Childproof Your Summer: Exercise
Keep your kids safe without spoiling summer fun:
6. Blast them off the couch. The riskiest behavior many kids will engage in this summer: gorging on junk food while sprawled in front of the TV. Thanks to a couch-potato lifestyle unheard of in previous generations, about 15 percent of teens and kids today are obese and about 18 percent are overweight.
The solution? You guessed it. This month, the American Medical Association announced blunt new guidelines: Kids should exercise for at least an hour a day and watch their diet. Some ideas: Disband the car pool, and find a bike route to summer school or camp. Install a basketball hoop, and start a neighborhood tournament. Go swimming as a family during hot summer evenings. And if TV is a must, suggest Shaq's Big Challenge, which chronicles the Miami Heat star's efforts to coach six obese kids to a healthier weight.
Other ways to childproof your summer:
1. Wakeboarding • 2. Trampolines • 3. Sunscreen • 4. Drowning • 5. Internet Safety • 6. Exercise• 7. Vaccines • 8. Bug Spray • 9. All-Terrain Vehicles • 10. Medications at Camp • 11. Hydration • 12. Amusement-Park Rides