By Lina Younes
How often do we give our children advice to adopt healthy eating habits and lifestyles, yet our actions send another message? To say that “actions speak louder than words” is not just another cliché. Our actions, good and bad, can be even more influential on our children’s outlook on life than endless preaching. In this case, I want to emphasize the need for us to become more active to encourage children to exercise more as well. Let us lead by example.
I still remember as I was growing up, I was often outside with my friends or riding my bike after finishing my homework. During the summer, I was usually outside “from dawn to dusk” with my friends. However, now things have changed. I’ve even seen the difference with my own children. They prefer indoor activities over “the great outdoors.” I guess that I’m largely responsible for that.
Statistics show that childhood obesity has nearly tripled in the last three decades. Childhood obesity has led to numerous other health problems in children from diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, to name a few. Healthy eating habits AND physical activity are the best practices to address the issue with long term positive effects. We cannot leave it to the kids alone. These are good habits that we all should adopt, children and adults, as a family to have a better quality of life.
Increasingly, there are new opportunities to make this family project fun. How about encouraging children to walk or bike more? How about encouraging children in your community to get involved in the Let’s Move Initiative? Just simple steps can go a long way to get more active. Physical activity does not require a gym membership. Sports, gardening, hiking, bicycling, and good old walking can be equally effective. And if you enjoy these activities as a family you get multiple rewards.
Since we’re celebrating Children’s Health Month during October, wouldn’t this be a good time to start? Do you have any family activities planned? Please share them with us.
About the author: Lina Younes has been working for EPA since 2002 and currently serves the Multilingual Outreach and Communications Liaison for EPA. She manages EPA’s social media efforts in Spanish. Prior to joining EPA, she was the Washington bureau chief for two Puerto Rican newspapers and she has worked for several government agencies.