If you were an active child who loved playing sports and on the playground, you probably still do something to stay in shape today – but do you involve your children in these activities? If not, you are not doing all you can to prepare your children to lead healthy, adult lives. Show your children you care about exercise ? take them with you on walks. They may not want to start jogging right away, but if you take your toddlers on short walks with you now, they will get used to the idea of exercising.

For children to stay in shape, they need about an hour of physical activity every day. What type of activity depends on the child?s age, temperament, and interests. Check out the recommendations below to help find the right activity for the children in your family.

Toddlers and kids up to 5 years old are not ready for intense, organized sports or games with many rules. Choose games that are simple and easy to play, like ?Hide and Go Seek? or ?Duck, Duck, Goose.? Encourage physical activity that will develop balance and agility such as running, jumping, climbing, and sliding. Trips to the playground to climb on a jungle gym or swing are also good options.

6 to 8 year-old children can understand rules that are more complex and are ready to learn new skills. You can begin instilling a sense of teamwork and competition in them, although pushing too much competitive drive at a young age is not a good idea. Encourage children to cooperate and help each other in small groups. Organize informal games at the local playground or park with other kids the same age to get your children used to socializing and playing with others.

When it comes to sports, enroll your child in a sport that he or she shows a genuine interest in and let him or her take the lead. While teaching your child to follow-through with commitments is great, don?t force your child to stay on a team if they are not enjoying the sport. Let your child try a few sports before you ask them to commit. Children this age may take some time to find the right sport for their personality ? but once they have found it, they tend to love it for a lifetime.

Around ages 6 to 8 is also when most children learn how to ride a bike, skateboard, and inline skate. All of these activities will encourage balance, muscle development, and hand-eye coordination, as well as cardiovascular health and overall physical fitness. Remember to invest in the appropriate safety gear, including helmets and pads, and make sure the kids wear them all the time.

9 to 12 year-olds tend to develop interests that are more specific. Many will still be interested in playgrounds and swings, but around ages 9-12, many kids become active in organized sports. Many will begin to focus on a particular sport or activity they find is their favorite. Encourage your adolescent to develop his or her skills and interests, and support them at practices, matches, and games. Make sure they have qualified coaches and are completing the proper strength training. Most importantly, make sure they are having fun!

If team sports don?t interest your child, invite them to try individual sports like karate or tennis. Hiking or rock climbing is an excellent alternative for the nature-loving child who loves solitude and contemplation, and swimming is a good option if your child loves the water. What form the exercise takes is not as important as whether your child enjoys the activity and sticks with it throughout the years.

Teens can participate in almost any sport they choose, and usually throw themselves into activities with great enthusiasm. Competition and team spirit comes to the forefront at this stage, and sports can become a driving force in your teenager?s life. Activities like waterskiing and snowboarding are popular with teens because they require self-discipline and allow them to develop and apply advanced skills. Likewise, passion for their favorite team sports may carry over from their adolescent years, and activities like dancing or cheerleading may take on new importance. Be supportive.

If your teen is interested, weight training can be added to existing exercise programs to add muscle tone and definition, as long as an adult supervises it. If your teen has access to a gym or health club, encourage him or her to work with a personal trainer to learn how to lift weights properly.

The best way to motivate your children to exercise is by example. Play physical games with them and show your excitement for outdoor activities and sports. When young, take your children to the playground, climb on the jungle gym and swing on the swings. As they mature, challenge them to excel in their favorite sports ? shoot basketballs, volley on a tennis court, or pitch baseballs with them.

No matter activity you choose, as long as you get moving with your kids, you will all live longer, healthier lives, not to mention have a lifetime of memories to share.

These are some forms of self-injury common to teens:

1. Cutting themselves (such as using a razor blade, knife or other sharp object to cut the skin)

2. Punching self or other objects

3. Burning themselves with cigarettes, matches or candles

4. Pulling out their hair

5. Poking objects through ones body openings

6. Breaking their bones or bruising themselves

7. Plucking their hair for hours

8. Excessive, harmful tattooing or piercing

Why do some teens want to hurt themselves?

Many teens cut themselves because it gives them some sense of relief. Some of them use cutting as a means to cope with any problem and most feel a sort of tension reduction when they hurt themselves.

Believe it or not, they are trying to stop feeling lonely, angry, or hopeless when using self injury. Some teens who hurt themselves have low self-esteem, feel unloved by their family and friends, may have an eating disorder, an alcohol or drug problem or may have been victims of abuse.

Teens who hurt themselves often keep their feelings bottled up and have a hard time letting them show. Some teens who hurt themselves say that feeling the pain provides a sense of relief from intense and unpleasant emotions.

Cutting can relieve the tension from bottled up sadness or anxiety. Others hurt themselves in order to feel anything at all.

Often people who hold back strong emotions begin feeling numb and cutting is seen as one way to remedy this. Some teens also may hurt themselves because they want to fit in with others who do it.

If your teen is hurting him or herself, PLEASE GET HIM OR HER HELP IMMEDIATELY! It is possible to overcome the urge to cut. There are other ways they can learn to help them find relief and cope with their emotions.

If you are a parent, please discuss it with your adolescent and talk to a clinical psychologist, your doctor or a professional counselor. You can also call the American Counseling Association or the American Psychological Association for help.

Who are the people who hurt themselves?

People who hurt themselves come from all walks of life, no matter their age, gender, race or ethnicity, although many are young adults and students. About one in 100 people hurts himself or herself on purpose.

More females do so than males and many hurt themselves by cutting with sharp objects.

What are the signs of self-injury?

These are some signs of self-injury:

1. Cuts or scars on the arms or legs

2. Hiding cuts or scars by wearing long sleeved shirts or pants, even in hot weather

3. Making poor excuses about how the injuries happened

Self-injury can be dangerous and cutting can lead to infections, scars, numbness, and even hospitalization and death. People who share tools to cut themselves are also at risk of getting and spreading diseases like HIV and hepatitis.

Teens who continue to hurt themselves are less likely to learn how to cope with negative feelings constructively and maturely.

Are you the parent or teacher of a teen who is depressed, angry or having a hard time coping with life? If he or she is hurting him or herself or even thinking about it, PLEASE DISCUSS IT AND GET HELP for him or her!

Talk with the adolescents parent, or if you are the parent, get help from a mental health professional or clinical psychologist. Getting help for a troubled adolescent is your responsibility.

A self-destructive teen has a right to have the chance to be strong, safe and happy! Please get him or her to talk to a trusted professional immediately.

Your teen will likely need professional counseling and treatment. Help is available; counselors can teach positive ways to your adolescent to cope with problems so he or she does not have to turn to self-injury for relief.

Do you think your teen may have been pressured to cut him or herself by others? If so, notify your kids therapist and discuss the impact of that friendship or relationship with your teen.

After all, does he or she really want friends who want him or her to hurt herself or himself? Also, discuss this with the therapist so he or she can encourage your kid to hang out with other friends who do not pressure him or her in this way.

Communicate Expectations – Tell your teen in a nonthreatening but firm manner that you will not accept their staying in bed all morning and afternoon. It is perfectly reasonable to ask that they get up at a decent hour. Explain that you want them to do more than merely watch TV, play video games, or visit social networking sites all day.

If your teen wants you to help pay for their summer activities, they should be willing to abide by a few summer guidelines. Set an age appropriate, specific time that you expect them to be home, based upon the level of trust they have earned. Ask them to take on a couple of extra chores during the summer to earn some pocket money. These chores could be for you or someone else, but make sure they go above and beyond the normal, everyday chores that every member of the family should be expected to do.

Get Them Engaged – Whether you ask them to help you more around the house, participate in volunteer activities in the community, or help them get a job, you want them to be engaged in something worthwhile. Give them encouragement to help at a YMCA, children’s program, or nursing home. They may find they truly enjoy these volunteer activities and you will help them appreciate the joys of serving others that will last a lifetime.

Help them find volunteer positions by calling around to local places of worship, daycares, charities, or nursing homes. Local businesses may be hiring summer help; offer to help them find a job to earn some extra money. This will help them learn to manage money, but will also help them realize the value of their time. If they get paid by the hour, they might be less likely to fritter their time away.

Spend Family Time – Avoid giving lectures about what they should do during the summer. (Lectures, period, are ineffective with teens.) Instead, find activities that you can do with them. You don’t have to spend every waking moment with your teen, but take some time to take them shopping, go to a movie, or out for a coffee. Keep it relaxed and let your teen open up to you in their own time and way. Summertime is a great time to reconnect with your teen. Don’t let these weeks go by without taking this time to slow down and just be together.

Encourage Physical Activity – Take time to learn or play a new sport with your teen. Not only will this help your teen be more active during the summer, it’ll help you get some much needed exercise, too. Boys in particular are more likely to enjoy “side by side” activities. These are often great times to open dialogue with your son about important issues. Give tennis, swimming, cycling, or rollerblading a try. You both will benefit your health and well being.

Parents all over the country complain that their teens get lazy during the summer break. But teens, just like toddlers, need guidance, clear communication, and reminders of your expectations in order to be successful. These tips should get you well on your way. Ask your teen if there are things they’d like to accomplish before school starts, and then help them to meet those goals.

The problem with extending a teens childhood years can be frustrating for everyone involved. The teen?s mind and body are telling them they are adults but everyone around them still treats them like a child. The result is anger and depression in most cases. With all the potential being bottled up it starts to boil over into society and into the families. Divorce rates are very high when there are teenagers in the home. All the frustration is vented somewhere.

Parents talk about how difficult their children become when they become teenagers. If the tables were turned these parents wouldn?t behave much differently. Societies that have artificial restrictions and mandatory laws that restrict ownership, freedom, and development, overthrow their government in time. Why should we expect our teens to feel, or act, any differently?

Am I suggesting that teens be able to wander the streets without rules or law? No. Teens should have the freedom of true property rights, to sign contracts, work, start businesses, live on their own, and make decisions about education and health care. Most adults think teens are incapable to make these kinds of decisions. Teens are incapable of ?real? love much less ownership decisions. The truth is, teens are more capable of these things than society thinks they are.

Research shows that most cognitive reasoning and brain functioning peak at 14-15 years of age. Scary, isn?t it? In fact incidental memory ? remembering things by chance ? is very good with these early teens and is almost non-existent with people 50-60 year olds. The reason why so many teens act stupid when they are actually very smart is simple. They are acting within boundaries given them. When cooped up with hundreds of other teens with aimless lives the results are predictable. They act like all the other teens.

A teen?s world is void of freedom, responsibility, and realism. Instead of working and interacting with adults they spend over 65 hours a week with fellow teens. This huge segment of teens is targeted by aggressive marketers of large businesses. Idle teens with mock-responsibility spend over $200 billion each year on music, clothing, and make-up. They decorate their pseudo-world with posters of pop icons and other meaningless objects. Instead of working along side adults they are warehoused with other teens in a system designed to contain and restrict them.

Imagine 15 year olds actively becoming scientists, businessmen, and expanding their minds, as they become part of adulthood. By aligning their potential with society they will become assets early in their lives. Meaningful lives will replace their shell of existence they will leave behind.

Kids and teens with health problems that are chronic or those who are on certain prescription could be more susceptible to heat related problems. Overweight adolescents or those who wear heavy clothing in times of exertion also suffer heat related illnesses. Heat related illnesses are basically classified into three types. They are: Heat cramps, heat stroke and heat exhaustion.

Heat cramps are the mildest of all heat related injuries and constitute aching muscle cramps and also spasms that occur during intense exercising and also after intense exercising and also sweating in high heat. The symptoms of heat cramps include cramps that are painful in the legs. Flushed and moist skin is also symptoms of heat cramps. The symptoms could also include mild fever generally below 102 degree Fahrenheit. Teens suffering from heat cramps should move to a cool place and take adequate rest. Remove any excessive clothing and wear or put cool clothing on skin or cool skin using air conditioner or fan. Sports drinks which are cool and which contains sugars and salts can also be taken. Stretching out cramped muscles slowly and steadily also helps reduce heat cramps.

On the other hand hear exhaustion is more serious and severe compared to heat cramps and occur due to heavy loss of salt and water from the body. Extreme heat conditions, inadequate fluid intake and excessive sweating results in this conditions. Also, heat exhaustion occurs as a result of inability of the body to maintain the body temperature below the normal which can deteriorate further and also result in a heat stroke which is even worse. The symptoms of heat exhaustion are: muscle cramps, moist skin, pale skin, nausea, fever above 102 degree Fahrenheit, diarrhea, vomiting, fatigue, headache, weakness, anxiety and faint feeling. Teens suffering from heat exhaustion should stay in cool surrounding and take enough rest. Removing excessive clothing, putting on cool clothes and sitting in fan or air conditioning also helps the situation. Intake of cold sports drinks which contains salts and sugars are also advisable. If a teen doesn?t show any signs of improvement even after taking all these measures a physician should be consulted immediately.

Heat stroke is the severest condition of all heat related illnesses. In this condition the body gets overwhelmed with excessive heat and the efficiency of the system that regulates body heat goes down considerably which can result in a serious emergency requiring immediate medical care. The symptoms of heat stroke include dry and warm skin, very high fever generally above 104 degree Fahrenheit, increased heart rate, appetite loss, nausea, headache, vomiting, fatigue, agitation, confusion, stupor, seizures, coma and possible death. A teenager experiencing symptoms of heat stroke should stay in a cool place and have adequate rest. Heat stroke is a serious condition and emergency attention should be sought by calling 911. In the meanwhile the affected teenager should be made free of excessive clothing and should be worn with cool clothes and also put cool water on the skin to lower the temperature. Placing ice bags in armpits also helps. Make the teenager drink cool drinks if the teenager is alert.

Heat strokes are very much preventable if certain precautions are taken like drinking adequate water during hot days, avoiding alcoholic and caffeine drinks, wearing light clothes, exercising in cooler time of the day, wearing sunglasses and hat, using umbrella on a hot day, applying sun cream with a spf of at least 15 etc.

Through the years of working with struggling and aggressive youth, Adam learned very important truths for managing defiant and aggressive behavior in teens. I had the privilege of corresponding with him a couple days ago. I asked him, “If you had to choose, what are the most important ways that a parent or guardian can manage a teen’s aggressive and defiant behavior?”

Over the next couple of weeks, we will get more in depth on how these tips or strategies play out in your home. Here are the 3 valuable pieces of advice:

The Parent Should Always Control Themselves

Conversations and arguments WILL get out of control with your teen if you are not controlling yourself. A lot of the time, or most of the time, adolescents push their parent’s hot buttons. For some it is intentional, and for some it isn’t. Some teens act defiant and rebellious simply to inspire a reaction out of you. As a parent, you cannot react to your teen or their rebellious behaviors.

If you are always arguing with your teen, or if you lose your cool because your teen is openly defiant, you have just taught your teenager that it’s OK to behave that way. Whether you see it or not, your teens look to you as an example, even if their harsh words don’t say it.

A parent needs to always remember that they cannot control the actions of their teen. That problem alone causes hardships left and right. Parents cannot control their teens decisions. They can however guide, lead, and equip them to deal with their aggression and anger in a healthy way.

The Parent Needs to Recognize the Signs of Potential Aggressiveness in Their Teen

We’ll break this down in future articles so that you will be able to fully understand the signs of aggression. While noticing and recognizing the signs is important, there are obvious triggers that anger teens. These triggers need to be identified by the parents so that they will be able to handle themselves when the triggers are present. Briefly, recognizing the signs of potential aggression in teens is often referred to as WAVE: wind up, agitation, verbal abuse, explosion.

If the Parent is the Source of the Problem, They Need to Remove Themselves

If the parent is not controlling themselves, and if the parent is instigating, this will cause a teen’s behavior to be aggressive, defiant, and rebellious. An instigating parent is the worst ingredient for managing aggressive behavior in teens. Parents sometimes instigate their children because they don’t know any other way of handling their aggressive behaviors. Most troubled teens take offense to such an attack. Adam also provided three points of focus for this one tip. We will study them soon.

Those points are prevention, intervention, and post-vention.

Firstly, teen girls don?t use drugs and alcohol for the same reason that teen boys do (Why teen girls get addicted ). Teenage boys tend to use drugs and alcohol recreationally, and use for the excitement, fun and experimentation that drugs promise. Girls are far more likely to take drugs or alcohol as a way to combat low self esteem, to gain self confidence in a group, to attract the attention of older teen boys who also use, and to use drugs as a way to combat feelings of depression and anxiety.

Girls suffer more from drug abuse

Unfortunately, teen girls also seem to be uniquely affected by their drug use, and teen girls (already at a higher risk for depression that teen boys) if using and abusing drugs or alcohol are two and a half times more likely to experience clinical depression. They are also far more likely to experience an unwanted pregnancy, contract an STD and also to use drugs for properties such as weight loss.

The problem with pills

Teen girls are especially attracted to prescription pills, attracted by the ease of access, the perception of safety, and the perception of positive side effects (decreased anxiety and weight loss). With some prescription pain killers every bit as addictive as heroin, this is problematic.

Additionally, teen girls tend to abuse for longer on average before receiving intervention and professional help. Teen boys using drugs and alcohol are more likely to get in trouble at school, more likely to get into fights or problems with the law, or more likely to have a DUI; while teen girl users tend to avoid most of these problems. The problem is that without some of these obvious signs of use, parents and teachers remain unaware of the level of use, and are unable to intervene in a timely manner.

Parents need to be on the lookout for drug and alcohol use and abuse in teenage girls, and understand that some of the signs may not obviously point to drug use.

Increasing moodiness and depression is a normal sign of drug use and abuse that very rarely gets identified as such, with parents misattributing changes in behavior to the normal expressions of adolescence. While some moodiness can obviously be expected during the formative adolescent years, excessive signs of depression are not normal; and very likely indicate a greater problem.

If your teen no longer has any interest in family activities or wants to spend all of their time in their room, you should be concerned.

If your teen no longer cares as much about their appearance, you should be concerned.

If your teen suddenly drops all old friends for an assortment of new, and seemingly unsavory friends; you should be concerned.

If grades suddenly slip, you should be concerned.

Any or all of these behavioral signs may or may not indicate a problem with drugs or alcohol, but they are worrying behaviors and they do need to be investigated; and if your child is not experimenting or abusing drugs or alcohol, they may be enduring some form of clinical depression. A professional diagnosis can be very helpful for parents concerned about the health and safety of an at risk teen.

You can never protect your teen from all of the dangers out there, but you can do a lot simply by staying involved and active in their life, by leading with a good example on drugs and alcohol use, and by having clear and understood rules on the use of any form of drugs or alcohol.

Talk to your teen, stay involved, make time for mutually enjoyable activities; you’ll be in a far better position to evaluate what changes in behavior may mean, and how far from normal these changes really are.

Price is always a consideration, and your degree of insurance coverage and the amount you can afford to contribute does impact on the decision; but it’s always about more than price, and you want to find a drug or alcohol rehab that offers your teen the best quality treatment, that offers quality teen specific treatments, and that offers them the best total chance of sobriety and a life of health and happiness.

Here are 4 criteria that you may use to help in the evaluation process between available rehabs in your area. This can never be a complete list, and there always intangibles, but using the following criteria may help you to narrow down the list, and may make the decision just a little bit easier.

4 ways to evaluate a teen drug or alcohol rehab

1) Is it a teen specific program?

Although many adult facilities maintain that they can offer effective treatments to people of all ages, teens do far better in age specific programming. Teens do not have the same issues or problems as adults in recovery, and face a completely different set of developmental and recovery challenges. Your teen needs to recover in a teen specific facility, no matter what adult rehabs may say about their ability to handle patients of all ages (What Where to get teen drug treatment).

2) What is the level of family involvement?

Even while you child resides in a drug or alcohol rehab away from home you exert enormous influence, and parental involvement has been proven the single greatest influencing factor over the success of a teen in drug or alcohol rehab. Parental involvement cannot mean occasional phone calls, but should involve a committed and active participation in therapies and educational seminars within the rehab.

These whole family programs can help to heal the family, educate the family about the nature of addiction, and teach the family exactly how they can best support the recovering teen addict once back in the home.

Parental involvement is extremely important, and you should not consider a teen drug or alcohol rehab that does not feature a high level of family participation.

3) What type of academic program is offered?

Many teens enter into a rehab significantly behind in school. No teen using and abusing drugs does well in academically, and many teens in treatment need considerable remedial attention and one on one tutoring to catch up.

Rehab should never be a vacation from school, and teens need to fulfill their academic responsibilities while in treatment. The rehab should offer trained and experienced educators, able to manage classroom discipline and behavioral issues effectively.

Because the teacher to student ratio can be quite low, students have an excellent opportunity to benefit from individual instruction and catch up to or even surpass peers in conventional school.

4) How much aftercare is offered?

Rehab should never end with the completion of the residential phase of treatment, and equally important to long term success and sobriety is a lengthy participation in aftercare therapies. Aftercare may be group sessions, may be individual therapy and may be a continuation of 12 steps style meetings; and ideally it is a combination of these different therapies. Aftercare helps teens to consolidate and integrate the lessons of rehab when faced with the realities of temptation and real world challenges; and is extremely important for long term sobriety.

Better rehabs will offer a substantial level of aftercare therapy as inclusive in the price of admission, and you should be wary of any teen drug or alcohol rehab that does not promote aftercare after rehab.

By doing a bit of research and getting as much information as possible about the rehabs under consideration, you are in a much better position to choose a program that truly does offer the best treatments, and the best eventual chance of success.