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Health and Fitness by the Book
By Lisa A. Goldstein
While Scheer hasn't consciously chosen books to teach their girls about health, many of the books she reads include characters doing healthy things, such as eating fruits and vegetables, brushing their teeth and exercising. "Looking at pictures and hearing words for those concepts helps them to understand them and place it in a context that's meaningful for them," says Scheer. "For instance, if they read about a character brushing his or her teeth before going to bed, they start to understand that brushing teeth is part of a regular routine. And when it is repeated in many different books featuring different characters, they start to understand that everyone brushes their teeth before bed and that they should too."
Teaching Good Health
A good strategy to use is to relate what you see in the book to your own personal experience, says Sharif, whose hospital produces a family health television series called Keeping Kids Healthy, airing on public television stations nationwide. "Parents can choose books that demonstrate healthy foods and healthy exercise activities," she says. "Parents can then talk to their children about the things they saw in the books. For example, 'Remember when we went to fly a kite?' or 'Maybe next time we go shopping, we can get some strawberries!' Children usually liketo emulate what they see and learn about." 
