Be a role model for your kids

National proponent of physical activity warns that adults must set the example

DAVENPORT, IOWA -- Parents, you may want to think twice before telling your kids "Stop running!"

In the face of an epidemic of diabetes and obesity, Dr. Joanne Owens-Nauslar would rather see kids move more – not less. While the nation's schools grapple with "No Child Left Behind" initiatives, the national proponent of physical activity has a slightly different slogan: "No Child Left on Their Behind."

"I see parents with their kids, and they're yelling 'Don't run! Don't run!' " she says. "I want to say 'Yes, run! Run, children. Run! Run! Run!' The obesity epidemic is killing us. A child born in 2006 has a 1 in 3 chance of getting diabetes."

Nauslar, "nicknamed Dr. Jo" by the many students she has inspired, spoke to Genesis audiences Monday as part of American Heart Month. For more than 40 years, she has championed physical fitness and sounded the alarm for people of all ages to "Eat smart; move more." She also has spent years studying research; writing school curriculum; and demanding that health instruction and five-day-a-week, physical education be part of students critical core day.

She has served leadership roles for state and national physical education and school health associations. Currently, she is director of corporate/community development for GeoFitness, Inc., an Orlando, Fla. company dedicated to encouraging physical activity and fitness.

Parents need to do some demanding, too, she stresses. In 2002, she received the Advocacy in Physical Education Award from the Sporting Good's Manufacturers Association for helping to urge Congress to give $50 million to physical education programming. But a nationwide groundswell of parents demanding access, opportunity and great programs in schools will have the most effect.

"Iowa used to be a leader in this, and you have let go of that. You are now in the middle and sliding towards the bottom," she says. "Now, we have a whole body of literature that says healthy, active kids learn better and perform better at math and reading. When we put kids in movement, they learn better."

Too much screen time; too little activity

The average child gets 25.1 hours of nonconstructive TV and computer time, but less than 13 hours of exercise a week, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. "Our children are sedentary," she says. "Three out of 4 kids have a TV in their bedroom by the sixth grade, and that's a crime. And parents, we've done that to pacify us."

Another problem, she says: Everyone should learn to "use food as fuel." Choose fuel that's good for you and eat amounts according to how active your day is. "We're overestimating how much we move, and underestimating how much we're putting in our pie-hole. To burn the calories in one M&M, we would have to walk the length of a football field."

Recently, she spoke to junior-high students in Minot, N.D. At the end of her presentation, a youngster approached her and said: "We get it, Dr. Jo. But when we see adults doing it, then we'll do it, too. They still overuse alcohol; many don't fasten their seatbelts and 25 percent of them still smoke. And boy, you ought to see them in the buffet line. They tell us to get moving, but they sit on the couch.'

"For the first time in our history, the death certificates of our children will read fewer years of life than their parents. Part of the problem is they're watching us. We're taking our kids on a long, hard healthdebilitating road."

Dr. Jo advises everyone to get 30 minutes of dedicated cardiovascular exercise and a total of 90 minutes of movement daily – at least five days a week.

Creating healthy habits for our children

Parents can bring their kids and learn to make healthy eating and exercise part of their child's lifestyle at the presentation "Creating Healthy Habits for Our Children." Exercise specialist Erin Delf of Genesis Cardiac Rehabilitation will join personal trainer Leah Kurth of the Bettendorf Family YMCA to teach healthy habits that will follow children into adulthood.

The presentation will be 6:30-8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, at the Genesis Heart Institute, Cardiac Rehab, Classroom A, 1236 E. Rusholme St., Davenport. Register online at genesishealth.com or call 421-3200, press 4. Registration is not required but appreciated. Genesis and QCA Kids' Guide will sponsor the presentation.

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