As the mom of two girls, both who seem to have inherited my grazing habits instilling healthy eating is difficult. It does not help that we are naturally petite and until 40 could eat Hershey Bars for breakfast without remorse. Because both David and I are very active we are raising active kids.

But it is not always easy. Especially on long homework nights and the general craziness that happens with two children having multiple activities. To help with that Challenge I am so proud that Anna from FitFunner is here today on the My Challenge series.

Hi all:

Anna here, with a guest post for the My Challenge series organized by Kerri from Undiagnosed But Okay.  I was super flattered to be asked to contribute to Kerri’s fascinating series.  But I was concerned, and I let Kerri know it, that MY challenge wasn’t really in line with a number of the posts that she had shared in the series.

(Obvious plot spoiler: I talked with Kerri about it, and she encouraged me to write this post.  Thanks, Kerri!)

My challenge, both professional and personal, relates to children’s health.  Not just the health of my two boys, although that is really really important.   The challenge that I have taken upon myself is to help parents everywhere to lead their kids to better health habits.  I feel that this is really so important, especially here in the United States.  This country has done so much for the world, but we’ve seemingly lost our way when it comes to how we take care of our bodies.  We can see this in a number of ways, but this post (which has been making the rounds lately) shows graphically how our US diet is making us shorter and fatter than the rest of the world.

This is not the country that I want my kids to inherit.

Time to get going! I decided that I wanted to do something to help not just my kids but my neighbor’s kids and their neighbor’s kids.  First came talking to people about the importance of learning good health habits.  How what your kid eats really does matter to how you feel and how they’ll do in school.  How fast food certainly is a convenience, but one you should plan to use sparingly.  How kids can learn to choose and enjoy vegetables instead of candy.

Talking certainly helped, but I wanted to find ways to reach more people beyond those I could talk with face to face.  So I taught myself about social media; learning about blogging, Twitter, Facebook (beyond just chatting with friends), Pinterest, and so on.  I joined various online communities and blogging groups, looking to build the conversation about kids’ health.  This is still very new to me but it’s been a fun ride so far.

My blogging has evolved from eclectic health topics to focusing increasingly on kids’ health video games.  I see my kids, and frankly a lot of other kids in the community, playing video games all the time.  I thought that video games would be a great tool to help kids learn more about good eating and exercise.  I’ve been looking for and posting on my blog any health-themed games that I think kids might enjoy playing, as a way of making it easy for parents to get healthy habits messages through to their kids.  I’ve been finding some good games, both paid and free, that can help kids to learn a lot about healthy eating and fitness habits.

(BTW, please feel free to swing by my blog and check out the game reviews.    Please let me know in the comments whether your kids enjoy the games!)

I’m planning to continue with the healthgame reviews, and connecting with like-minded bloggers in order to keep getting the message out.  And I’m reaching out to you, as a reader of this post and of Kerri’s wonderful blog, to encourage you to think about the positive changes that you can make in how you approach your children’s health habits.  Together we can transform the problems of today into a better tomorrow. And that is My Challenge.

Signed,

Anna

Anna Fitfunner’s Bio:  I blog at Anna’s Blog, and work with Fitfunner, the first video game that helps parents lead their kids to better health habits.  Please stop by Fitfunner, play it a bit, and then let me know what you think.  You can reach me at anna (at) fitfunner (dot) com.

What's your challenge is a series that was inspired by a program I created at Abby's school. I am amazed at how honest and hopeful the challenges have been. Thank you to all who have contributed. To submit your challenge, please e-mail me at firebailey@gmail.com