How To Use Media To Make Kids Healthy
Visual media can sometimes get a bad rap as only being a means for entertainment, but it can also get your child moving, grooving, and instilling healthy habits into their daily routines. We’ve teamed up with the Together Counts™ program to help spread the message of active, healthy living and sometimes that message can hold more weight with children when it comes from multi-media tools because their attention is already drawn to the fun!
USE A MEDIA HEALTH ROLE MODEL & WATCH TOGETHER
Children are eager and ready to learn, but sometimes they need the right voice to guide them. Fun shows that feature relatable and fun-loving role models often capture the imagination and open the ears and minds of children who may not respond to a less entertaining lesson. Samantha Finkelstein, Registered Dietician and author of the Nerdy Girl Nutrition blog, contends, “Often, children spend a lot of time in front of the television, so why not address these issues with them where their attention is already strong? Children are hungry for knowledge — shows that feature nutrition education and interactive healthy activities will begin planting seeds of a healthy lifestyle early on.”
It’s not as hard as you think to find nutrition-based media online and on the television that could get the conversation going. If your child already has an interest in cooking, check out the child centric show on PBS, Hey Kids, Let’s Cook, where kid chefs demonstrate (with adult supervision) how to cook easy dishes. When children see these peer role models engaging in simple cooking exercises (and having fun), they’re more likely to be inspired to try it themselves.
Once you’ve found the media you like, point out fruits and vegetables on the screen and talk about different ways you can incorporate them into your cooking routine together. Any questions you can’t answer immediately can be searched for later – on USDA or other reputable sites – with your child, which will also emphasize that technology is not just for entertainment, but also for educational purposes.
GET HANDS ON
Samantha is also a great advocate for getting kids active in the kitchen, commenting, “It is so valuable to teach kids to cook at an early age. When children cook, they get a hands-on experience with their food. Cooking teaches children (and adults) WHERE their food comes from, which is invaluable when it comes to maintaining a healthy relationship with food.”
Other subjects of learning, such as science, math, and even literacy are also encompassed in nutrition education. For example, showing children how to grow a seed can teach kids about how food gets to plant to plate or become a lesson about the importance of bees and pollination in food production.
LET’S GET MOVING
Getting active raises endorphin levels and is just plain fun. Any music is a good reason to dance. Encourage your kiddo to sing, dance, and move to their favorite tunes, especially those that your healthy role model endorses. Using a physical activity to pair with your media will emphasize the lesson and help your child learn better. According to the Committee on Physical Activity and Physical Education in the School Environment, “children respond faster and with greater accuracy to a variety of cognitive tasks after participating in a session of physical activity.” So, get active whenever you have the chance!
Vitamin Bee, LLC. is an organization that believes that nutrition education is just as important as learning your ABC’s and 123’s. Our fun and informative character Vitamin Bee encourages kids, families, and schools to learn and work together in order to create a long-lasting healthy life-style. By being a part of a family’s life, both at home and at school, we strive to help raise the nutritional standard by empowering children and families to make healthy choices for themselves, as well as influence others to build a more healthy society.
For more smart ways to help balance your healthy habits, check out these other articles from Together Counts!