Mercy Children's Hospital

Kohl's Kids In Action
Help Your Child Stay Active

60 Minutes of Physical Activity Daily
Looking for an inexpensive activity to do with your family? Looking for quality time  with your kids? Looking for a healthy way to relax while your children burn off all that extra energy? Try a family walk!

Children love personal attention and walking often will provide that opportunity.
A family walk provides children and adults time to talk about their day, vent frustrations, or just hold hands. Preschoolers may enjoy riding a bike or tricycle while parents walk.  Remember children and teens should participate in 60 minutes of physical activity most days of the week!

The health benefits of regular activity such as walking:

• Improves cholesterol levels
• Lowers blood pressure
• Lowers blood sugar and decreases risk of diabetes
• Helps with weight management
• Improves mood
• Keeps you strong and fit

Where to walk? The park, the mall, the art museum, the zoo and college campuses are all large spaces designed for pedestrians.

Make it fun! Be creative! Watch this fun YouTube video on how one company got people to use the stairs instead of the escalator!
 

Screen Time Doctors recommend that children and teens spend no more than two hours of screen time a day. This includes computer time, video-game time, television and movies. Why? Because sitting in front of a TV means kids are not being active and they're not burning calories as quickly. Plus, if they eat in front of a screen they are adding extra calories and the commercials about food are usually not healthy food selections.

So here's what is recommended: 2 hours of screen time… OR LESS.  Allow children to watch only the shows that they like and will teach them something healthy. If they are channel surfing or watching reruns, they should find something else to do.