Isn’t being a parent all about teaching our children to be great people and great parents too? When children grow up in homes where sports are played they are most often, more dependable and responsible people for it.

Sports isn’t just one team playing to beat the other team, playing sports is a bundle of life lessons. So, if your child wants to play sports, think about what your child stands to gain and not the inconvenience of practice.

About the Author: Christine enjoys writing about a variety of topics. For more information about children’s gymnastics, visit The Little Gym.

Source: isnare.com

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