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Above Average Health Habits
Encouraging Your Preteen to Get Fit
By Lisa A. Goldstein
Hailey Loeffler walks about half a mile to school and back, except in the winter. Even then, she'll walk on occasion. She took two dance classes in the fall and stopped when hockey started up. Soon, she'll be running track. She skis. In the first half of the summer, she rides her bike about two miles to town to take a theater class. After class, the kids usually go to the river to swim – about a mile bike ride. The second half of the summer, she spends in an intensive dance program. Loeffler even placed third in a bike race three summers ago, competing against women three times her age. Whew! Believe it or not, Loeffler, who lives in Colorado, is only 11 years old.
The average day for a preteen – 9-12 years old – is much more sedentary than the average day for kids like Loeffler. According to "America's Healthiest Mom," Jyl Steinback, a personal trainer and health expert, kids watch too much TV and play too many video games. Plus, the average school day is void of physical activity. "[There's] too much sitting around," she says.
Preteens balance on a precipice between childhood and adulthood. They also flirt with obesity, and now is the time to act. Steinback cites a 54 percent increase in obesity in children ages 6-11 over the past 20 years – and this is a conservative estimate. Physical activity declines with age, and because less than 30 percent of elementary and middle school students have daily physical education classes, parents have to step in and encourage healthy trends in their preteens.