Many of you know that I serve as a mentor to "younger" trainers. I recently received an email that got me thinking. First, let me share the email and then my thoughts.
"Larry…I decided at the age of 46 to become a trainer. As I got to the written portion of my practice exam, one of the Essay questions was to research and write about Childhood Obesity.
I googled Childhood Obesity thinking there could not be much out there to choose from. What I found literally broke my heart. The Washington Post ran a headline: "Obesity threatens a Generation" Stated in the Post article was a line that struck me and should strike every parent reading it. "Young bodies are much more vulnerable to the toxic effects of fat." Wikipedia even has an entry for Childhood Obesity! Describing it as "A condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child's health or well being." According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 percent of children (over 9 million) 6-19 years old are overweight or obese — a number that has TRIPLED since 1980.
In addition to the 16 percent of children and teens ages 6 to 19 who were overweight in 1999-2002, another 15 percent were considered at risk of becoming overweight. Overweight Adolescents have a 70 % Chance of being overweight or obese adults. The one aspect of Childhood Obesity that I never even considered was the social aspect. We all know children can be ridiculed by others that aren't like them. Do you think I am trying to scare you? I am. You are their only hope.
Okay, enough of the scariness—let's fix it! As I searched for the right way to get children up and at it, the answer was at my fingertips the entire time. One of my favorite cardio DVD's is Hip, Hop Abs. What do you think?"
I like to think that everyone who reads this blog is as busy as I am this holiday season. While Hanukkah Hysteria is, far more benign than Christmas CHAOS it's a big ole time suck a lot of time & effort none the less.
I appreciate you dropping by and reading this post so as a reward; I'll make an effort to be brief. Her email started me thinking not just about kids & exercise, but about adults & how we role model. And then I started pondering the concept of RESPECT.
Respect isn't often a word I often associate with exercise.
In my world, dealing with a 12 year old it usually used more in reference tone of voice or poor word choices. Respect is a word kids hear often and yet it often *isn't* what we model for them in the realm of fitness & health.
Sure, we model the please & thank you niceties, but how many of us respect our bodies in front of our children or grandchildren?
(Want to sit with that for a moment to see if it resonates with you?)
We (the royal. the plural.) talk at them about the importance of respect while, simultaneously, we disrespect our bodies with poor food choices & not making time in our day to exercise.
I know for me the notion of BODY AS TEMPLE isn't one I've spent much time mulling. Yet that concept melds perfectly with the idea of conveying bodily-respect to our children / spouses / partners *wordlessly* through our behaviors.
So tell me what you think, has the Mexican completely lost his mind with this post or does the notion of leading by example through respecting one's body give you a JOLT! as well?
Children-filled or child-free I long to know. Please to hit us all up in the comments.
Til next time…
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