Last week I wrote a blog regarding National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month with resources on how to encourage your children to become more active while pursuing a healthy lifestyle. But if you are at a loss as to what you can do to motivate your children, Nickelodeon, a network geared toward kids, has joined forces with the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA) Challenge by proclaiming September 24th as Worldwide Day of Play. For three hours on this day, the Nickelodeon network will turn off all programming to encourage kids to get out and play, be active and have fun. The Presidential Active Lifestyle Award Challenge is a pledge kids take to help motivatie them to get in 60 minutes of activity at least five days a week for six out of the eight weeks the pledge takes place. Activities include everything from walking the dog, riding a bike, rock climbing, taking up a new sport, even playing hide-and-go-seek with friends will count towards this goal. All this is in hopes that these kids will continue to pursue an active lifestyle well beyond the pledge period. Click on this link to download the pledge sheet so that your kids can track their daily activities. By posting this pledge sheet for all to see, these kids may just inspire others in the family to join in on the fun. At the end of the pledge period your kids will be given the opportunity to "share their accomplishment with Nick to receive digital rewards and a PALA certificate of accomplishment." In October 2007 the National Football League launched their NFL Play 60 program to help tackle the childhood obesity epidemic while encouraging kids to get in at least 60 minutes of activity a day. Their Play 60 website is a fun interactive way for kids to learn about health and fitness while pledging to become more active. In this day and age where our kids are exposed to a multitude of media options from the computer, to smart phones to interactive games, having programs such as the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award pledge along with the NFL Play 60 pledge encourage kids to step away from the TV and computer. The goal is to help them become more active and these programs may be just what it will take to change the course our kids are on. I am all for doing whatever it takes to encourage this generation to turn off the TV, computer and gaming systems to head outside for some fun and games, even if that means they are getting in a little exercise totally oblivious to the fact that you can be active and have fun at the same time. Will you be celebrating Worldwide Day of Play with your children on September 24th? Do you think these types of activities encourage kids to become more active? What kind of activities do you have in mind to do this day with your kids? |
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