Organized sports may not be the best option for your young child, especially if you’re counting on that organized sport to be all the exercise your child needs throughout the week, says Dr. Teri McCambridge, chairperson of the Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness for the American Academy of Pediatrics. “There is too much focus on doing sports and not enough focus on moving.” Dr. McCambridge notes that simple play at the playground can do just as much, if not more, good than participating in an organized sport, because the child is in more constant motion, and is getting a work-out instead of standing and learning a position on the field.
Making exercise fun for your kids is key in Dr. McCambridge’s mind. “don’t make it seem like exercise.” Your kids will love a day running around at the park and won’t even know they’re getting exercise. You can make healthy living even more fun for your kids by allowing them to pick healthy snack options from fresh vending. The snacks and liquids in fresh healthy vending are chosen because of their healthful values, so you can give your children the option of picking from fresh vending without having to worry about them picking the candy bar.
Another reason to love fresh vending is the fact that many vending machines in schools are being replaced with fresh healthy vending. You can send an extra dollar with your child to make a snack purchase at a fresh healthy vending machine without having to worry about what they will buy. Making personal food choices will also boost your child’s esteem and confidence, providing extra incentive to try out the new vending machines. From healthy granola bars to apple crisps, these fresh vending machines dish up the “good stuff.”
By using fresh vending machines in schools and elsewhere and engaging your children in fun activities that will challenge their skills and give them a full work-out, you can improve your child’s physical fitness without enrolling them in expensive organized sports teams where they will only spend fifteen minutes of the forty-five minute session actually exercising. Kids love to play, so let them enjoy their childhood and do what they do best. You’ll also find it a lot more relaxing for yourself since you won’t have to be driving them to practices all week, and you may even get some exercise yourself by making an effort to become involved in your child’s games.