Thanks for stopping by for a visit. I've a mission to see every child is introduced to fitness, and that it's done in a positive and fun way. In my experience this is not happening that often. I've a couple of positions on this, sometimes controversial but my thoughts none-the-less.

1. Too often kids are introduced to fitness in the form of a test, like the Presidents Council on Physical Fitness Test where 57% of the the kids who took the test, failed. Can a child really fail fitness? While an adult knows this is just a test, I don't believe a child who has been told they failed in front of their classmates would understand, is this a positive fitness experience? Do you have a positive or embarrassing memory of taking that test?
2. Sports are not an exercise program. A child can be poor or just plain bad at sports, however they can't be bad at exercise. Many kids are genetically predisposed to athletics, many are not. Let's not tell our kids that baseball, basketball, or any sport is an exercise program, many will fail and that may become their life long impression of exercise.
3. We cannot expect parents to be the leader when it comes to children's fitness. It's disappointing when I read an article or see a "expert" on TV telling parents to get out and exercise with their kids. While this would be wonderful if it happened, the fact is less than half of adults in this country do anything that's of any good for them physically. This study classifies gardening as an exercise program, while gardening is a moderate exercise I don't believe we should be teaching our kids that.
4. A real fitness program must meet the F.I.T.T. Principal. the program must have frequency ( 3 or more times a week, every week), intensity (it must elevate your heart rate into an aerobic target zone if it's cardio, target a muscle if it's strenght, etc.), Type ( a type of exercise to improve one's fitness) and time (it must be done for for a period of time long enough to improve your fitness level).
5. For children, it must be fun. Now, the Wi-Fit is fun as is Dance Dance Revolution, however, can we really expect children to use those products 3 to 5 times week at an intensity level that's beneficial for a specific period of time. My experience with kids and games is they will get tired of them, we don't want kids to relate exercise as something you get tired or bored with, do we?

I admit I'm an idealist and these concepts are idealistic. I believe we can all agree that if every child were to exercise based on these principles every day the next generation would not be projected to be the first in our country's history to have a shorter live expectancy that the previous one.

What's my solution you ask? Demand the people we pay to care for or teach our children provide children exercise every day. Fitness needs to be in every preschool, elementary, middle and high school, and those schools need to see that children exercise every day. I've been lambasted for this position in the past and fully expect it to happen again. Truth is, it's not that difficult to introduce fitness to kids is schools every day and can be done with little on no money.

Elementary School teachers can download the classroom fitness activities from my foundation website for free, for use in their classroom. One of the activities is"Flex and Spell" it is used in the spelling class where kids take pencils and do curls, squats and other exercises in reps targeting different muscle groups. In schools where teachers have used this program we're told the academic scores were up across the board.

We've published the Patch Fitness Training manual for Kids that can be purchased on my website (http://www.therapyzone.com/) for only$14.95 in a download that includes over 50 exercise you can do in the gym, on the playground. It's over 70 pages of great fitness ideas and exercises the kids love like, stork walks, alligators, crabs and bear crawls. Exercises that provide the functional, bio-motor development that helps kids improve alignment, balance, agility, strenght, and speed. No equipment is needed and anyone can lead a class with the Patch Program. We've have schools using the program who have the students lead the class to develop leadership skills. Parents, you can use this program with your kids and it will do for you what it does for your kids. The Patch program can also be done on our Indoor Obstacle Course for more challenge and fun. Here's a video of the Course in action.

Check back often, we've more free programing information and tips to share over the weeks and months to come. I would love to hear your thoughts and feeling on the subject also.