Hi Guys… no post (as such) today but I’ll be back on the job tomorrow.
A little frantic here at the Harperdome and Gecko (the kid’s gym).
The last few days I’ve been busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking competition… (busy!)
Thought you may want to take a little peak at a TV segment I did yesterday on Network Ten talking about kids and exercise. Not incredibly exciting television but thought some of you may find the ‘kid’s fitness’ discussion interesting and relevant….
I would also like your thoughts on a few things:
1) Measuring and weighing kids – should we (ever)?
2) Getting kids active and keeping them that way.
3) Should sport be compulsory at school and if yes, up until what year?
4) Solutions, thoughts, ideas, suggestions on the whole childhood obesity thing.
5) Are parents to blame? Part blame?
6) The role (responsibility?) of schools in this process?
Hope you’re all well.
Live, Laugh, Love and Learn,
Craig.
Double click on the big ‘play’ button in the middle of the video below:
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Congratulations and well said. Finally someone who is prepared to say something that is not politically correct in the best interests of our childen. We applaud you Mr Harper.
Kelly P.
Vancouver
Canada
Hi Kelly P,
I’ll never be found guilty of being politically correct!
Thanks for saying hi.
Hi Craig. I saw you on Channel 10 this week and thought I would check out your website.
AWESOME!!!
Parents! Parents! Parents! There was a woman on TV last night whose child was seven (I think) and he weighed 115kgs. Child’s fault – I don’t think so!
1) Yes. But without letting the world know what their weight is.
2) YES.
3) YES. Every Year.
4) Parents Fault! Not childrens fault. Educate Parents who are giving their children diabetes.
5) YES. See 4 above.
6) Remove tuckshops or improve the quality of food. Remove chips, pies, sausage rolls and all the other non healthy foods.
I remember reading an amazing post you wrote called ‘Rewarding Our Children with Obesity’ which summed up this topic perfectly.
Keep up your stance on this issue Craig. We need to educate the parents.
Mel
Brisbane
Qld
Hi Craigo,
I couldn’t view your video (my PC’s fault – not your sites) so apologies in advance if you covered this topic at all already in the video. I wanted to ask your thoughts on self esteem vs reality when it comes to younger kiddies – 8-16 year olds. That lovely delicate age where everything is changing, hormones are going crazy and the slightest upset can turn to raging tears (okay… yes, I’m a female).
The provocation for my question is an article I saw in today’s (Saturday’s) Herald Sun – pg 23. Just when we thought we had all the people to blame for childhood weight issues in a nice little list, a new contender emerges. I think this is an issue that is more prevalent for girls than boys, but I’m sure boys are not immune – and this issue seems to run from about late primary school to goodness knows when (hey – I’m late 20′s now and its still very much an issue for my age bracket). The issue: that clothing/fashion and body image go hand in hand – like ice cream and sprinkles if you will. This article caught my eye for that very reason.
It reported that a tween/teen clothing label is re-naming its larger sizes and eliminating the use of words like ‘Large’ and ‘Extra Large’ in an attempt to protect the self esteem of larger kiddies. The actual cut of the sizes won’t change, the descriptions will just be warmer and fluffier.
I was, to say the least, a little appalled. I mean, I’m all for sparing peoples feelings wherever possible, and I don’t think anyone should base a diet or exercise plan solely around the goal of fitting into a smaller size, but seriously! Isn’t this masking a bigger (excuse the pun) problem here? Sending the message that “it’s okay sweetie, have another Krispy Kreme – you’re only a Medium+++”. Not to mention, giving kids the idea that it’s okay to be bigger as long as they lie about it – appearance and perception, that’s all that matters right? Puh-leeze!
And if this actually succeeds for this clothing label, the time it will take for other younger clothing labels to adapt similar methods will be time-able with an egg timer!
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this clothing labels new venture and the implications it could have on the mindset of kids/teens.
T
Melbourne
Hi Mel,
I saw that kid.. tragic.
What hope does he have with a mother like that?
It’s tough.
Thanks for your feedback and thoughts.
Hi T,
I’m all for absolute honesty, open-ness, education and reality. I get sick of the crap and BS surrounding kids and obesity. We are making easy things hard because we don’t address issues appropriately from the outset.
Yes I’m all for diplomacy, care and empathy but I’m also for getting kids into reality and keeping them there…
Sometimes we ‘protect’ our kids to the point where they can’t actually do anything for themselves.. we think we’re helping but we’re actually handi-capping.
I’m going to write my thoughts on how I believe we’re stuffing up our kids in the next week… stay tuned.
Putting kids in a protective bubble is actually negligent… not loving.
Hey Craig
(a bit late but I just saw the video).
Well done … Kid’s health and fitness should be a concern for all parents.
I am a mother of 2 and really believe it is up to parents to encourage their children to participate in activities that gets them away from the TV and up and moving.
My parents never encouraged me to get involved in any sport, and I hated compolsury PE at school so much that I would purposley forget my uniform so they wouldn’t let me participate. Needless to say … I too was a fat kid.
Now I’m still struggling to get the weight off, but I provide my kids with as many opportunities to exercise and be involved in sport as possible. I never push them, but I give them enough opportunities so they can make a choice.
My 4 year old daughter actually had an exercise party for her 4th birthday – her choice!
But I think we need to be good role models for our kids too. There’s no point driving them to auskick or swimming every week to just sit and watch them. We all need to get out there and get involved too.
My daughter runs around the house and says she has to ‘try and run 5 kays’. She doesn’t even know what a km is, but she knows exercise gets her heart racing, and that makes her healthy. She hears me when I brag about how far I ran, or what I did at the gym, and she wants to be part of it.
As parents, we should provide our kids with as much information and opportunities as we can to allow them to grow into adults that can make healthy choices for themselves.
Jenni (kid)
Melbourne
Hi there,
As an educator and a mother, I find this topic interesting.
These are my initial thoughts on your questions.
1) I think you need to ask yourself exactly what purpose measuring and weighing would serve. Fair enough, it would give an accurate measure for future reference/goal setting, but what would the consequences of such be? Would the child need to know? As a parent my initial reaction is no.
2) Absolutely. But ‘getting kids active’ should have a large emphasis on fun, IMO – especially younger kids. No child these days is going to stick around for something they hate doing! This is the Play Station generation, remember!
3) Absolutely. In fact, it is here anyway, at least at a primary level. I think team sport is important as it teaches social skills in a controlled setting that can be applied to other life situations.
4 and 5) Having had discussions with parents in the past when doing healthy eating/healthy lifestyle topics, there seem to be 3 big issues with parents regarding this. a) Education. Many parents do not know or understand what a healthy balanced diet consists of. They have limited knowledge of the impact of food additives and the facts surrounding exercise and its importance in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. They tend to have general ideas but not a lot of specifics. I, myself didn’t have much of a clue about making healthy food choices until I had to learn them to lose weight b) Lifestyle. It is much more convenient for busy families to feed their children quick, easy food. In a family where both parents work, often getting to sport training etc can be a time issue (being exhausted after a long day at work, getting to training times that clash with work times). c) Cost. Club sport can cost up to $200 plus equipment. If you have more than one child participating, the cost of certain sports can be huge. Also, the cost of healthy foods is much more expensive than less healthy food.
6) I have concerns about the issue of responsibility. Many many schools and teachers do a fantastic job of this already. I do believe that schools should offer healthy canteen options only (as is supposed to be being done here now), offer education about healthy eating and offer sports at children’s level (these are all in the curriculum now). I do think though that parents are the best people to encourage this behaviour from a very early age. They are their children’s first educators!
Hope I haven’t waffled too much. I could go on and on! Lol!
Kas
Enjoyed watching some of
your videos. Thanks.
I like going to the gym.
Trying to make exercise a
part of my day. My favorite
machine is the Cross Trainer.
Is that the right name?
Also added you to “Blogs to Read”
on my site. Is that O.K.??
Keep in touch,
Elizabeth G.
http://booktestonlinecom.blogspot.com
http://BookTestOnline.com