I was reading a Twitter post the other day about how offended a fellow preschool educator was when hearing adults use the “F” word in public, around children. She told the staff in a YMCA about it and the offenders were reprimanded. I immediately thought of the numerous times that I rushed to the aid [...]

I’ve been teaching preschool fitness since 1994.  During the early years I tried to rally and get the fitness industry and their organizing bodies on board.  But, they weren’t interested. The years went by.  I saw the focus on all kinds of gadgets, gimmicks and superbly choreographed routines.  Still no one in fitness was interested [...]

Tell us what you think will come out of Michelle Obama’s new campaign to fight childhood obesity.

I doubt anyone has escaped the news surrounding childhood obesity this week. Especially the speech given by First Lady Michelle Obama detailing the staggering statistics. Statistics that those of us in the fitness and health industries have watched rise steadily over the past 20 years. Yes, now we have the White House on it. But [...]

If you are a parent or preschool teacher, don’t think that your behavior is not important in shaping young children’s lives. Children look up to the adults around them and want to be like them. Sometimes it seems as if we’re on the side of children’s fitness when in fact we’re sending messages to the [...]

One of my adult fitness students was telling me the other day about a project done with the local school district this Halloween.  Instead of children collecting, eating and getting sick from all the Halloween candy, the administrators came up with a great idea. All children were encouraged to bring whatever candy they received during [...]

No one wants to think that a child who has barely started life could already be showing risk factors for heart disease. But, it’s absolutely true. The data isn’t exactly new although new studies come out all the time mentioning the presence of serious risk factors in children as young as age two. Data published [...]

Is your preschooler getting enough sleep? Check here to see: Birth – 2 months old…………… 10.5 – 18 hours 3 – 11 months old……………… 9 – 12 hours (plus naps) 1 – 3 years old………………….12 – 14 hours 3 – 5 years old………………….11 – 13 hours If your preschool child is falling short on slumber, [...]

If you type into Google, ‘preschool fitness tax credit’, you’ll see 3 pages of information links on how parents can earn up to $500 of tax relief on fitness programming expenses for preschoolers. Sounds great, right? How can you get started? Well if you live in Canada you’re all set. If you live in the [...]

The cigarette companies never stop. Here are some facts you may or may not know about their dastardly tactics to appeal to children. 1. Smoking rates in kids are going down, efforts to recruit them are going up. 2. Tobacco companies have their fingers in a number of candy companies. One affiliate is wholesome Wrigley’s [...]