photo credit: subactive_photo

Bing Note is especially proud of the great Olympians representing the U.S. in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Winning medals in such fierce competition is not easy. These Olympians have spent many years honing their skills in an effort to successfully compete with champions representing countries from all over the world.

As I sit and watch the Olympics, I realize kids can learn so much about perseverance and setting goals by watching these well-trained athletes. Whether our kids have the dream of one day going for the Olympic gold, or pursuing a passion of theirs, as parents we need to support and encourage them to be the best they can be, yet still have FUN!

Similar to building self-esteem and character in kids, in order to become an Olympic athlete, kids must start at a young age preparing their bodies. For the goal of maintaining healthy physically fit bodies, establish a family physical fitness program. This program should emphasize good eating habits. Discuss with your family the need to eat healthy foods.  Check out www.kidshealth.org to help in planning well balanced meals.  Begin taking your kid(s) with you when grocery shopping.  Explain why you are buying this particular vegetable, this kind of fruit, your choice of cereal versus another cereal, etc.  Make them aware that what they choose to eat is important.

Begin an exercise program.  Instead of everyone sitting down to watch a television show, why not get the whole family up and moving?  Make up some easy, fun games to play in the backyard. Here are some suggestions to get everyone going.

1. Play Beanbag Baseball.  Place beanbags around the yard to indicate first, second, third and home base.  The player hops to first base, jumps to second base, skips to third and then runs and tags home.  Have a time-keeper who keeps track of the time each player needs to tag home.  Play the game several times and see which players have improved their time.

2. Every 1st Tuesday of the month, Bing Note features Annie's Healthy Tips (CLICK HERE ). Annie is an author/educator, offering great ideas for exercises and stretches, which the whole family can partake in. Her stretches are wonderful for starting the day with the kids, or they can be used as a relaxing wind-down for the end of the day.

3. That's Bingzy! Busy Building Self-Esteem CD offers a variety of songs, which children can dance, move, and sing to.  The song called "Jump" gives movement directions.  The children will jump, hop, skip and walk as directed by the music (CLICK AND LISTEN).

So enjoy these last few days of the Winter Olympics 2010 with the family. And maybe…we'll see one of your kids in 2014?!

The Bing Note Team!

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