Balanced: Back to School 2010 - New School Year Means New Health Habits

With the start of the 2010-2011 school year right around the corner, parents are becoming more aware that it is a little harder to control what families put into their bodies while away from home. This week, a few tips on encouraging your children (and adult loved ones) to keep themselves in the best shape while they're on their own.

Elementary School: Encourage your elementary school student to use recess to their advantage. Playing on the playground, chasing friends around the track or even playing four-square or tether ball are good ways to get 15 - 20 minutes of exercise into a child's school day. If you can't pack you child's lunch, use the school lunch menu to help them choose foods that they both enjoy and are healthy in hopes that they'll eat a well-rounded meal during the day. When your hungry grade-schooler comes home, offer fun fruits or vegetables as snacks such as ants on a log or a colorful fruit salad!

Middle School: The beginning of rebellious teen years may begin as early as middle school and children this age are in need of parental support to keep their bodies growing healthfully. While most students are asked to participate in physical education classes, providing other physically-engaging activities for your children after school and on weekends is important. When it comes to meal-times, fried foods, candies (from the school store) and fat-laden lunches are easily available while at the school, so when your child gets home be sure to have healthy foods (fruits, vegetables, whole-grains, etc.) for them to snack on to aid in rounding out their diets.

High School: With the introduction of an "open campus" for lunch, many students are more excited about access to fast food, convenience stores and the plethora of junk food available to them at a grocery store. Remind your high school student what eating healthy does for their body and support them by providing snacks needed to keep energy high. If your high school student isn't participating in after-school sports, be sure to take some of your time after work or school to ride a bike, go for a walk, or even teach them your favorite sport. Not only will this help you bond with your child, it will keep you both active.

As adults, when our children change their routines to reincorporate school again, it's a fine time for us to change up our routines to include eating healthy, exercising more, and treating our bodies in a better way. What health habits do you encourage your children to begin (or keep) with each new school year?

When Sarah's not writing for Savings.com, she's sitting in a tall chair in a construction consulting firm either editing requests for proposals or calculating cash flow on hundred-column Excel spreadsheets. You can also find Sarah at WEGO Health as the Women's Health community leader or writing at her personal blog, Sarahndipitea.