If you tell a child they can't watch their favorite TV show unless they go outside and play, then they spend less time being sedentary and get more exercise. Recent research seeks to remind parents that they can motivate their children to be more active using a reward system, as a way to curb the current childhood obesity epidemic.According to the study, overweight children who were not allowed to watch TV and play video games unless they exercised were 65 percent more active. Practice of this household rule also cut their TV time by over two-thirds, from three hours a day to only 45 minutes. In addition, the overweight children also snacked less. Imagine-- if overweight children had a reason to exercise, such as the reward of TV time, AND parents set eating rules (see recent study)-- there may not be any more obese children-- as well as less future adults with heart problems.
1. I'm sorry, but I hardly consider this news! So parents who do their job can make their children healthier? Wow! What a concept!
Sorry for sounding so trollish, but I think a lot of the world's problems could be significantly reduced if parents played their part.
Posted at 11:26AM on Jul 14th 2006 by Andrew Breza