Interview with Robert Gotlin about Raising Fit Kids

Posted on July 24, 2008 at 8:00 am

Do kids today get less exercise than their parents did? Why?

If I told you kids are playing more sports than their parents did yet they are in worse shape and exercising less, you may look at me as if I have two heads. The truth is, kids are participating in more sport-hours than their parents did, however, the majority of the time spent, playing “team” sports, and is anything but a true “exercise workout.” Just see for yourself. Go and watch a Little league baseball practice…a lot of “standing around” out there. When our parents had free time, it wasn’t standing around and watching on a Little League practice field, rather, it was a trip to the park for a day of playing ALL sports with their friends, and there was not a coach anywhere to be found. The day was all about constant motion.

What are the biggest impediments kids and parents face that make it harder to adopt a healthy lifestyle?

Kids are faced with too many options. There’s the recreational basketball program, then there’s the CYO league, the travel program, the AAU. There are time management issues where everyday can be filled with another team practice, school work suffers, overuse injuries occur, and let’s not forget pressure from mom and/or dad, reminding everyone in an ear’s distance that “their” little six year old indeed is the next Derek Jeter. The pressures facing these young athletes can be overwhelming.

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And couple this with many families who nowadays, have two working parents…possibly one parent with two or three different jobs. The family “together-time’ suffers. And when family time suffers, so does the healthy lifestyle concept suffer.

Should all kids play some kind of sport? What are the factors to consider in selecting the right sport for a child?

Every child need NOT play a sport. Every child needs to be physically active and every child needs to be placed in a situation where he/she can succeed. “Success breeds confidence and confidence breeds success.” When a child engages in an activity he/she cannot succeed in, the simple solution is to move on and try something else. Many sports or physical activities offer different benefits, whether it is the martial arts for the hyperactive child or football for the overweight child. And for the child who simply is not an athlete, the “back to the future” mentality works best; a family walk, a game of tag, or simply a day in the park will do fine. One of the key points to consider is whether your child fits best into the TEAM or INDIVIDUAL sport model. This decision needs to be an “unbiased” one and not driven by mom or dad’s own preference.

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What do parents need to know to make their communications with coaches and PE teachers most effective?

Communication, communication, communication…I can’t emphasize this enough. Parents should be proactive in assuring the environment for their child is safe and secure. Parents, on the other hand, should not attend a child’s basketball practice to offer their on the court expert opinion. That’s why there is a coach.

The more experienced and more qualified coaches will deliver an outline of their coaching philosophies, expectations, and demands early in the process. This affords the opportunity for Q&A and can eliminate conflict down the road. Offering constructive advice almost always assures mom or dad a seat near the bench. This may be accomplished by organizing a team fund raiser, offering to assist with transportation, or merely letting the coach know you are available if he/she should require assistance with any operational issues.


What can we tell children to minimize injuries and speed recovery?

We can tell kids almost anything to help them minimize and recover from injury. Unfortunately, they only hear a fraction of that which we’ve told them. The most important preventative is to eliminate “horse-play.” In most, if not all, published studies on youth sports injuries, horse-play is the #1 culprit. Rules must be set and kids must understand the implications if the rules are broken.

How do particular foods help or impede optimal athletic performance?

The best advice a clinician, author, or educator can give with reference to food choice is to “eat a well-balanced” diet. Children rarely need to “be on a diet.” Children simply need to eat a well-balanced diet. It is fairly common knowledge that consumption of excessive “sugary” foods can lead to hyperactivity and obesity, an epidemic effecting 50% of today’s younger population.

What are the most important ways to encourage kids to participate in sports?
We really cannot “encourage” a child to participate in a any particular sport, unless there is a desire to do so on their part. This is why it is critical for parents and care-givers to select opportunities for the child for which he/she not only likes, but one in which they have a realistic chance to achieve success at. Understanding that sometimes one never knows the ability a child has at a given sport until he/she tries, the experience must always be viewed in a “positive” manner as the ultimate decision for participation will be the child’s.

What are the most common questions parents have about fitness for kids?
Interestingly, for many questions parents ask, they already know the answer. When a parent asks whether their child can return to play even though the ankle sprain is still causing a limp, their lead line is almost always, “it’s only a minor sprain, he should be ready to play today, don’t you think?”

Some of the other facts are:
Yes, children as young as seven or eight can weight-train so long as there is adult supervision.
Your child needs to drink approximately 2/3 glass of fluid for every one hour they engage in strenuous physical activity.
Yes, children DO need to stretch. Their growing bones tend to increase stress on the supportive ligaments so stretching is essential for a child, more so than for an adult.

What can parents do to encourage schools to promote fitness for kids?
Parents MUST get involved. Join the PTA, sit on committees, and volunteer to assist. Many schools are academically loaded and unfortunately, this has limited physical education classes to almost “none” in many regions. This is not acceptable. Study after study support greater academic success achieved in children who are more physically active and who exercise regularly. Parents must pressure the local school boards to maintain the Presidents Council on Physical Fitness and Sports recommendation for physical activity in young children to occur on “most” days of the week for at least 30-45 minutes/day.


How can kids with learning or physical disabilities get the most from fitness programs?

Learning disabilities should in no way alter or adversely influence a child’s potential for achieving optimal physical fitness. Programs simply need to be structured so that the “challenged” child is afforded an opportunity to achieve success.

What’s your favorite sports movie for families?

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Two,
Rudy …everyone deserves a chance
Miracle …never say never

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Books Interview

Comic-Con 2008

Posted on July 23, 2008 at 6:00 pm

comic-con logo.gifI’m getting ready for one of my favorite events of the year, Comic-Con in San Diego.
It began in 1970 with a few dozen comic collectors swapping comics and stories. This year, all 125,000 passes were sold out long before this evening’s opening night. I always refer to it as the Iowa caucuses of popular culture and the LA Times calls “the World’s Fair for pop-culture aficionados” and “the Super Bowl of popcorn cinema.” This is where everything that will be cool a year or two from now in comics, gaming, movies, television, and music begins. The people who buy comics are a tiny fraction of the entertainment marketplace but they are hugely influential because they are fiercely independent — they don’t wait to see if something is considered cool before making up their minds — and even more fiercely passionate — if they like something, they will get the word out. I am always touched and inspired by the way so many of the attendees are completely comfortable in their fanboy geekdom and wear it proudly, knowing that next year the people who didn’t talk to them in high school will be following whatever trends they help to determine this year. But that may be because I am such a fangirl myself. HPIM2104.jpg
Everyone will be there — from Deepak Chopra with his Virgin comics line to the people who come dressed up as superheroes and movie characters and collectors of arcane memorabilia to the stars of the new Watchman movie and the scholars from universities who write about what it all means and the people behind and on screen from all the biggest upcoming movies (including “The Hobbit.” “Clone Wars,” Disney’s next big animated release “Bolt,” and “City of Ember”) and television shows. Celebrities in attendance include the Mystery Science Theater guys, Seth Green, the original voice talents from top cartoons including the original Charlie Brown kids, Tori Amos, author Dean Koontz, Bill Murray, Steve Coogan, Method Man, Matt Groening (of “The Simpsons” and “Futurama”), and Triumph the Wonder Dog.
Keep checking, because I’ll be posting about my adventures. In the meantime, check out my pictures from 2006 and 2007.

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Comic book/Comic Strip/Graphic Novel Festivals Music Superhero Television Understanding Media and Pop Culture

‘Lord Save Us From Your Followers’

Posted on July 23, 2008 at 9:00 am

My good friend Brandon Fibbs has a characteristically thoughtful review in Christianity Today of a new documentary called Lord Save Us From Your Followers from writer-director Dan Merchant.

Merchant’s documentary turns on a deceptively simple question: Why is the gospel of love dividing America? Christianity, he contends, is far more interested in the “gospel of being right” than the gospel of Jesus Christ. Fed up with the strident language and angry rhetoric that have come to define modern Christendom, Merchant, a veteran of the entertainment industry, set out to explore the flashpoint of faith and culture in America.

Fibbs says that
What makes the film so powerful is its intractable ability to embrace both the baby and the bathwater. This is a film made by a follower, and therein lies its unique musculature….”If the first half of the film is showing how we’re missing the mark,” Merchant says, “the second half is really an examination of who we’re trying to be. If (the world) wants to criticize (Christians) for the things we do wrong, we should accept it and apologize. But let’s also be honest that that is not the whole picture….” also reveals Christians acting in ways that bring honor to the God they serve, earning the respect of all those around them. Rather than using the Bible as a weapon, these believers use it as a salve, and the response is as simple as it is astonishing. Suddenly Christ and Christians are synonymous again. Says Merchant, “Let’s be so like Christ that others say, ‘You can always count on the Christians when they come around.’ I’d love for us to be that. That’s how Jesus did it.”
I was very touched by Fibbs’ description of Merchant’s open and honest communication and spiritual generosity and look forward to seeing the film.

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Spiritual films

Quotes of the Week: Dark Knight and Mamma Mia

Posted on July 23, 2008 at 8:00 am

The Dark Knight has inspired some very thoughtful reviews. Anonymous DC critic “J.J.” wrote that the film moved him to tears:
Perhaps it’s because the film has characters I grew to care about, scenes that soaked my heart in adrenaline and sociological themes that range from the unsettling to the horrifying. This movie moves beyond good and evil and enters into our world, which is much more complicated than comic books. This is the first film-with-terrorism-metaphor that our age of terrorism deserves. And it will stop your heart.
His description of Heath Ledger’s performance is one of the most astute I’ve seen:

Everything you hear about Heath Ledger is true. And we should’ve expected it. He was the best actor of his generation, and his ability to mash depravity and hilarity into something compulsively watchable…The Joker has never made more sense than he does here…As played by Ledger and as written by the Nolans, the Joker is walking anarchy, cackling sadism, crime for the sake of crime. He is a terrorist without a god to kill for. His actions are beyond random; they are perpetrated not in the name of something but solely for the consequences. And he is capable of understanding (and exploiting) our suppressed desires for this type of anarchy. Ledger makes you root for him, then, inexplicably, makes you feel utterly depraved for doing so.

The moment I saw Mamma Mia! I knew critics would not be able to resist one of my least favorite contemporary terms: “cougar,” used to describe a sexually active woman over 40, usually portrayed as desperate, predatory, and interested in much younger men.
Tanya in the movie, as portrayed by Christine Baranski, is a sexually active woman over 40, but she is far from desperate or predatory and has an entire musical number about resisting the advances of younger men. And yet, she was called a “cougar” by a number of critics including Bill Gibron of Pop Matters and Mike Russell of the Oregonian (who did not like the movie), James Ward of the Visalia Times-Delta (who did), and Chris Hewitt of the Twin Cities’ Pioneer Press (who liked it a lot, and who includes a nice assessment of ABBA’s tunes and lyrics).
If you must, use ABBA lyrics in your headlines. “Take a chance on this movie.” “This winner doesn’t take it all.” But let’s retire the word “cougar,” all right?

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Commentary Quote of the Week

PG-13 Superheroes in Pre-K Books

Posted on July 22, 2008 at 5:31 pm

Children’s book author Erica S. Perl has a gallery in Slate about books for early readers featuring superheroes from PG-13 movies like The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man and even the very violent and disturbing Dark Knight. Perl reports that
at many chain bookstores there is now a specifically labeled “At the Movies” tier on the early-reader rack. This isn’t the first time brand extensions have shown up in early readers–books starring SpongeBob and Dora the Explorer have been around for several years now. But there’s something more unsettling about books aimed at preschoolers and kindergartners featuring PG-13 movie characters, and they pose a tricky question for parents. Books like A Hero Called the Hulk and The Dark Knight: I Am Batman practically beg to be plucked by small hands.herocalledhulk.jpg
Perl says that some of these books are educationally sound, while others are not.
I Am Iron Man!, one of the best of the bunch, blithely ignores much of the plot of the movie my husband called “the loudest film ever made,” and Guido Guidi’s drawings of Iron Man’s suit convey the undeniable excitement of a snazzy magic flying costume. As important, his pictures provide a good jumping-off point for kids who want to make up their own stories about gaining the power to soar through the skies. Other movie-based early readers, however, present problems. A Hero Called the Hulk, seen here, provides none of the educational scaffolding beginning readers need.
Pedagogical value aside, I think it is wrong to use these books to market characters and movies to kids who are too young for them. Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission urged the Motion Picture Association of America to reconsider guidelines that allow some PG-13 movies to be marketed to young children, following a complaint by an advocacy group that the blockbuster film “Transformers” was inappropriately advertised to children as young as 2. It also urged toy manufacturers, fast-food chains and retailers to review how they sell movie-based toys to young children. These books are essentially ads for movies that are inappropriate for children and the Federal Trade Commission and the MPAA should prohibit this kind of licensing for products intended for those who are too young to see the movie.
FTC contact: Mary Engle, Director of the Division of Advertising Practices
* Online:secure complaint form
* Phone: Toll-free helpline: 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357);
TTY: 1-866-653-4261
* Mail:
Federal Trade Commission
Consumer Response Center
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580
Or complain to the publisher:
Carolyn Kroll Reidy
CEO, Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Phone: 212-698-7000

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Early Readers Marketing to Kids Preschoolers Understanding Media and Pop Culture
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