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Healthy Teens: Mission Possible
There's Hope for Healthy Teens
By Kendeyl Johansen
Even if your teen already has room to play outside, coaxing kids off the sofa can be difficult. Use the following suggestions to energize teenage couch potatoes.
- Enroll your teen in a class. Analyze your child's likes and dislikes and come up with something creative. Maybe your 16-year-old daughter would like to take a self-defense class, learn how to box or try yoga. Your teenage son might enjoy scaling walls at a climbing gym or learning how to fence. Check colleges and community programs for fun and unusual classes.
- Play outside. Offer to drive your teenager and his or her friends to the ice-skating rink or community swimming pool instead of the video store. Suggest older teens go on a hike and pack a healthy picnic for them to enjoy.
- Plan family activities. Instead of watching your kids tan this summer, grab a Frisbee or volleyball and challenge them to a game. Or rent bikes and explore a new area.
- Set limits on passive leisure activities such as watching TV and playing video games.
Laura Vik of New York witnessed the effects of regular exercise on her overweight teenager. "My daughter went from a size 14 to a size 7 last year by biking, walking and watching what she eats. She feels great," Vik says.
Leanne Ely, nutritionist, encourages parents to buy healthy foods and eat them to set good examples for kids. But what if your family often stops for cheeseburgers after soccer practice, supersizes everything, and ends up with more fat in one meal than is recommended for a whole day?
It's possible to change bad habits. "Have a family meeting,Ely says. "Explain why the family is changing the potato chips for baby carrots and why it's important."