Family Fun and Recreation

Article by Helene Zemel

I am possibly giving away my age, but I can don’t forget a time when we all ate our dinner at the exact same time, we didn’t have 300 plus television programs to select from every single day, youngsters did not invest hours soon after school playing video games, sitting in front of computer screens, or talking on cell phones. When I came home from school, weather permitting, I was expected to go outside to play. We would go to the playground, play ball, jump rope, and play running games.

Children nowadays are regularly stressed out by long hours of homework and the pressure to take college level courses for advanced placement before they are intellectually ready. I have heard of youngsters getting by on only a couple of hours of sleep each night due to the fact of excessive homework. Some young teens have even skipped lunch in order to take on such a demanding curriculum. Normally both parents are at work outside of the house, and there is no parent present to see that the child engages in healthy outdoor activities in the course of these afternoon hours.

Today’s kids are far more likely to be found playing video games, surfing the web, watching television or the VCR than engaging in sports and healthy recreation. As a result, we have seen a rise in both young children and adults in such lifestyle diseases as obesity, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes��”disorders that are preventable and even treatable by modifications in life style. A recent survey showed an enhance in prescriptions in young people for high blood pressure and hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol).

In a message from former Surgeon General, C. Everett Koop, M.D., for the Shape up America program, Dr. Koop states: “A survey conducted by Shape Up America has revealed that child care responsibilities are interfering with the efforts of numerous families to get much more physical exercise and at the same time we know numerous kids are now overweight or obese. The answer is a commitment on the component of the entire family to invest more time together. I encourage you to choose activities you can do together and support and reward each and every other’s efforts to be far more active at property, at school, at work, and in your communities. I urge you to replace the use of food as a reward for good behavior and supply to take a walk with your child instead. The pleasure of your firm is the finest reward your child can receive and the greatest gift you can give.”

This is good suggestions indeed. Begin a family members fun night and take turns picking an activity. The family can engage in both indoor and outdoor recreational activities depending on the time of year. Bear in mind that not all activities have to be physical. Board games are constantly fun for the loved ones to play and encourage thinking abilities, strategy, eye/hand coordination, and most importantly loved ones togetherness. Decide on a selection of games that are proper for all ages and skill levels involved in order to maintain the chosen activities interesting and enjoyable for all involved. Don’t forget that the “family that plays together stays together.”

About the Author

Helene Zemel, M.A., M.B.A., has been blogging and writing about loved ones health and fitness. She is the owner of The Loved ones Gamer which is a site devoted to family recreation. This site has a special section devoted to children’s sports and activities: Children Recreation.