Poor eating and activity habits, not genetics, are the underlying causes for most cases of adolescent obesity, new research suggests.

The finding stems from an analysis involving more than 1,000 Michigan sixth-grade students who participated in the Project Healthy Schools program, which is in place in 13 middle schools across the state.

“For the extremely overweight child, genetic screening may be a consideration,” study senior author Dr. Kim A. Eagle, a cardiologist and a director of the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center in Ann Arbor, said in a center news release.

“For the rest, increasing physical activity, reducing recreational screen time and improving the nutritional value of school lunches offers great promise to begin a reversal of current childhood obesity trends.”

The study findings were published in a recent issue of the American Heart Journal.

The authors noted that, in 1980, just 6.5 percent of U.S. children aged 6 to 11 years were considered obese, but that percentage rose to nearly 20 percent by 2008.

The recent study found that 15 percent of the participants were obese. And almost all had poor eating habits.

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Do you or your child suffer from the winter blues?  It is actually a seasonal affective disorder related to depression that occurs in the winter time due to shorter days, the cold and the stress of after holidays.  It is important to recognize the signs in yourself or your child and seek help if needed.  Also, remember if you the parent is suffering it can trickle down to your kids and impact them, so get help!  There are many fun ways we have found to beat the blues or the blahs!

Here are some indoor activities that can bring you together without making you lose your mind….

1.  Get crafty- get some projects done you have wanted to and involve your children, it’s a great time to teach life skills while getting projects done

2.  Write Letters- get those thank you cards written (hint to myself)

3. Play store- it teaches math, could organize your pantry and is fun!

4.  Play games and do puzzles, when’s the last time you took the time to play together in good old fashion fun

5.  Draw to Music, Dance to Music, Sing to Music

or…

Get out of the house and get busy….activity is good for beating the blues.  Jacksonville now has Jump N Jax, an indoor facility with bounce houses; go bowling; go for a walk; join a gym, enroll your child in gymnastics, dance or other activity.  Being cooped up in the house isn’t always ideal, especially when dealing with the blues.

The American Academy of Pediatrics states, “People with SAD may crave comfort foods, including simple carbs such as pasta, breads, and sugar. With excess unhealthy calories and a lack of fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, fatigue often sets in. They may become depressed and irritable. Eventually, they are no longer able to maintain their regular lifestyle. They may withdrawal socially and no longer enjoy things that used to be fun. It’s as if a person’s batteries have just run down. For parents, SAD can obviously have a sharp impact on the ability to be an effective parent.

Children and adolescents can also suffer these symptoms. They may experience feelings of low self-worth and hopelessness. Children with depression struggle to concentrate on their schoolwork. Their grades may drop, worsening feelings of low self-esteem. Symptoms that last more than two weeks are cause for concern.”  Since there has been no known study on the effects of SAD in children or treatments, parents do need to be more mindful of their children’s behaviors.

How do you beat the blues during the winter months?  Do you think children suffer from the blues in winter?

My daughter was recently selected to be one of three representatives for her grade and school for the state Science Fair.  Although she was relieved and semi-excited, the first things she expressed was that she was sad that her friends didn’t all get selected too.  Then she recounted how some of the kids pouted, wouldn’t talk to her or kept making comments about not winning themselves.  My daughter felt badly.  I thought it was a good time to discuss attitude and sportsmanship. No one likes to “lose” or feel like their efforts go unnoticed.  So, how do we as parents teach our children to do their best and let everything else happen how it will?.

Here are some things I have learned either as a parent or a coach from observations of myself, other parents and children.

1.  Be a good role model…with your child and team, as well as opponents.  Find the positive and focus on that.  Teach your child to be complimentary and sensitive to how the other may feel.

2.  Be honest with yourself…sometimes we as parents have other agendas or intentions to involve our child in a sport or push in an activity. Our children’s involvement in an activity should not be driven by us as parents.

3.  Create the rules. We create the rules for our own children.  If you see your child not being a good sport and notice a coach not catching it, wait until after practice or the event and talk about it.  It is our responsibility to address misbehavior and sometimes we need to stand up and talk privately with coaches or parents who may not be following good sportsmanship rules.

4.  Watch and learn.  When watching a sport or event look for teachable moments and engage your child with open-ended questions about how they would handle that situation.  Do more listening than lecturing.

As families we are constantly surrounded by opportunities to teach our children and learn new things ourselves.  Our attitudes and how we focus or react to circumstances ultimately is what is teaching our tweens.   I’m grateful to have had the chance to talk to my daughter about how different kids reacted to the announcement of the Science Fair.  I think she has a clearer perspective that we can’t change others, but how we act is the only thing we can control.

What are your tips in teaching good sportsmanship?

In our family, we love movies!  Watching movies as a family is probably one of our favorite things to do!

I have always been a movie buff and so is my husband.   As parents of tweens, we are very careful with the tv, movies and video games our tween views.  There are so many great movies out there for them and also so much garbage for them to view.

Here are a few of our current favorite movies to watch as a family;

*  Disney’s Tangled

*  Despicable Me

*  Where the Red Fern Grows

*  Swiss Family Robinson

*  Remember the Titans

*  Transformers

*  Mary Poppins

*  Night at The Museum

*  Up

*  Madagascar

*  Hook

*  Rudy

*  Veggie Tales

*  Robots

*  Star Wars the Clone Wars / Star Wars

*  Evan Almighty

*  Over the Hedge

*  Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium

*  Elf

*  Kung Fu Panda

*  Cars

Here are a few more classic movies I would like to add to our list of  favorite Family Movies…..

Mildest:

Milo and Otis,   You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown( Musical),   The Land before Time,  Spy Kids,  Pete’s Dragon,  Swiss Family Robinson,   Mary Poppins,  The Secret of Nimh,   Honey, I Shrunk The Kids,  The Last Unicorn,  Flight of the Navigator,  Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Batteries not included,   Indian In The Cupboard,  Newsies,  Annie,  The Music Man,  The Sound of Music,   An American Tale,  Short Circuit,   Black Beauty(1994),   Ewok Adventure,  The Land of Faraway,  Water Babies 

Milder:

The Neverending Story,  The Karate Kid,  Cloak and Dagger, Oliver!, Spy Kids,  Flight of Dragons,  The Wizard of Oz,  ,   Rudy,   The Adventures of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn version),   20,000 leagues under the sea (Kirk Douglas version),   Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959),  Fantastic Voyage(1966),  Old Yeller,   E.T.,   Where The Red Fern Grows,   The Quest-Frog Dreaming,   Masters of the Universe( He-Man),   Invaders from Mars,   The Black Stallion(1979),   Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,   Superman, (1978)

Mild:

The Last Starfighter,  Legend,   Willow,  Labyrinth,   The Princess Bride,  My Science Project,  Suburban Commando,   Explorers, Buckaroo Banzai,  Krull,  The Dark Crystal,  Meatballs,  Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure,  Mannequin,  Close Encounters of the Third Kind,  War Games,   Dragonslayer,   Jumanji,    Harry and the Hendersons,   Little Monsters,   Jason and the Argonauts (1963),  Clash of the Titans,

**** I think I am going to print this list off and rent some of these classics for my tween and our family!!

So grab your popcorn and snow caps and have a fun movie night!!  Do you have any to add to the list of family favorites?

I don’t think it is a surprise to anyone that we are HUGE Gator fans around here!!  Along with being a Gator fans, we are also huge Tim Tebow fans.

Recently, we watched a special on Tim Tebow with our tween. It was about Tebow preparing for the NFL draft. It showed how much hard work he put into preparing for the draft. We continue to be so impressed by the incredible athlete and positive role model he is to our tween.

He recently filmed a commercial for FRS sports drinks. In the commercial, he talks about how people always told him he wasn’t good enough, fast enough or strong enough to be a quarter back. It is a really awesome commercial and quite inspiring .

As parents, we need to find these great role models for our tweens. The media is full of quite a few scum bags (in my opinion) that I find it so refreshing to find such a good person and athlete as a role model for my tween.

I hope that Tim Tebow continues to find success in his NFL career with the Denver Broncos.  I hope kids can look to him as an inspiration in their lives rather then half naked singers who teach them that partying and beauty are more important then a strong character and work ethic!!

Way to go Tim Tebow, keep up the success and being such a great role model in the lives of our children!!