(NEW YORK) August 10, 2010 – You help your child stay physically active. You set a good example by serving and eating nutritious foods. And you make sure there are healthy lifestyle choices at home and at school. But even as the quarterback for your child’s health, you still need some coaching. By talking with your child’s doctor, you can make an age-appropriate plan that’s a perfect fit for your child.

As the school year begins and you make the annual visit to the pediatrician, here are three simple questions to ask from the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. Founded by the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation, the Alliance for a Healthier Generation is focused on reducing the prevalence of childhood obesity by 2015.

How is My Child’s Weight? Does your child need to lose weight, gain weight or maintain his or her current weight? Some kids will grow into their weight, and others may need to shed a few pounds.

What is My Child’s BMI? Body Mass Index is a number that predicts risk of disease by comparing a child’s weight to his or her height. Ask your child’s healthcare provider to measure BMI and educate
yourself on what the number means.

How Often Should We Visit? Ask about follow-up appointments and more tests, as necessary. And find out how often your healthcare provider wants to measure your child’s BMI.

By asking these three questions, you can be sure to keep them on a consistent path to a healthy lifestyle. A doctor knows how to measure your child’s total health—and can evaluate your child compared to other kids in his or her age group.

Interested in learning more tips for working with your child’s doctor? Visit www.HealthierGeneration.org and find out how the Alliance for a Healthier Generation is teaming with national medical associations, leading insurers and employers to offer comprehensive health benefits to children and families for the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity.

About the Alliance for a Healthier Generation
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation works to address one of the nation’s leading public health threats – childhood obesity. The goal of the Alliance is to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity by 2015, and to empower kids nationwide to make healthy lifestyle choices. Founded in 2005 by the American Heart Association and William J. Clinton Foundation, the Alliance works to positively affect the places that can make a difference to a child’s health: homes, schools, doctor’s offices and communities. For more information please visit: HealthierGeneration.org.

Raising a healthy teen requires taking a broad approach toward meeting the needs of your teenager. Yes, it is important to address diet, exercise, and eating and sleeping habits, but it is also important to help your teen to be emotionally healthy as well. From about the ages of 12 through 24, the human brain undergoes significant changes and development, and between the hormone surges and emotional immaturity combined with a strong desire for independence, being the parent becomes even more challenging than it already was.

Because body image is such a critical factor in self-esteem, the way your teen eats is important. Having the proper nutrients makes a difference. Even if your teen struggles with weight issues, you should not encourage him or her to diet or starve but to make healthier choices about what they eat. Instead of buying potato chips for snack, buy baby carrots. Instead of grabbing fast food for dinner, make meals at home.

Most teenagers are still growing and therefore require a lot of nutrients to help with proper development of the brain and body. Since your teen’s bones are still growing, meals should have sufficient calcium and other minerals like iron and zinc. The diet should consist of plenty of carbohydrates to provide the body with enough energy, as well as fruits, vegetables, and protein. (Quick, easy meals like spaghetti and meatballs offer a great solution for meeting nutrition needs without needing too much time).

All kids need a physical outlet for their energy and emotions. If your child is not involved in sports, encourage him or her to ride a bike, walk to school, go swimming, or find some other active hobby. A healthy teen is one whose time in front of the computer and video games is limited and monitored. Your teen needs fresh air, free time, and time away from the TV set and off the couch.

Being Healthy isn’t Just About Food

A healthy teen is a teen that not only has access to healthy food choices and encouragement to exercise regularly but also a supportive atmosphere in which to try out his or her newfound independence. They should be allowed to socialize with their friends and have a level of independence that grows as they demonstrate increasingly capable responsibility. As a parent, you can foster independence by encouraging your teen to take responsibility for his or her choices, by increasing the amount of responsibility your teen has around the house and in making life decisions, and by letting your teen experience the consequences of his or her actions.

The most important thing you can do to have a healthy teen is to be open, honest, supportive, and there. Being available for your teen when he or she needs someone to talk to or needs someone to place boundaries and set guidelines and stay firm can give your child the sense of security and safety he or she needs. Raising a healthy teen takes time, effort, and a lot of patience, but the effort you put in now will pay off in many ways.

Check out  No-Nonsense Parenting For Today’s Teenager and learn how to feel like a good parent even when your teenager hates you. Also learn how get your disrespectful Teenager to LISTEN to what you say & RESPECT you as their parent while getting peace back in your home. Risk Free for 60 Days! No Obligation!”

Teenage binge drinking is a serious problem. In fact, 90% of the alcohol consumed by teens is consumed in the form of teenage binge drinking.

No matter how you put it out there on the table the facts are scary. You can get the statistics from anywhere – Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) reports that more than 5 million high school teenagers experience binge drinking at least once per month. However, it could be higher or lower depending on the specific teenager, who they’re with, and how often they attend high school parties. The fact of the matter is that it happens all across the United States. You may think that your teen is not involved with this sort of behavior, but think again. What child would want to tell their parents that they binge drink on the weekend? And just so we’re clear, teenage binge drinking is usually defined as having 5 or more drinks on any one occasion. No matter how you look at it, five or more drinks in high school usually means that it is enough to get the teenager drunk, if that tells you anything.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has created the Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free. What is their main purpose in doing so? Its main goal is to keep alcohol away from children ages 9 through 15. The implications of having such an organization are daunting! Why, in fact, does the United States need such a Leadership? The answer is because teenagers are starting to binge drink at an earlier age, with over 40% of high school sophomores indicated that they have been drunk at least once, as the Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free reports. In addition, they also have found, through studies and reports, that nearly 20% of junior high school teenagers have experienced the same thing! Those two facts beg the question, “What is going on?”

It seems as though their needs to be some way for teenagers, high schoolers and junior high schoolers alike, to realize that binge drinking and drinking just to have that experience are not the ways to have fun. Studies have also shown that binge drinking reduces a student’s ability to remember what they learned in class. Furthermore, shouldn’t the amount of automobile crashes involving alcohol be enough to convince children and teenagers that it is most definitely not a safe thing to do?

One solution to the problem would be to create other positive influences in the teenager’s life that they can cling to instead of alcohol. If there is something wrong within the family or if a family is experiencing some sort of trauma, teenagers and high school kids are more likely to drink. The Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free is educating the public, families, and the States of their own children’s’ drinking problems, hoping to reduce the number of children ages 9 through 15 who drink on a regular basis through education. Indeed, whole communities need to get involved and make this a city-wide and state-wide goal. Achieving a teenager binge drinking rate close to zero percent would almost be a miracle, but it is possible! In the meantime, educate your kids on why not to drink and why they should stay alcohol free. America can change this trend, one child and high schooler at a time! Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free. (http://www.alcoholfreechildren.org/)

By Matthew Schieltz

My Out Of Control Teen:  A online parent-program for those who are struggling with their out-of-control teenagers. learn cut-to-the-chase parenting strategies that work immediately rather than months or years down the road.

No-Nonsense Parenting For Today’s Teenager – Learn how to feel like a good parent even when your teenager hates you. Also learn how get your disrespectful Teenager to LISTEN to what you say & RESPECT you as their parent while getting peace back in your home. Risk Free for 60 Days! No Obligation!”

As an adult, being overweight is hard enough. But, being overweight or obese as a teenager is even tougher. There is peer pressure to contend with, teasing from classmates or bullies, and that overwhelming feeling of not fitting in. Not to mention how it affects self esteem, confidence and their health. Here are some ways you can help your overweight or obese teen lose weight.

1. Begin by keeping healthier foods in the house. Swap out those little cakes, cookies and ice cream for healthier snacks like nuts, raw veggies and fruit.
2. Challenge your teen to a weight loss competition. If you’re overweight, you two could start a weight loss journey together. Whoever loses the most percentage of body mass over a specified period of time, wins. You two can decide what the prize is, but make it fun and challenging enough to be worthwhile.
3. Ask your teen to start walking with you. Not only is this great exercise, but it’s also a great way to spend time talking.
4. If you can afford it, get your teen and a friend a gym membership together. Working out is always more fun with a friend.
5. Teach your teen proper portion control. We are so bombarded with ads that teach us we have to eat huge amounts of food in order to feel satisfied, but the truth is we only need the actual serving size listed on the package label. One key to succeeding at this is to serve meals on smaller plates and bowls.

Obviously you never want your teen to feel as if you don’t love or accept them the way they are so approaching their weight issue should be handled with care and love. Some of the changes mentioned above can simply be done without saying a word, such as number 1 and number 5. If you’re not sure how to approach your teens weigh issue, you may find it beneficial to get some outside guidance.

The teenage years can be a time of great emotional turmoil as it is the transition from childhood to adulthood. A lot of issues such as peer pressure, search for identity, romantic and family relationships as well as school performance beset teenagers as they undergo this phase. It is inevitable that quite a large percentage of teenagers resort to drug abuse to cope with, alleviate or escape these issues. Teen drug abuse has actually become a common and prevalent phenomenon. Majority of deaths in individuals in the 15-24 age bracket are attributed to alcohol or teen drug abuse. Violent criminal acts that include, murder, assault and rape can be accounted for by teen drug abuse as well.

To combat anxiety and depression, teen drug abuse can also be a temporary coping mechanism for disturbed teenagers. A teenager with a family history of alcohol and drug abuse as well as lack of social skills are those predisposed to serious teen drug abuse, therefore these teenagers must steer clear of experimentation. It is essential that drug abuse by a teenager be prevented by providing emotional security, guidance and education to the child by the family. In fact, there is no telling as even teenagers with no family history of drug or alcohol abuse may also have a predilection to be gravely immersed in teen drug abuse.

Drug abuse if the biggest and foremost concern among children and parents as cited in the National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse. The survey was conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (Columbia University). Physical signs of teen drug abuse to be on the lookout for are nagging cough, red eyes and irregularities in eating and sleeping habits. Parents should also be suspicious when their teenager starts to behave aberrantly and becomes aloof to other members of the family. Red light warning signals on the effects of grave teen drug abuse are irritability and violent behavior, anxiety and panic attacks, lethargy and chronic bronchitis symptoms, memory loss and learning problems, frequently recurring chest colds, paranoia, teeth clenching and muscle tension, convulsions, dehydration, hypothermia, brain damage and consequently, death.

Teen drug abuse has consequential effects of the user’s mood and performance. As a result of preoccupation with teen drug abuse, a teenager can have deteriorating performance in school or in college as well as the workplace. This could actually lead to detention, suspension or dismissal. Teen drug abuse can not only negatively affect family and personal relationships but ruin them as well. Teen drug abuse can also be devastating to parents as the problem can get out of hand and their child becomes defiant and can even have deviant behavior. If you suspect your child to be into teen drug abuse, it is wise to seek the help of authorities or reputable private or government agencies that can provide guidance, counsel, support and treatment to your teenager.

Teen drug abuse may not only be a phase of experimentation in a teenager’s life, but it can possibly lead to serious and grim drug addiction until adulthood that can be debilitating and complicated to resolve. Teen drug abuse, when combated in the initial stages can lead to a better quality of life and well-being not only as a teenager, but eventually as an adult as well.

Rose Windale is a Health and Wellness Coach who has been successful with several natural health programs for many years. Rose decided to share her knowledge and tips through her website http://www.healthzine.org

No-Nonsense Parenting For Today’s Teenager – Learn how to feel like a good parent even when your teenager hates you. Also learn how get your disrespectful Teenager to LISTEN to what you say & RESPECT you as their parent while getting peace back in your home. Risk Free for 60 Days! No Obligation!”

My Out Of Control Teen:  A online parent-program for those who are struggling with their out-of-control teenagers. learn cut-to-the-chase parenting strategies that work immediately rather than months or years down the road.