How Indoor Playgounds May Help Keep Your Child Healthy
Copyright (c) 2011 maud Business Solutions Ltd
If you have never considered the Indoor Playground beneficial for our children's future, then it is worth taking the time to peruse this article. Childhood obesity is common in the news these days and a bad start during early development has been scientifically proven to impact on health as an adult. Obesity prevention should be instigated from birth to ward off the likelihood of chronic and cardiovascular disease and diabeties later on.
Part of the obesity problem we keep hearing about in the news must surely stem from the fact that our physical bodies are not much changed from when we were created a long, long time ago and yet huge leaps in modern technology and modern food sources force these bodies to live on what is essentially now a foreign planet.
For example, consider a 5 year old partaking of cereal and milk for breakfast, a cheese sandwich for lunch and venison stew for dinner. Generations back (when obesity was rare) the cereal would have been locally grown (no option of chocolate flavour or a pop tart instead) and the milk probably from the family cow (no flavourings, additives, preservatives, growth hormones, additional salt or sugar.) The cheese sandwich would have been made from wholegrain and homemade bread (locally grown grain with no additions as above,) for the cheese, please see the family cow. The venison stew would have been padded out with as many locally available vegetables as possible.
Added to the necessarily organic approach to food, the 5 year old probably had a hand in picking the wheat or grinding the flour, milking the cow, making the cheese, collecting the vegetables and would also have played a part in hunting the deer / dragging it back / skinning it. Physically, this 5 year old will have worked in order to sate his hunger. Furthermore, lacking books, electronic toys, digital entertainments or a vehicle to be driven around in, he would have spent his leisure time outside running around and physically playing with his friends.
Our current 5 year old would perhaps have carried the milk carton from the fridge to the table and poured his own cereal from the box, but most likely that would be the full extent of his involvement. The majority of modern homeowners have no time to produce their own food, but are able to purchase it from lands far, far away - full of things that make it taste and look better, things that make it last longer and things that chemically enhance the size of the base product.
Lucky enough to live in an electronic era, our 5 year old wouldn't have to run around to keep warm and would most likely have spent a significant portion of his day sitting down absorbed by digital entertainment.
It is easy then to understand how the tendency of our modern bodies towards obesity begins in childhood. The eating and exercise habits of humans necessarily conform to the pressures, benefits and detriments of our lives.
Its just the way it is. So how on earth can we address early childhood obesity and sedentary behaviours? Firstly, the better we eat then the better they will eat (as they eat with us and learn eating behaviours from us.) The easiest way to eat better is to avoid all pre made and packaged foods and instead prepare meals from fresh foods.
According to the Institute of Medicine, toddlers and pre-schoolers should be limited to sedentary activities lasting no longer than half an hour at any one time. They should be encouraged to be physically active throughout the day and to sleep enough because a lack of sleep is a factor in obesity.
For those of us that don't have access to a backyard or local playground or a spare room for a playroom, encouraging active children is just asking to have the house torn apart around us. So, for those children without an adequate indoor play environment, there is the indoor playground.
These amazing places provide safe, stimulating and engaging environments for your child with playthings too expensive or large for the average household. They also provide lots of new and similar age playmates for your child plus other mums for you to interact with. Best of all, once your child is worn out from all the physical exercise and ready to get the prescribed amount of sleep - you can leave all the tidying up behind for someone else!
About the Author
Based in Christchurch, New Zealand, Sara Leadbetter is a Business Advisor specialising in Internet Marketing. She works with Indoor Playgounds and Childrens Birthday Party Venues across New Zealand. This article is written with regard to her work with http://www.ellerslie.lollipopsplayland.co.nz/ Contact Lollipops Playland Ellerslie for more information.
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