Welcome to the category of my blog simply called ‘Healthy Tips.’ Many times, when I write articles for various publications, I need to find sources for the story as seen in Yahoo Shine (click here) or PBS (click here) about staying healthy. I was looking for experts and non-experts to chime in and give their favorite ‘tips’ to help kids and adults lead a healthy lifestyle.

The feedback for various stories was amazing. The sources had some fantastic points of view that could not be ignored, and I thought their opinions should be viewed on the Your Health Journal web site.

So, enjoy my new series, with some ‘great’ insight from some ‘great’ people giving exceptional and educational points of view.

We go out of our way to buy medications for our kids and take them to the doctors to make sure they are well and healthy. But then we don’t do any physical activity or exercise with them. That just doesn’t make sense.

It’s important for families to exercise together. Parents are role models in everything they do for their children. The children are going to follow in their parents’ footsteps. They need to see that their parents are physically active and enjoying it. Parents should make an effort to participate in activities that are appropriate and also enjoyable for the children.

Last Saturday there was nothing going on in the morning and I said let’s take a family walk. We walked and jogged down the street past the church and through the woods. We took a football and threw it back and forth. When my son got tired, I let him climb on my back and we ran together that way. At the end of the driveway, I did squats with him on my back like an 80- pound sack of potatoes and he loved every minute of it! Something that simple is exercising together. It took us about an hour and a half.

According to the national recommended guidelines on physical activity, chidren should be doing 60 minutes a day of moderate-intensity exercise. Moderate intensity means they’ve got to be somewhat breathless. I was working hard to get my kids to that level. That’s our job as parents. To get a maximum benefit out of any activity you might as well push harder to get the intensity to where it needs to be.

You have to find out what the kids enjoy. If it’s swimming, try taking them to the pool on a Saturday morning. If it’s bike riding, find some trails. You need to make time for exercise and it needs to be planned. It can be ad lib but to develop a truly effective program of physical activity, you’re going to have to plan it out. Talk with your children and find out what their interests are. Switch up what you do and make it exciting.

My son had been watching “American Ninja Warrior” on TV and was really into it. I told him if he wanted to be a ninja, he needed to be strong. We set up a little obstacle course in the backyard with whatever I could find so he could train. He had to drop down and do ten pushups, followed by ten squats. He had to walk down the curb for balance and sprint back up the driveway. I used that idea with different activities for three months with him until he got bored and it was time to find something else.

You can use TV as a jumping off point, but overall, limit the TV and video games. My kids don’t have a Nintendo DS or PlayStation. We don’t let them watch TV on weeknights. When they watch TV on weekends, it’s a treat for them.

If you want to get your kids on a good program of physical activity, you as a parent have to be committed to it first before your children. It starts with the parent. You might not always think of including your children in exercise if they can’t keep up with you. It doesn’t need to be elaborate – walk down to a park or a field after dinner and kick a soccer ball instead of immediately doing the dishes. One important way to care about your kids is to find the time to exercise. Make it a priority for their health and wellness, and for your own.

– Dr. Tim Fox, Fox Rehab – Fox Kids