Get Moving!

If we want the kids to quit the couch, we've got to jump in

WITHIN 30 SECONDS of coming home from school one day, my 10-year-old daughter logged onto the computer and sent one of her friends this message: "I'm bored."

I know preteens are like that. But I also knew if I didn't think of something fast she'd tumble deeper into the two-dimensional cyber vortex. It took a bit of negotiation — OK, bribing — but I got her to walk to a nearby park and play catch with me. I still don't understand this new generation's fascination with being inert. In the olden days when I was a kid (my daughter's eyes are rolling now), I was always running, jumping, wrestling, shooting baskets, chasing baseballs.

We didn't have the opportunities in the form of fancy athletic programs that kids do today, but to be fair, we also didn't have the Internet, souped-up computer programs and this general unease about personal safety.

Statistics from 2004 research are grim: 9 million American children are at increased risk for type 2 diabetes and other diseases associated with being overweight. And schools are cutting back on physical-education classes.

Kari Anderson is a well-known Seattle health expert and co-owner of the Pro-Robics health clubs. She has produced a series of well-received fitness videos and, when filming a fresh batch this spring, decided it was time, as a mother of three, to do her first for kids. So she rounded up her daughter, three nieces and two other kids (all between 8 and 12 years old) for a 30-minute aerobic video. Called "Shake," it's patterned after those games in which kids do dance steps on cue and get a stealth workout.

"I'm not sure how it will sell, but I'm mainly concerned whether kids will like it," she says. "I don't want it to just sit on a shelf and have no impact. The kids we used in the filming were various levels of coordination, but to see how they evolved over the rehearsals was incredible. And my 15-year-old son saw it and said, 'That's not as stupid as I thought it would be,' Anderson says with a laugh. "So I guess that's good."

While this generation of children has been shamed for being mini-slackers, parents and schools need to play a bigger role if the trend is going to change.

Anderson and her husband, Mark Pavlovic, are lifelong athletes who exercise for the joy of it, so their children have had good role models. Anderson understands long work days and the need to relax, but urges parents to think about their role.

"If you're a couch potato but expect more from your kids, then I think you're asking a lot," she says. "Kids notice everything."

Mindy Mylrea, a well-known California fitness instructor, works with schools to make their physical-education programs more fun and inclusive. "A lot of school PE teachers haven't kept up," she says. "They are still playing dodgeball."

Mylrea promotes circuits of activity that cater to various personalities; the athletic, the artistic and the brainy. The point of the approach is to get as many kids as possible to develop an active habit. Some kids need and thrive on competition. I probably wouldn't have played sports as a kid if someone weren't keeping score. My daughter enjoys it for the camaraderie. The worst thing for a kid is to feel he or she is "not good enough" to play.

I recommend "FitKids" (DK, $20), a wonderful book that guides parents on how to get and keep their children healthy. It has reproduced a fitness-assessment test from the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Once kids get their baseline scores, they can use them to measure improvement. The categories are: sit-ups, push-ups, sitting and reaching, a one-mile run or walk, and the shuttle run (between two lines while picking up and putting down blocks).

What surprises me most about kids getting heavier is that movement is so innate at their age. It is sitting around and noshing that should be boring. All my daughter needed was a nudge. She didn't want to play soccer, but got hooked the first time she took the field. She didn't want to play softball, but now she loves it.

Richard Seven is a Pacific Northwest magazine staff writer. He can be reached at rseven@seattletimes.com. Mike Siegel is a Seattle Times staff photographer.