BeFit News
A society that makes public health and wellness a priority should be willing to invest in prevention.
Prevention requires education: Prevention is by far the least expensive way to provide health care to the general public. With prevention, you avoid the costs associated with expensive pharmaceuticals, surgical procedures, hospitalization, and lost work productivity. With prevention, you also give the power back to the individual -- the power to take control over their life and choose a lifestyle that is consistent with the level of happiness and health that they desire. Disease prevention focuses on education and empowering people with both the knowledge and the skills they need to make healthful choices.
BeFit* is an exciting and educational family fitness program- we get the kids excited about being physically active and help family’s establish sound health and fitness habits by educating, not only the children, but the parents/caregivers as well.
Parents/Caregivers: Physical activity is an important part of your child’s life; it has a tremendous impact on physical, intellectual, and emotional development. As parents, we have a responsibility to be role models for our children, teaching and sharing with them the pleasures and benefits of a physically active lifestyle.
Parents have an incredible amount of influence on the attitudes their children develop about physical activity and wellness.
The parental support system is crucial to the success or failure of any fitness program.
At BeFit* we believe that two key factors need to be addressed in order for any youth wellness program to be successful.
One of which is educating the parents/caregivers.
-We make each family aware of the recommended amounts of daily physical activity their child should be getting.
-We tell you how much sedentary activity (video games, TV, etc.) is too much.
-We define sedentary, moderate and vigorous activity by sending home handouts with multiple examples of each.
-We give homework each week and have parents/caregiver sign an activity log.
-We have a registered dietician give a tour of a local supermarket to help each family shop in a more healthful way.
-We offer a monthly online newsletter on our web page as well as links to other informative health and wellness sites.
An educated parent/caregiver can take ownership of their family’s health and wellness. Be a role model, be responsible, be kind and BeFit!
The Children: There is an athlete in every kid. At BeFit* we understand that a child who is experiencing success and having fun will embrace physical activity and incorporate it into their lives. We make certain that each child experiences success because unlike most physical education programs BeFit does not emphasize team sports and competition. Instead our emphasis is on finding the athlete in each and every kid. By offering a wide variety of age appropriate activities we allow each child to discover which activities they enjoy most and we help them build on their success. At BeFit we never say ‘give me ten push-ups, we ask for as many as you can do today and we add on each week. So that a child whose initial evaluation had her doing one push-up may be doing five in week five-that is success! .
BeFit allows each child to grow in a non-competitive, individually progressive environment where self-motivation and self-confidence will soar along with each child’s fitness level.
The second of the two key factors mentioned earlier is the ability of the program to travel well. By this I mean, if you need exercise machines and have to go to a gym in order to perform the activities you have learned, the program is likely to fail for lack of adherence.
The BeFit program does not use any high tech or expensive exercise equipment in fact the only piece of equipment that we would like each child to own is a jump rope (<$2). The reason being is we want the kids to be able to do their work anywhere. At home, at grandma’s etc. if you have a wall and a floor you are good to go. The kids love to go home and show what they have learned.
Now that we have knowledgeable, involved parents/caregivers and children who have learned multiple age appropriate exercises that can be performed anywhere, we have the necessary ingredients to beat back obesity and all the medical issues associated with it.
The BeFit* program is the best investment a community can make in its children. Give your community the greatest gift of all-the gift of health!
Jaime Kanter, Founder
BeFit