Kids Exercise Programs

Kids Exercise is a well established Northern Beaches business, run by Sue Cutbill, a mother of 3 very active young boys. We were very proud to have been a finalist in the Children's Services section of the awards.

Over the years Kids Exercise has expanded and now offers the following programs:

Hippity Hop - gross motor programs for Preschool children 2½ - 5 +
Funfit - group fitness class for children
Kids party entertainment
Corporate/team building entertainment
Active holiday programs in the grounds of Forestville Public School

On a daily basis, as parents, we are bombarded by facts and figures concerning the child obesity epidemic. What does the term being obese mean? Being classified obese indicates that a person has too much body fat.

From the recent course I have done on Preventing Pediatric Obesity - the one point that keeps ringing in my head is "No one needs to start out life with self esteem issues and social inequalities. However, that is exactly what obese children can look forward to each year they grow older"

It is true that you don't have to look very far to find a child who is either already carrying too much weight or shows signs of heading down that path. However depressing this subject is, the good news is that the majority of the causes of obesity can be controlled through changes in lifestyle.

As a parent, I understand how confusing the whole issue is and we might think we are feeding our children in a healthy way, but so many foods these days are full of hidden nasties.

Things have changed so much since I was child, which was really not that long ago.

To begin with we now have physical activity competing against computers, computer games, wii's, portable hand-held players, dvd's to name just a few. No wonder our kids just are not getting enough of the great outdoors. We also have easy access to take away foods, snack foods, pre-packaged foods which are loaded with salt, sugar and fat.

Obesity is not a simple issue, but to be put very simply putting on weight is an imbalance between what goes in and how much we do. Tests have proved that we tend to underestimate what we eat and over estimate how much exercise we do.

If you see the signs in your young child, don't leave it until they are older to intervene. Preventative measures should begin as early as possible.

It is widespread belief now is that intervention needs to start during the early years when children are setting behavioral routines, forming attitudes and are generally more receptive to building healthy habits, instead of changing unhealthy ones.

For some simple changes to make straight away
- limiting access to fizzy drinks and juices both of which are full of sugar.
- Cut down on kids snacks - offer a piece of fruit or a sandwich - is lots of the snack bars available are full of fat and sugar.
- Try and cut down on take away, pre-packaged food and do not let your children snack whilst they are watching TV.
- Use multi-grain or wholemeal bread.
- Remove the skin on chicken before eating, trim fat off meat.
- Make sure your children do not skip meals, especially breakfast - this slows down the metabolism.

Send your kids outside in the afternoon to play, ride a bike or get on a skateboard. Make sure your children do regular aerobic exercise - the best way to describe this is exercise that makes them puffy.

Take a look at the website www.kidzexercise.com.au