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New Exercise DVD Designed for Babies
Fri Aug 27, 3:15 PM ET Add Health - AP to My Yahoo!
By BREE FOWLER, Associated Press Writer
DETROIT - For Erin Keros, the idea of an exercise DVD geared toward her 1-year-old child was intriguing. Her son Joey has only been walking for about a month, but now he's learning to bat a ball with his hands and follow a piece of tape on the floor as his mother holds his hands.
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"It's been interesting," said Keros, 30, of Waterford. "He really enjoys doing some of the things. My husband is very pro-sports and thought this would help with his hand-eye coordination."
In response to the growing number of overweight and obese children in America, a trio from Michigan including a teacher, optometrist and athletic trainer, has created a new exercise DVD geared toward children as young as six-weeks-old.
"My Kid's First Coach" uses repetitive movements and drills based on those used by professional athletes to introduce young children to exercise. It also helps them increase aptitude for learning, develop motor skills, and improve neuromuscular coordination, hand-eye coordination and self esteem.
Jim Browne, an athletic trainer and former NFL fullback who helped develop the workouts, said that exercise should start as early as possible, when children are most receptive to new things and ideas. His collaborators on the DVD were Martin Levin, a Northville optometrist, and his wife Mollene Levin, an elementary school teacher.
"We've taken the approach that this is the answer to childhood obesity," Browne said. "When children become overweight they're not comfortable with exercise, so they shy away from it. It's better to start from the beginning."
While Keros, who ordered the DVD off its Web site about a month ago, isn't particularly worried about her child becoming obese, she said teaching Joey to be active at a young age will help him as he gets older.
"Obesity isn't really an issue in our family," she said. "But with all the fast food junk out there, if you can get them started on eating right and exercising the better off they are."
The DVD includes three workouts: the first is designed for infants from six-weeks old until they are able to walk; the second is for toddlers through age three; and the third is geared toward children ages three to five.
The first workout focuses on flexibility and muscle awareness, while the second targets hand-eye coordination and muscle control, and the third emphasizes movement and concentration.
Although 6-weeks old may seem a bit young to be teaching a child to exercise, Browne says a child's cognitive ability starts when they're born and controlled movements will help develop spacial relationships.
"The parent is actually doing the movement of head and legs," he said. "But the child is familiarized with movement."
While some experts questioned the impact organized workouts could have on babies, they agreed that something needs to done to curtail the expanding waistlines of children.
According to the American Obesity Association, the country's population of obese children between the ages of six and 11 more than doubled between 1980 and 2000 from 7 percent to 15.3 percent. The number of overweight children more than tripled during the same time frame from 5 percent to 15.5 percent.
The American Obesity Association uses the 85th percentile of body mass index, their weight in relationship to their height, as a reference point for overweight and the 95th percentile for obesity.
Dr. Michael Wasserman, a general pediatrician at Ochsner Clinic Foundation near New Orleans, said the problem of childhood obesity has gotten especially bad in the last decade.
"It's horrible. It represents as much as 25 percent of kids in minority communities, but it cuts across all racial groups and all socio-economic strata," he said. "It's an indictment of how we live."
Wasserman said that if the DVD can get parents off the couch and playing with their children, it might be a good idea. But he stressed that moms and dads shouldn't just plop their children in front of the TV and have them watch it. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that youngsters under age 2 not watch television at all, regardless of its content.
"With a two- or three-year-old you don't need special things to teach them how to play," he said. "It requires nothing fancy. Just turn all the electronics off and let the children interact with the world around them. But if parents need to see a DVD to get this into their minds, so be it."
The DVD's creators are hoping that more parents will take the initiative to buy the DVD, which currently is sold for $19.95 through its Web site and marketed online through the Farmington Hills-based Celebrity Placement Services. About 300 have been sold so far, Browne said.
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:D
New Exercise DVD Designed for Babies
Fri Aug 27, 3:15 PM ET Add Health - AP to My Yahoo!
By BREE FOWLER, Associated Press Writer
DETROIT - For Erin Keros, the idea of an exercise DVD geared toward her 1-year-old child was intriguing. Her son Joey has only been walking for about a month, but now he's learning to bat a ball with his hands and follow a piece of tape on the floor as his mother holds his hands.
Yahoo! Health
Have questions about your health?
Find answers here.
"It's been interesting," said Keros, 30, of Waterford. "He really enjoys doing some of the things. My husband is very pro-sports and thought this would help with his hand-eye coordination."
In response to the growing number of overweight and obese children in America, a trio from Michigan including a teacher, optometrist and athletic trainer, has created a new exercise DVD geared toward children as young as six-weeks-old.
"My Kid's First Coach" uses repetitive movements and drills based on those used by professional athletes to introduce young children to exercise. It also helps them increase aptitude for learning, develop motor skills, and improve neuromuscular coordination, hand-eye coordination and self esteem.
Jim Browne, an athletic trainer and former NFL fullback who helped develop the workouts, said that exercise should start as early as possible, when children are most receptive to new things and ideas. His collaborators on the DVD were Martin Levin, a Northville optometrist, and his wife Mollene Levin, an elementary school teacher.
"We've taken the approach that this is the answer to childhood obesity," Browne said. "When children become overweight they're not comfortable with exercise, so they shy away from it. It's better to start from the beginning."
While Keros, who ordered the DVD off its Web site about a month ago, isn't particularly worried about her child becoming obese, she said teaching Joey to be active at a young age will help him as he gets older.
"Obesity isn't really an issue in our family," she said. "But with all the fast food junk out there, if you can get them started on eating right and exercising the better off they are."
The DVD includes three workouts: the first is designed for infants from six-weeks old until they are able to walk; the second is for toddlers through age three; and the third is geared toward children ages three to five.
The first workout focuses on flexibility and muscle awareness, while the second targets hand-eye coordination and muscle control, and the third emphasizes movement and concentration.
Although 6-weeks old may seem a bit young to be teaching a child to exercise, Browne says a child's cognitive ability starts when they're born and controlled movements will help develop spacial relationships.
"The parent is actually doing the movement of head and legs," he said. "But the child is familiarized with movement."
While some experts questioned the impact organized workouts could have on babies, they agreed that something needs to done to curtail the expanding waistlines of children.
According to the American Obesity Association, the country's population of obese children between the ages of six and 11 more than doubled between 1980 and 2000 from 7 percent to 15.3 percent. The number of overweight children more than tripled during the same time frame from 5 percent to 15.5 percent.
The American Obesity Association uses the 85th percentile of body mass index, their weight in relationship to their height, as a reference point for overweight and the 95th percentile for obesity.
Dr. Michael Wasserman, a general pediatrician at Ochsner Clinic Foundation near New Orleans, said the problem of childhood obesity has gotten especially bad in the last decade.
"It's horrible. It represents as much as 25 percent of kids in minority communities, but it cuts across all racial groups and all socio-economic strata," he said. "It's an indictment of how we live."
Wasserman said that if the DVD can get parents off the couch and playing with their children, it might be a good idea. But he stressed that moms and dads shouldn't just plop their children in front of the TV and have them watch it. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that youngsters under age 2 not watch television at all, regardless of its content.
"With a two- or three-year-old you don't need special things to teach them how to play," he said. "It requires nothing fancy. Just turn all the electronics off and let the children interact with the world around them. But if parents need to see a DVD to get this into their minds, so be it."
The DVD's creators are hoping that more parents will take the initiative to buy the DVD, which currently is sold for $19.95 through its Web site and marketed online through the Farmington Hills-based Celebrity Placement Services. About 300 have been sold so far, Browne said.
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