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Parents & Caregivers

Fitness en Español

Regular exercise can improve your daughter's health and help her feel good about herself. Use these resources to help your daughter become more active. There are many ways to do this—by sharing exercise tips and ideas, by being a good role model, or by supporting her efforts to be more active. Fitness tools for your daughter, including a fitness planner and a heart rate calculator, are also listed. Read on to find out more about how you can help your daughter get fit.

Featured articles

1. Preventing Childhood Obesity: Tips for Parents
2. Are Steroids worth the Risk?
3. Bike Safety
4. Fitness for Kids Who Don't Like Sports
5. Motivating Kids to be Active
6. Nutrition and Fitness Center
7. Sportsmanship
8. Strength Training and Your Child
9. Your Child’s Weight

Web sites

1. girlshealth.gov: Fitness - We have created the girlshealth.gov section on fitness to help adolescent girls learn more about some of the unique health issues and social situations they will encounter during the teen years. This section provides information, resources, and links to help your daughter learn more about fitness.
2. The National Bone Health Campaign (Powerful Bones. Powerful Girls.) Web Site for Parents - This campaign web site provides parents with the information they may need to help their daughters build strong bones during the critical window of bone growth (ages 9-12).
3. We Can! (Ways to Enhance Children's Activity & Nutrition) - We Can! is a national program designed as a one-stop resource for parents and caregivers interested in practical tools to help children 8-13 years old stay at a healthy weight. Tips and resources are provided for parents and educators to teach children how to live a healthy lifestyle.

Publications

1.   Catch the Ball (Fitness Tips for Girls and Women) - Today, more girls are participating in a wider array of physical activities and sports than ever before. This brochure reviews the physical and mental health benefits of involving girls in sports and provides 10 practical tips on steps you can take to get involved in your local community and encourage girls to reach their full potential.
   
   http://fitness.gov/catch.html
2.   Healthier US: Physical Fitness - This website provides information on the need for physical activity in adults and especially children. Resources are provided on the following topics: physical activity, nutrition, blood pressure and obesity.
   
   http://www.healthierus.gov/exercise.html
3.   Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Across Your Lifespan: Helping Your Child: Tips for Parents - This online guide from the Weight Control Information Network provides information on how parents can encourage their children to eat healthy and stay active.
   
   http://win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/child.htm
4.   Parent Portal - This website compiles all of the information within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HHS, about parenting. It has a wealth of information, covering topics such as child safety, immunization schedules, and developmental milestones.
   
   http://www.cdc.gov/parents/
5. Children and sports: Choices for all ages (Copyright © Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - This fact sheet will help you choose kids sports and other kid-friendly physical activities according to your child’s age.
   
   http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/fitness/SM00057/METHOD%3Dprint
6. Fitness for kids: Getting your children off the couch (Copyright © Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - This article provides parents with simple tips to get their kids into fitness.
   
   http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/fitness/FL00030/METHOD%3Dprint
7.   Parents Can Play a Role in Preventing Childhood Obesity (Copyright © National Academy of Sciences) (PDF - 2.03 GB) - This fact sheet from the Institute of Medicine provides background on the importance of nutrition and exercise in the prevention of obesity and action steps for parents.
   
   http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/22/617/0.pdf
8.   Parents’ and Coaches’ Guide to Dehydration and Other Heat Illnesses in Children (Copyright © NATA) (PDF – 280KB) - This publication offers parents guidelines for how to keep kids safe from dehydration and heat illnesses when playing sports. Information on treatment and care options are also provided for parents to learn how to handle a situation if it arises.
   
   http://www.nata.org/consumer/docs/parentandcoachesguide.pdf

Organizations

1.   Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HHS
   
   http://www.cdc.gov/
2.   Division of Adolescent and School Health, CDC, HHS
   
   http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/
3.   President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, OPHS, OS, HHS
   
   http://fitness.gov/
4.   Smallstep Kids
   
   http://www.smallstep.gov/kids/flash/index.html
5.   The President's Challenge
   
   http://www.presidentschallenge.org/
6.   Weight-Control Information Network, NIDDK, NIH, HHS
   
   http://win.niddk.nih.gov/index.htm
7. American Heart Association
   
   http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml%3Fidentifier%3D1200000
8. Center for Young Women's Health
   
   http://www.youngwomenshealth.org/

 

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Content last updated November 11, 2007

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