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Too Many Overweight Kids
and Too Little Outdoor Play!
Did anyone else sit open-mouthed watching 5 year old kids who could hardly run to the end of their drive without being out of breath? ITV's Too Fat To Toddle was a wake up call for parents.
Mother of two Jo Nicholson, founder of www.littlenuttreetoys.co.uk was as shocked as the rest of us.
'Treats, sweets, quantity, not quality, and little or no outdoor play all contribute to the trend of kids getting fatter and less able to be what kids are born to be – free spirits running hither and thither generally burning lots of calories!'
'Our nation has sat back and watched what Professor Paul Gately has called an epidemic creep up on us – kids becoming obese, let alone the adults. An epidemic of obese kids! That seems utterly absurd doesn’t it, but the figures seem to stack up.'
With convenience foods stacked full of sugars, fats and salts to ‘save us time’ little did we realise (although experts have been trying to warn us for a few years now – perhaps too diplomatically) that our time saving was costing ours and our kids life span.
Life for a lot of people seems to be spiralling out of control, getting faster and faster as we try and keep up with society as it develops – something has to give and in many households, convenience food does just that – it provides a way of easing time pressures.
As a mother of two Jo Nicholson, knows all about living life in the fast lane. With two children, a husband who runs two businesses and her own business to run, she admits that corners do get cut. Jo comments
‘I used to be so fit, cycling to work and then swimming in my lunch hour… I was fit, but that was before kids and starting my business. Life seems to run so fast these days that we are always looking for ways to cut corners – I’m a victim of it myself, but when I see programmes like “Too Fat to Toddle” it really does bring you up short and makes you think about what you’re doing to yourself and your kids health and that both things are under your control.’
But keeping kids healthy is not just about the food that they eat, it’s also about the exercise. Quite often public amenities like parks and swimming pools are not locally available so it leaves parents with a choice of where to get their kids to play? Do they send them out into the streets to play, in their back garden (if they’re lucky enough to have one), or do they keep them inside where, as adults, we feel reassured that they are safe?
Jo continues, ‘As a modern society we seem to have forgotten that kids are the great imaginers of our world – they dream, invent and create like no adult can. J M Barrie had it nailed when he created Peter Pan, the eternal fun, mischievous and life-loving child. But we seem to have got ourselves entrenched in the idea that children need entertaining and need expensive props. Look at all the soft play centres that have sprung up. It may sound a bit naïve but I really would like to see a return to basic outdoor play and that’s why Little Nut Tree Toys is launching an appeal for parents to send in their childhood game memories. You don’t have to have a park, play frames and soft play centres – just a bit of imagination.’
She remembers 'I used to spend hours playing with a tennis ball stuffed down one of my mum’s stockings and whacking it against a wall - but for the life of me I can’t remember the rhymes, rules or how it worked. I’d love to find out how to play it again so I can teach my daughter – it would be so much fun. So if anyone knows… I’m really keen for us to engage kids in games that are simple, fun, can be played individually or in groups. I for one would love to see kids playing together in social groups again. Not just hanging around on corners using their mobiles. That’s why we’re starting our campaign to bring back traditional outdoor play and games like the one I used to play.’
If you want to get involved and help to get our kids active again, then simply email your ‘game memory’ to enquiries@littlenuttreetoys.co.uk. Write the name of the game and then the instructions for the game and then it will be loaded on Little Nut Tree Toys website under the ‘Play Ideas’ section. Come on! Let’s get our kids active, imaginative and adventurous again!
About Little Nut Tree Toys
Little Nut Tree Toys was launched in 2005 as a result of Jo Nicholson wanting to buy good quality, wooden and educational toys for her one year old daughter. The company philosophy has always been to promote toys that encourage kids to discover toys for themselves (without batteries and jarring electronic voices) and also wanted to focus on getting kids playing outside again which she sees as an integral part of childhood.
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Outdoor Playhouses
The Importance Of Imaginative Play
Most of us are hungry for ideas to keep our children occupied. We want playthings that match up to our own personal toy and play values and that address our concerns surrounding children’s inactivity (of the body and mind) grow.
The Fridge
Before you had kids did you love to play a round with Fridge Magnet Poetry? Now - too scary! Either you worry that the pieces are so small they'll get swallowed or they end up all over the floor, with more under the fridge than on it. That of course is assuming there is any room on your fridge now, what with the plastic alphabet letters, the notes from school and your little one's artwork!
From Kid To Superkid
One in five children in the UK is overweight: It isn’t hard to work out why. It is becoming easier and easier for children to get hold of junk food and easier and easier for them to avoid exercising. Schools have cafeteria-style lunches and junk food filled vending machines; the requirements of league tables mean PE time is reduced; more and more kids are driven to school rather than walk as parents fear for their children’s safety.
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