Helping Our Children Welcome In The New Year

Sorry it’s been a while since my last blog but with the kids home for the holidays I’ve really lost track of time. While my kids are the center of my universe I must admit that this morning I am relishing having the house completely to myself for the first time in over 14 days! Now that I can finally think without the sound of Wii background music reeling in my head I can rededicate myself to my blog. (Really, given the level of technological sophistication involved here you’d think they could of developed a less repetitive background soundtrack that did not drive parents crazy!! Oh, have you guessed what my kids received from “Santa” this year?!)

Anyway, I thought a good way to break into the New Year is sharing with you a website for kids I discovered sometime ago. Given most of us try to welcome in the New Year with a refreshed commitment to improving our diet, nutrition, exercise and general attitude toward life, this website, BAM, helps take these same goals and discusses them using themes, attitudes and language our children can relate to. This website was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and includes such categories as Food & Nutrition, Physical Activity, Your Body, Your Life, Your Safety and Diseases. Each category is fueled with interactive games, quizzes and important health information presented in a way that does not sound like it is coming from the mouths of “nagging” parents – hey, maybe BAM will have better success with convincing my 10-year old son the importance of brushing his teeth!

While you’ll find a lot of cool stuff on this website, a couple of really neat (please don’t tell my son I just said “neat” – I’ll never live it down!) features include a personalized activity calendar that allows children to create, set goals and track performance of their favorite physical activities.

It also features an item called “Bragging Rights,” which allows kids to post stories with other kids who are trying to improve their minds and bodies.

One of my favorite sections is called Your Life. It provides kids with helpful advice on handling the twists and turns of early adulthood – peer pressure, bullies, stress, nerves, anger, etc. A section I’ve actually already used is “Bully Roundup.” Not only does this section have an interactive game for kids that helps them play out bullying scenarios, it also features a “one-liner” section geared to our children as well as gives advice on how to handle a bully when face-to-face with one.

Given the fact that kids are becoming very sophisticated at a much younger age, this website might be a little immature for kids over the age of 12 or 13. However, my son is 10 and seems to return to the site every once in a while to see if anything new has been added. If nothing else it might provide us with suggestions on how we can do a better job of approaching our kids with touchy topics and situations.