Healthy Kids Day On April 27

On Saturday, April 27, 2013, YMCA’s across the country will celebrate Healthy Kids Day, a national initiative to improve the health and well-being of kids.

Over 1,900 YMCA’s take part in Healthy Kids Day by holding Free community events, open to all kids and families, filled with fun, active play and educational opportunities.

YMCA Healthy Kids Day events are Free and Open To All! For more information and to find a location near you, visit: The Y: Healthy Kids Day


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How to First Talk About Drug Use with Your Kids

Talking about drug use with your kids is an important part of keeping them healthy and safe. This topic may be uncomfortable for many parents to discuss with their children; however, even very young children may receive misinformation from their friends at school regarding drugs. This places them at a greater risk for experimenting with drugs. Parents can avoid this problem by maintaining open and honest communication with their child to ensure that the correct information is provided.

Begin Early

Free Plants vs. Zombies PC/Mac Game Coupons Halloween Campaign

The American Dental Association® (ADA) and PopCap Games recently launched the “Stop Zombie Mouth” campaign to help raise awareness of oral health among children and their parents during Halloween.

The “Stop Zombie Mouth” campaign features coupons for free copies of the award-winning game, Plants vs. Zombies, as a tooth-friendly alternative to candy for Halloween.

Fitter Kids Equals Better Grades?

New research exploring how physical fitness can influence children's scores on standardized tests may make parents want to sign their kids up for more sports-related activities.

The research, conducted by the Center for Sport Psychology at the University of North Texas in Denton, was presented at the 2012 American Psychological Association's convention in Orlando in early August.

Healthy Back-to-School Sandwiches for your Kids

Healthy Back-to-School Sandwiches for your Kids is a guest post by Kiera S. Campbell, author of Yummy Healthy Tummy: The Secrets of Raising Healthy Kids Every Parent Needs to Know!

Vary the type of sandwich you put into your kid’s lunch box every day. Make it a treat each time he opens his lunch box.

Here are fun and easy-to-make healthy sandwich ideas for your back-to-school kid.

Raise Healthy Kids with these Awesome Mealtime Tips

Raise Healthy Kids with these Awesome Mealtime Tips is a guest post by Kiera S. Campbell, author of Yummy Healthy Tummy: The Secrets of Raising Healthy Kids Every Parent Needs to Know!

Do not let the crunch of impending mealtimes stop you from serving healthy food to your children. For example, preparing healthy breakfasts when you still have to go to work may not be a viable option. So, here are great tips that you can incorporate in your mealtime preparations to make doing them a breeze.

Conquering The Rock Face: Climbing For Kids

English mountaineer George Mallory is widely believed to have been the one who said “Because it’s there” in response to the question about why he climbed Mount Everest. Lost forever on the mountain in 1924, he probably never knew how famous those words would become; nor could he ever have expected rock climbing to become such a huge part of modern life. The sport offers a unique challenge for climbers of all ages, and various children’s rock climbing activities have become extremely popular. The youngest person to conquer Everest so far has been 13-year-old Jordan Romero from California, who achieved the honor in May 2010. Climbing Everest might be extreme, but your youngster can still enjoy a healthy, active lifestyle taking part in rock wall climbing.

2012 Olympics: Get Kids Excited (and Fitter Too!)

Image credit: rfm-group.com

If you are a sports fan, there is a high chance you will be tuning your TV into an endless number of events during London’s 2012 Olympic Games. This means that children might have to miss watching their favourite cartoons/programs broadcast on other channels at some points, or that their usual routine is otherwise interrupted due to mum’s wish to cheer the cycling, or dad’s desire to indulge in the boxing. This could see some kids complaining throughout the Games 17 day-duration, souring the excitement for their parents.

Explaining the Importance of Eye Health for Children

The health of our children’s eyes is crucial to both their academic and physical development. To give our children the very best chance of achieving at school, it is extremely important that they have all the necessary tools available to do this. Having good vision will ensure that they are able to see the projector chart clearly and also read comfortably for long periods. Being comfortable playing sport is also important for children for both health and social reasons. Having good vision and eyes that work perfectly well together is fundamental to hand eye coordination and it is a well-known fact that children with a lazy eye are often not as well co-ordinated. You can see this for yourself by asking someone to throw you a ball whilst you have one eye closed. You will see it makes things a lot more difficult! Having 2 eyes that function together is known as stereopsis and it is the part of our vision that is crucial in depth perception.

Trick or Trade In Candy at Earth Fare Stores

Earth Fare Stores are offering healthy goodies to anyone who brings in their Halloween candy to trade with them during the week November 1-5, 2011 as part of a Trick or Trade In promotion.

Family Fun Healthy Halloween Treats

Parents, are your kids on candy overload? Disney Family Fun has a Healthy Halloween Treats eBook that you can download for free, with six fun and healthy Halloween Treats.

Inside the Family Fun Healthy Halloween Treats eBook you will find:

* Black Bean Cat Crudite's
* Edible Eyeballs
* Salty Bones
* English Mummies
* Pumpkin Roll-Ups
* Melon Brain

Halloween Sugar Free Treats for Children

Halloween is one of the most exciting holidays for children, and there is nothing better for them than dressing up and getting free candy. The choice to give your child sugar free treats for Halloween is one that will benefit them immensely, in terms of maintaining good oral health and preventing issues such as gum disease. It is difficult to give out sugar free homemade treats, because most parents will check their children's candy and throw out anything that is homemade by a stranger. You may have to skip the trick-or-treating, but you can have a great Halloween party with some of these sugar free snacks.

Free "We Can!" Wristbands

The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute is offering Free "We Can" Wristbands as a way to to enhance children activity and nutrition.

"The We Can! wristband shows your support for a healthier future for our children by adopting habits to maintain a healthy weight. Each wristband comes in sky blue and is stamped with the We Can! logo. Share them with your friends, coworkers, and family - and help show a "can do" attitude to everyone trying to maintain a healthy weight."

Activities to Keep Kids Physically Active after School

Childhood obesity has become a leading problem in our nation. The general health of our youth has suffered drastically in the past decade, and it is about time for a positive change.

Stocking gym class with all manner of physical education equipment is a great first step to getting kids moving, but kids need to stay active outside of school. Here are some ideas to keep kids physically active after school.

Exercises to Lose Belly Fat For Kids

Kids who are fat and with big belly are adorable, they are so cute to look at and whenever we see a child who is chubby, we always want to kiss and pinch them. But if this belly fat results to childhood obesity, it will surely cause problems later on, so it would be better to do something about it now as a preventive measure.

The fat in the stomach may lead to complications and problems to the other organs found in that area. People who are overweight suffer from diabetes, cholesterol and heart problems. Some of the causes of childhood obesity emerge from the fact that children are fond of junk foods which are rich in saturated and trans fat, and that they are no longer out of the house and play, they opt to stay home and watch television or video games instead. The remedy here is to increase the activity level of the child through exercise. The big question right now is what are the exercises to lose belly fats for kids? The following are some of the recommended exercises I can share to you:

Free Yikes-Lice! Book & Coloring Pages

"For many children, head lice can be confusing, embarrassing and even scary. For parents, head lice have a bad reputation for causing panic."

Learn the truth about head lice and help your children understand head lice with the help of Dr. Itchy.

A Fun and Healthy Diet for Growing Kids

Have you been wondering what food is best for your children to give them adequate nutrition and also help them maintain a healthy body? Many parents are confused on how to keep their children healthy especially in the last decade where the number of obese children is growing in alarming rates. Here are some guidelines and ideas for parents.

Start when they are still young

Well as we know children are quite picky eaters. An encouragement to children to open their tastes for healthy foods will definitely open a lifetime of good eating habits for them.

Add healthy foods

A Fun and Healthy Activity for Kids – Making Smoothies

Top Five Reasons to Make Smoothies with Your Kids

Unfortunately, today's society is one that relies on fast food drive thru establishments and pizza delivery for food and snacks. Not only is this contributing to the rise of obesity in adults but children as well. In fact, it is suggested by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry that 16 to 33 percent of children in America are obese. This of course leads to long-term health issues like diabetes, heart disease and breathing difficulties.

Rather than going to grab milkshakes or sundaes for your kids, why not make them something healthy that they'll love and that you can feel good about them consuming? Making smoothies is fun for the children and they're packed full of essential vitamins and minerals that kids need in their daily diet.

Fun Activities to help your Children Lose Weight

If you were born during the 50, 60’s 70’s, 80’s, and early 90’s, chances are you have not availed of any government program about childhood obesity or even enrolled in a kids gym. You may have gone to a summer camp but not on a weight loss camp, played basketball that involves running and jumping not just by smashing buttons, and played hula hoops with a hoop around your waist not by standing on a Wii balance board. This is all because most, if not all, children during those times are physically fit because they know how to play real games. Kids love to play, no arguments on that; however because of the advent of TVs, video games, and Internet, kids play at home instead of playing in the park. Real play is vital in a kid’s growth and development because through play, their social, mental, emotional, and physical aspects are all enhanced. Let us use play and other fun activities to help the children lose weight and avoid obesity.