Unfortunately, childhood obesity has become an epidemic that is becoming more serious by the day.

During the day, schools focus on academics, as they should, but the days of playground recesses are fading. Usually, this is the result of staff and volunteer shortages.

If schools have physical education classes once a week, it is a blessing, as funding has diminished drastically over the past several years for this “extra” activity.

With either single parent families or both parents out at work, children are either going to after school programs with no real physical activity components or are latchkey kids who go home to the television or video games.

Gone are the days where it was safe to let the kids play outside in the neighborhood because they could always run to a neighbor’s house if they needed something and parents had to run a few errands.

The problem with this is that the lack of physical activity has brought on the obesity. Kids are normally active, but it’s difficult to do that when they can’t be outside every day playing.

Organized sports are great, but only take up a few hours a week. In order to grow properly, kids need a few hours of physical activity every day, not just the weekends.

Take all of the above and add exhausted parents who see fast food as their only option and it is no wonder that children are getting heavier.

There is no easy fix for this problem. It definitely takes a huge effort that the whole family has to engage in, but the results are worth it, both now and in the long run.

1. Cooking does not have to be an elaborate meal every night. Salads with hard boiled eggs, cheese, slices of chicken or fat-free ham and chick peas are both nutritious and filling. Serve with whole grain bread with fruit and a hard cheese for dessert.
2. Try cooking a couple of entrees over the weekend that will feed the crew for a couple of nights each, then alternate them.
3. Make your crock pot your new best friend. Either prepare the ingredients the night before or that morning; throw them in the crock pot and voila! Not only does the house smell yummy when everyone gets home, but a good hot meal is ready!
4. When the kids come home, it’s important that they have healthy snacks available. Divide servings up into baggies so that they learn what a serving really is. Be creative with the snacks. Pretzels are not necessarily junk food. Read the labels and teach the kids to do the same.
5. Instead of plopping on the sofa after dinner, why not go for a family walk or bike ride? In inclement weather, pop in an exercise tape or simply dance to the music on the radio. Make exercise fun and the kids will have fun too!
6. Even housecleaning can be exercise. Have each child do an active chore before parents get home each day. This can be vacuuming, dusting cobwebs out of the corners, washing out the tub, whatever is age appropriate and will stretch those growing muscles! Besides the benefit of exercise, parents will have less cleaning to do on the weekend! THAT’s a real bonus!