Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
TV Dinners
I will be the first to admit that you have to pick through a lot of lumps of coal to find a diamond on television. Every other hour is plagued by a brainless, desperate reality show. The scripted programs (because we all know the reality shows are REALLY REAL- really.) seem to only be a backdrop for scantily clad women with an ever scanter plotline, with the exception of a few clever gems. But one show has actually had a positive impact on my family: The Biggest Loser.
Before season one, we were hesitant to watch it- given the cruel, sarcastic, insensitive tone that TV was beginning to take, we assumed it would be an exploitative mess, hell bent on embarrassing the obese. WOW, were we ever wrong. Years later, we still watch with our now 10 year old son, The Boy (which is how he requested that I refer to him,) and the effect on our family is something special.
If you don’t watch the show- in a nutshell, obese contestants move into a house complete with a gym and personal trainers, lose a ton of weight, and compete for $250k, the winner being the… yes! Biggest Loser. It’s tasteful, touching family programming with a message, a few bleeped expletives aside. Most impressive to me is how it’s encouraged The Boy to make healthier food choices with no prompting from us. He asks questions like “What’s even IN a McNugget?” and “Why would I want to drink corn syrup??” He reads labels, prefers fresh mangoes to Fruit Gushers, and cranberry juice to juice boxes. Now that he’s old enough to cook with us, he asked if we could get the Biggest Loser cookbook, and make a family tradition of cooking at least one recipe a week from it. Last weekend, The Boy prepared pizza burgers with baked sweet potato fries- with just a touch of assistance. Who knew healthy could taste so good?
Combining his (more often than not) wise food choices with the endless opportunities for sports and activities here in LoCo, means that he is off to a great start for a healthy life. Martial Arts, Golf, Little League, Flag and Tackle football, Lacrosse- with so many choices, it’s more challenging to avoid activity for our kids than it is to find it! With spring break on deck and summer vacation around the corner- the options for active camps are sprouting up everywhere. Sam Plank, of Stone Bridge fame, offers spectacular Diamond Elite baseball camps. US Tigers Tae Kwon Do runs camps that are activity filled: swimming, dodgeball, kickball- The Boy is in bed by 9pm and fast asleep for 10 solid hours almost all summer long.
There are too many choices to name, but a great place to start is the Loudoun Parks and Recreation website to find camps that fit your kids. We're blessed in this county, to be able to offer our kids darn near anything. All you have to do is choose- and of course, turn off the boob tube. After TiVo’ing the Biggest Loser. And Judge Mathis… I love that show…
You must be logged in to post a comment.