Childhood obesity and homework time

We all had homework when we were little. We do the dishes, fold the laundry, put it away, and help with the housework. As we grew, we added helping with yard work. It didn’t occur to us that we were exercising but, in fact, we did. I was just more productive.

calories burned: A good calorie counter, such as the one at caloriosperhora.com, will help show how many calories a person has burned and consumed. This is an easy way to gauge if your child (or anyone else) is doing enough physically to get or stay in shape. Trust me, yard work can bring you a nice total.

Life Skills Taught: In time, our children will grow up and have their own home and responsibilities. Learning to cook, clean, and garden will prepare them for that time. You can also show them career ideas. Gardening was one of the factors that led me to become a master herbalist.

Relieve parental pressure: It’s hard to work all day and then have to do all the tasks that pile up. It’s hard enough for working parents to prepare a healthy meal, take care of homework, and get the kids to bed on time. Enlisting the help of children can relieve some of that pressure. The children will feel the relief.

linkage: As much as I hate doing the dishes, there were times when we were kids that allowed a kind of bonding to happen. When dad helped with them, we could talk. It was a one on one time; believe me, the rest of the children would not dream of going to the kitchen when there are dishes for a table of seven people to wash.

It may seem like we should prevent our children from doing all the chores we had as kids, but we wouldn’t be doing them any favors. They won’t learn what to do, they’ll miss out on the special moments they can have with shared tasks, and they may take it for granted that there will always be someone else doing the dirty work.