Playtime As the Weather Gets Colder
Kids Playtime Changes with the Seasons
Autumn is upon us. It is a favorite time of year for me. Beautiful tree colors, crisp clean air, and back to school friendships and activities. Whether you live in the eastern or western U.S., it is still warm enough for the kids to play outside.
What are your favorite childhood autumn memories? Mine are of playing touch football and tag with the neighborhood kids. It is more important than ever to make sure our kids are running around to play. There are so many more sedentary games, computers, play stations, and handheld electronics that keep their hands busy. What about their large muscles?
Parents in the cold weather states have a few more snow-free months for daily outdoor playtime. Do you have a plan for midwinter physical activity for you kids? We, at KidExerciser, believe that parents must play an active role in creating healthy habits in our kids’ lives. We know there are a variety of activities that can fit the job. What is most important is to choose an activity that the child wants to do on a regular basis.
If you had to guess just one activity that nearly every child does almost every day, what would you choose? TV watching is such a common denominator in kids’ lives that it launched a brain-storm in one mom’s mind. How about combining TV viewing with exercising? The result is 123GoTV by KidExerciser, a unique exercise product that uses your child’s own bicycle to control the TV in your home. When your child pedals his bike, the TV plays. Stop pedaling, and the TV screen pauses. It incorporates the reward directly into the exercise process.
Your family room can easily become a fitness space for your kids.
Learn more about it at KidExerciser.com.
You may follow us on Facebook to read more about child health and fitness activities from a number of great sources.
TV or Not TV? Not The Question Anymore Thanks to 123GoTV
Every fall since our son began elementary school, we have had the important decision to make about how much TV he should watch, especially on school nights.
Some parents set the bar at no TV at all during the week. That’s pretty strict, and effortful to enforce.
Others, like us, employed the rule: Homework first, then TV. That seemed fair, but it didn’t quite answer our question, and we were frustrated. We wanted out of the yearly TV struggle. That’s why we created 123GoTV by KidExerciser, a kids’ fitness idea that uses your child’s own bike to control the TV feed in your home.
It’s simple. Kids pedal their own bike, while it is held stationary on the 123GoTV, in front of a TV set. An RF signal is generated by the turning wheel of the bike. A receiver attached to the TV controls the picture. Pedal and the TV program plays. Stop pedaling and the program stops.
At our home, we turned 123GoTV into a game, to see how long our son could keep his shows going without a break. When his friends came over, they would sometimes fight over who got to ride the bike, while everybody else enjoyed the shows. We even used it for long form DVD viewing. Of course, we don’t leave the device hooked up around the clock. After an alloted time, we just flip a switch and normal TV viewing is restored. It’s the perfect combination of fitness and fun.
The Physical Activity Guidelines suggest a minimum of one hour of daily exercise for kids. Exercise can decrease stress levels and increase focus. Biking is an activity that kids enjoy. They already have an attachment to their bikes. Connecting biking with TV watching is an easy and fun way to increase your child’s activity level without the arguments that often accompany TV watching.
123GoTV can help you start the school year off with a routine of TV and exercise that can be sustained without a struggle, to help your kids do their best.
Isn’t that what we all want for our kids?
Teaching Fitness to Our Kids
It is as easy as 123GoTV
Teaching Fitness to Our Kids
Kids learn habits from a young age. They learn from experience and bring these experiences with them into adulthood. Two generations ago, parents didn’t have as much responsibility for teaching their kids about nutrition and exercise. Food was less processed and kids walked, rode bikes, and spent more time outside.
The changes over the years have produced some startling results. Rates for High Blood Pressure and Type 2 Diabetes (very preventable diseases) have skyrocketed, and the increases have been caused by increased calorie consumption and decreased amount of time physically moving around. Younger and younger kids are affected by sedentary games and increased consumption of processed foods.
Adults, both men and women, are joining gyms, taking Zumba and yoga classes and are seeking ways to self-monitor and balance fitness into our lifestyles. What are we doing for our kids?
We, at KidExerciser, are aware that kids today have schedules as chock full as our own. We know that you may not have the time to make sure your kids get the prescribed one hour of exercise every day. We have created a kid-friendly exerciser that turns your kid’s own bike into an indoor exercise bicycle that actually controls the TV feed in your family room. That’s right; with 123GoTV your kids can be pedaling their bikes while watching their favorite TV show (that they will probably watch anyway). Wouldn’t you rather see that your kids are learning healthy behaviors when they are young? It can be a lesson that will last them a lifetime!
Make 123GoTV part of YOUR Plan for Your Kid’s Health & Wellness!
123GoTV
The National Prevention Council, a body of the Office of the Surgeon General, recently created a plan, entitled the National Prevention Strategy to improve the health of Americans of all ages.
Key Facts behind the NPC’s new plan:
- Less than 4% of elementary schools, 8% of middle schools, and 2% of high schools provide opportunities for daily physical education.
- 80% of adolescents do not meet the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.
- The average 8 to 18 year old is exposed to nearly 7.5 hours of passive, screen time every day (e.g. TV, videos, computers, smart phones, video games).
- 33% of youth watch 3 hours or more of TV daily; only 18% are physically active daily.
“Engaging in regular physical activity is one of the most important things that people of all ages can do to improve their health. Physical activity strengthens bones and muscles, reduces stress and depression, and makes it easier to maintain a healthy body weight or to reduce weight if overweight or obese.” The Physical Activity Guidelines for America recommend at least 1 hour of daily exercise for children and teenagers.
How Can You Accomplish This Goal With Your Own Children?
We have the answer! 123GoTV. Our innovative Bike TV Controller is designed to be the part of a regular kid’s fitness plan…and it can be done at home! Just place your kid’s bicycle into the stand we provide, connect it up to your TV and the bike takes control of the TV signal. Pedal and the TV plays. Stop pedaling, and the TV goes blank.
(Don’t worry; you can easily go back to regular TV viewing with the flick of a switch.)
Biking while watching TV can be a fun & easy way of increasing the activity levels of your kids. Unlike the Wii and Xbox, you will not have to continually purchase new games or costly equipment. 123GoTV uses your child’s own bicycle to play the shows he or she is already eager to watch, and it can be used in summer and winter, rain or shine.
Can A Healthy Family Lifestyle Be Fun?
123GoTV
It’s As Easy as 123GoTV
Have you ever wondered why the fast and packaged food industry keeps on getting larger, as we keep on getting larger, as well? I believe the pace of our lives seems to require instant, microwavable food, or take out. Most families have more than one person working. Everyone has got a heavy workload, including the kids.
Our lives are busy, busy, busy, and can we really be blamed for being tempted by high tech ads everywhere we look, as are our kids? And, snack foods and fast foods are tasty, with lots of what is often referred to as “empty calories” that don’t add much nutrition, but do add lots to our families’ waistlines and poor health.
The other part of the health equation is some regular exercise. The exercise doesn’t even need to be complicated or fancy. Some programs have discussed walking, on a regular basis, as an excellent way to maintain fitness. But how many of us have the time to walk very far, particularly busy families with kids?
Exercise for your kids-What to do about it?
I am going to start with the exercise piece, because it seems, perhaps, more out of reach. It seems like it has to be expensive, time-consuming, and involve some program outside the home. Don’t get me wrong. Organized sports are wonderful for many kids and families, and many do participate. But, how about everyone else? Is fitness out of reach for your kids? In our fast-paced world, are we looking for an instant or take out exercise program? I think so, and we at Kidexerciser, Inc. have invented and manufactured a kids’ fitness product, 123GoTV that uses your child’s own bike and your family’s TV. If your kids are anything like mine, they watch TV anyway. What if your child needed to pedal his bike in order to see his program? He probably would. The TV is a built-in, ever changing set of programs that does not require expensive game cartridges, like the Wii or XBox, to keep him interested, and your kids can get fit, right at home, while you are completing all of your daily chores.
How about instant food, does it have to be unhealthy?
Some fresh foods are fast and tasty, as well. They just aren’t advertised to us that way, because no one is earning much money putting them into a colorfully labeled box. What food items could I possibly be speaking about? My son’s favorites are fruits, cut in bite-sized pieces or whole. Our family enjoys apples, bananas, melons, and peaches in the summer (my own personal favorite). These are just a few examples of healthy fast food. Veggies such as baby carrots, tomatoes, red pepper, and celery can also be eaten on the go, with or without something to dip them into. All that this requires is for us to think outside the box, the snack food box, that is.
Thanks for listening.
Liz Mullen
