Sitting is The New Smoking: Get Up Off Your Seat!

By: Jenn Ripepi, MD, Choosy Pediatrician

You may have heard that "sitting is the new smoking" in the last few years. What is meant by this is that sitting for long periods is bad for our health in many ways. We are meant to move and do it frequently. So what does this mean for our children and their futures?

Sitting decreases our need to breathe deeply, to have our muscles contract and demand increased blood flow. That is the opposite of aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise is the kind that improves your blood flow and helps to prevent plugged arteries. When we walk, run, swim, and bike or do other activities which get us to breathe harder and our hearts to pump faster, it helps to keep our arteries clear. When we sit we are not using our muscles and letting our blood vessels keep opened up as much as when we move. Over time, that that adds up.

Sit Up Straight

Teaching children to have good posture is important, especially in the pre-school years. Children grow at a rapid pace during their first four years of life and there is an increase in postural responses. It then regresses until adult postural reflexes are reached sometime between 7-10 years of age. So as professionals see it, the most “training”, or using correct sitting/standing positions in static posture and its dynamic reflexes occurs during the early pre-school years of life.

Our overall posture is affected by sitting for long periods. We tend to let our heads drop and that in turn leads our shoulders to hunch forward and our lower backs to curve forward. Our core muscles in our abdomen and lower back get weak. We end up with lower back problems and the whole host of other spinal problems like headaches. For our children who have developing skeletons this is a stress that may force their posture to be permanently impacted. That leads me to the next point.

Build Strong Bones

Strong bones are built not just from calcium and phosphorus but by being used. We have learned from the astronauts in space for long periods that their bone mass decreases when they are out of Earth's gravity. That led others to look at what happens here on the Earth's surface in a number of situations. People have more bone mass when they are physically working against gravity in what we refer to as weight-bearing exercise. That means walking, running, jumping, climbing---moving your body against the Earth's gravitational pull. If children are not moving, they are not building the strong bones to carry them through their lifetimes.

Muscles Matter

Muscles are meant to be used! Our bodies have been built for walking, running, climbing and jumping. If we don't use our muscles, they tend to become weak. Weak muscles can be built up but it takes a lot more work to build strong muscles when someone has not been used to using them. Ask anyone who has gone through physical therapy after an injury and a period of rest. They likely will tell you it was difficult to get started but got easier as their therapy progressed.

Get Moving!

You wouldn’t believe how often I heard in my practice as a pediatrician that kids are tired all the time! Then I'd ask what they "did" all day and they'd answer that they spent most of their time sitting! Not really "doing" anything! They were bored! Our minds need physical as well as mental stimulation. 

A few years ago I read a study about recess in schools and children's performance. Children who had recess with active free play did better in afternoon classes and with their behaviors than children who did not have that opportunity. Children are in classrooms for hours and are kept sitting for that time. They sit on the bus. They sit to do homework. Then many sit in front of a television or video games or other device when they get home. And don’t forget, when they are sitting, they should be at least practicing proper posture or they may have issues down the road.

What Can We Do As Child Advocates?

It is important to help young children learn that when their heart beats faster because they are moving, it is actually healthy and good for them. Help them identify if their heart is "resting," happy, or very happy based on sensing their heart rate. Continue to reinforce the idea of happy, healthy hearts for the entire family. Make everyone’s hearts happy in your family and engage in active movement together. 

At home, keep active not only to help your children but to help yourself. Less screen time and more active time as a family. If you and your children are watching a television show or engaging in technology of some kid, have frequent movement breaks to encourage blood flow and muscle use. 

Music is also a great tool to get our hearts beating. There are many different types of music that enable children to expand upon their listening horizons, imaginations and movements. Allow your children to listen to a variety of music and dance and sing along with them.

When you are on the go, free play outside stimulates big movements and strength and allows children to explore their surroundings. The fresh air and open spaces allow those big, deep breaths we need to keep up with our bodies' demand for oxygen. 

When children are required to sit in school, ask the teachers how they build movement into their lessons. Ask how recess is spent during inclement weather and advocate for active play indoors in a large open space when possible, if the students cannot go outside frequently. (You may be able to let the educators know that they'll have more alert and better behaved children when they allow recess.) 

Try to observe how long children sit when you are with them. A little activity break during homework time can help their concentration. Additionally, try to avoid the command to sit still except when it is really needed (like mealtimes, religious services, haircuts, etc). As we as a society begin to relearn that we are meant to move frequently, we can let our children lead us naturally in movement. All we have to do is follow their lead!

How do you help your children stay active and moving, rather than sitting all day? 

About the Author: I have been a pediatrician for over 25 years. My husband and I have been privileged to raise 4 bright and healthy children. I have tried to gather wisdom from the families I have been blessed to meet during my journey. I believe in practical and flexible parenting to help raise healthy adults. I love to garden, hike, travel and cook and I am looking forward to hearing from Choosy followers.

The Empty Space Club

By: Dr. Linda Carson

It’s back to school time and my thoughts turn to young children adjusting to new environments, routines, and faces. It can be exhilarating for some and frightening for others. Even play time can test a child’s enthusiasm and eagerness.

Almost all young children love to move around, and given a little bit of open space, moving may change to galloping or running. We have all watched and winced as our youngest children collide with coffee tables, chairs, playground equipment, and of course, other children. Have you ever wondered how children actually learn to control their movements, or how we can help them become more skillful movers?

Space awareness has complex components, but in simple terms for home practice, space awareness is:

Knowledge about space, and how I use and manage my body in relation to objects, obstacles, and other movers.

For decades, preschool children have been introduced to sitting or standing on a carpet to define the place (or space) that belongs to them. And many teachers have children return to their place after doing an activity somewhere else. Most teachers call this place “personal” space or “self” space.

But space awareness is more than a spot on the floor or carpet. Young children need lots of practice time for learning about locations in space (up-down, high-low, on top-below, over-under, in front of front –behind, etc.) and judging distance. From a child’s perspective, if my self-space is how much room my body needs in my “place,” what happens when I start moving around the room or play yard in something called shared space? It can be a bit challenging but we can help children learn that they take their self-space with them into shared space…and so does everyone else! And now, the familiar safe and self-regulated movements become VERY challenging when other things or other children are included.

So how can we help children avoid collisions while having fun learning about space relationships when playing games, moving to music, pretending, and simply exploring? One way is to use props like a hula hoop to not only be the child’s “place” on the floor, but to help your child actually pick up self-space and see that it moves around too. This also helps children “see” the self-space of others while practicing. Another helpful strategy for applying concepts to a young child’s awareness of space is to use the terms empty and full to your advantage. Using containers or cups with water, sand, cereal or other items in them help demonstrate the difference between empty or full. This brings with it lots of opportunity for dialog and discussion…even math and measuring concepts. If children understand empty and full, and have practiced with hands on props and desktop visuals, they have the foundation necessary to apply the vocabulary and the concepts to their own movements and their relationships with obstacles and other people.

Choosy Kids has a song about moving only into empty spaces. It encourages children to look for and move into spaces that are empty and not filled with another person. The song even empowers children by welcoming them into the Empty Space Club if they can move and play without bumping into anything or anyone. As the song plays, do the movements with your child that are asked for during the song and during the chorus (designed as a rest period). Make up movements that you can do together, for example:

"I Love (hands over heart or draw a heart on chest) 

Being in the Choosy Kids Club   (hand sign for C)

I Love (hands over heart or draw a heart on chest) 

Being in the Empty Space Club (make up a movement for empty, i.e. point to the floor and move your hand in a circle)"

Download your very own Empty Space Club membership card and present it to your child if he or she is intentionally looking for those empty spaces instead of bumping into unsuspecting siblings or friends!

Other fun things that you can do at home to practice space awareness include using available toys and props around the house to review important location words, for example:

Can you put your toy under your chair?

Can you put your toy behind the vacuum cleaner?

Can you put your toy on top of your bed?

Can you put your toy in front of your foot? Is it near to you or far away? 

Can you put your toy far away from you?

Which is near and which is far? Toaster and bed? Door and toothbrush? 

Standing in your personal space, can you put your hands up high? 

Can you put one hand low?

Can you put one hand high and one hand low?

Make up games that involve judgments of space like tossing or rolling a ball over a line, into a hoop or into a laundry basket.

Design an obstacle course with pillows and stuffed animals as obstacles in shared space. The child must find only empty spaces to move, hop, gallop, jump, etc. while avoiding each obstacle.

Practicing space concepts in a fun and playful way lays a foundation for the development of self-regulation, as well as a respect for the personal space of that other children and adults.

What have you tried to do to help your child learn about personal and shared space?

About the Author: Linda Carson, Ed. D, is the founder and CEO of Choosy Kids, LLC, and the Ware Distinguished Professor Emerita at West Virginia University. An award winning, nationally recognized expert, Dr. Carson has devoted her career to promoting healthy preferences for young children and the adults who make decisions on their behalf. Click here to learn more about Linda.

Guest Post - Baby Pull-Up Bar (DIY)

Guest blogger Desiree from www.mymomsgeeky.com shared with us a great way to get your babies up and moving! We know babies like to pull themselves up and down, so why not make them a pull-up bar to practice on!? This way it can be done safely and when they have perfected it, it can become a bar to practice new dance moves on (imagine the bars ballerina's use!)

My little man is on the move and just dieing to stand and walk. Problem is, we don’t have any furniture for geek baby to practice pulling himself up and side step. So, I put my problem-solving brain to work and designed a baby pull-up bar for my son easily and affordably.

Here is how you can make one for your little one too.

Here is what you need:
 10 ft 1” PVC pipe
 2 corner PVC connectors (1”)
 4 3 split PVC connectors (1”)
 4 PVC caps (1”)

Step 1: You want to cut your 1” PVC pipe into 10 pieces. I just had the staff at Home Depot do it for me. Here are the measurements –
 Two 2 ft 6 inch pieces
 Two 1 ft pieces
 Six 6 inches pieces

Step 2: Then just assemble like so:

Step 3: For extra sturdiness, use some Monkey Glue to keep the pieces fastened together.

Now be warned, this is super light so you will need to weigh the feet down with something. I just slide the feet under the playpen walls and it stays in place.

Have fun playing with your baby as they grow and develop.

Check out her blog on mymomsgeeky.com to see her little man in action using his pull-up bar!!

About the Author: I am Desiree, Disney junkie, crafting nut, puppy rescuer of two, wife of handsome engineer Stephen and Geek Mom to my little squishy, Flynn (yes Flynn from Tangled. No my next kid will not be named Rider, but that would work for either a boy or a girl.) Anyway, I love being super geeky and I wear my cape proudly. Ok, so maybe it isn’t a cape as much as it is yoga pants and boob accessible tank tops, but I really do love it.

When I am not teaching my son the ways of the force, reading him Harry Potter or working on his monthly cosplays, I spend my time talking and listening with my husband about life as we know it, video game ideas and the inevitable end of the world. We plan to have more spawn and love to travel anywhere and everywhere in our super awesome CR-V, Eugene (yes also from Tangled. Yes I am aware we are a little weird.) When adventure isn’t calling I cook, craft and take this mom & wife thing one day at a time. I can’t wait to share these adventures. Follow Desiree on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram.