Staving off the summer slide

While the final school bell ringing can signify months to come of enjoying the outdoors and being active, some children and teens lean toward video games, television and movies, which require little to no physical activity.

Other concerns for parents in the summer months is the potential for kids to lose some of what they have learned during the school year, causing stress and anxiety for the following year.

Creating a balance of 'school like' and physical activities for the summer months will promote overall health and wellness for you child.

Research indicates keeping your child active during the summer months helps to promote healthier diet and exercise habits, along with maintaining and improving mental health.

Scholastic promotes a Summer Challenge for the past five years. It is a reading program to stop the 'summer slide', learning and reading skills decline during the summer months.

The reading program helps kids by providing reading lists of books for their age group and online, interactive programs to promote reading and parents can track their child's progress.

Scholastic recommends parents get recommendations from teachers and librarians, by allowing their child to pick out the books they want to read for those choices. 91 percent of children said they read more when it was a book they picked out themselves.

Reading five books over the summer prevents learning loss, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service is launching the United We Serve: Let's Read. Let's Move. initiative. Children can lose up to three months progress in reading achievement over the summer.

Encouragement, being a role model and providing access to books are all ways parents can promote healthy reading habits.

According to Nemours' KidsHealth website, summer months can also be a time a child can gain weight.

This is cause by being less active than they were in school.

Summer Dodge, adult member services and wellness director at YMCA of the Suncoast, Spring Hill, advises children are more often likely to stick exercise if it involves something they enjoy.

"Enrolling them in a sport such as basketball or baseball where they are outdoors, running around," Dodge said, "or encourage them to swim in a pool during hot summer months are some examples of fun activities kids may enjoy."

In fact, 40 percent of teens in their early years were bored during the summer according to their survey with only 10 percent feeling overscheduled.

For teens in high school, the results were split more evenly for those over the age of 16 as one quarter of those surveyed felt as though they would be bored and another quarter of the group felt as though they would be too busy.

However, older teens did not worry as much, as these teens have more freedom.

There are five ways parents can help their kids to avoid weight gain. Making goals, having a schedule, keeping busy, beat the heat, and think about what you and your child eats.

Setting goals and making a plan can help get kids to moving away from the couch or computer, with regular pit stops to the refrigerator.

It is important to make specific goals with deadlines to promote success in getting a job, learning a new skill (foreign language improvement exercises, sports, etc.) as well as shifting downtime in to volunteer opportunities.

Often after school is out for the summer, the normal routine is thrown out the window until next school year. This can lead to sleeping late, too much TV, and snacking more than normal.

Creating a new schedule for the summer offering structure with a set wake time, meal time, and snacks with some planned activity times for exercise will help to keep kids on track and easier when school starts again to get moving into that schedule.

Often when we are not busy, many of us feel low on energy. This can also lead to additional trips to the cookie jar or refrigerator.

Keeping the day full of activities can help to promote a sense of accomplishment and lessen the risk of too much computer and couch time.

Being active can be a great mood lifter. Also, starting a routine in the summer can lead to continuing an exercise regimen during the school year.

While the heat can be a deterrent for outdoor activities in Florida, there are many other ways to be active indoors without being in the summer heat.

Activities such as bowling, indoor wall climbing, and going to a gym are great ways to promote activity inside.

Also, some outdoor activities can be planned early in the morning or later in the evening when the temperature is not as hot.

Activities can include swimming, scheduling a regular jog during those times, or organized sports, such as soccer.

Many of us look forward to the summer months when picnics and barbeques are in full swing, but there are also pitfalls, as these types of activities often revolve around food.

It is advised to pace yourself and to not overload your plate with food, along with avoiding going back for seconds and thirds. Try instead to make this type of activity more about catching up with family and friends.

Healthy choices such as fresh fruit are great alternatives to high-sugar, high-fat desserts, including frozen treats like ice cream.

Advice from the students surveyed includes doing chores while listening to your favorite songs can make it more fun, plus most everyone has chores to do, so why not feel better and do it on your own with getting nagged by parents.

Many found that by taking the initiative, parents were more likely to offer to take them places, such as going to catch a movie or to the mall.

The YMCA of the Suncoast is now registering for summer sports, swim lessons, and half day and full day clinics. Keep out children active and entertained this summer. Stop by the YMCA or visit the website for more information, .