3-2-1 Blastoff!

Do you remember counting things down as a kid? You know, eight days till Christmas, four weeks until schools out, 364 days until my next birthday.

I bring this up because my son, Skyler, leaves for Pepperdine University in five days. In some ways it is filled with the excitement of Christmas, summer, and birthdays but I find myself tearing up unexpectantly nonetheless -you guessed it- even as I write this. Sky is fourth of six children so you'd think I'd be a pro by now but every child is so unique that their sojourns into the adult world hit you differently.

Exercising Values was written to help families instill values as well as healthy habits in their children. When the day comes for you to send your child into a new environment whether that's camp or college I promise you that you will feel better about it if you've given them the tools to make good choices. Will they be perfect? Of course not. But they'll be thoughtful and principled. They'll know how to respond to stress and adversity and how to strive for success.

Exercising Values is also designed to enhance the entire family's physical fitness. The time spent together doing the easily learned exercises will create lasting memories. While participating in the Death Ride last month I met a guy whose father had done daily calistenic-type exercises with his children. He said it was one of his fondest childhood memories. Maybe it even had a part in him attempting to bike over five mountain passes in one day as a Death Rider.

By the way, California's Death Ride is a challenging and fun day that I highly recommend to cyclists. There were some father-daughter teams that looked like they were having the time of their lives. Sharing an active lifestyle with our children is great fun and can be done in our own living rooms as well as on mountain tops.

I've been teaching a personal training class on youth fitness at Heritage College this week  and ran across an article that talked about the history of exercise for children. It talked about how at one time experts were afraid to let children exercise vigorously because they believed it would damage their heart. Modern science says just the opposite. I remember not being allowed to play full court basketball in junior high because they thought that much running was too much for us girls. A few years later a woman snuck into a marathon and was taken out of the race by force. Since then, women have found a way to get back in the race and have proven their abilities many times over.

Children and women have made great strides in athletics. But only because someone went against popular opinion. There are a lot of forces urging our children to be sedentary and to over eat the wrong foods. As an Exercising Values follower you go against that trend by urging your children toward an active and fit lifestyle. We don't want to drift along where our children are concerned. We want the best for them. Spending time with them is one of the best investments we'll ever make.

3-2-1... don't wait. The day of their launch from your home draws nearer every day. Please post your concerns about raising children and let the Exercising Values community share their ideas with you.