The Solution: Overweight Kids with Plummeting Grades

It’s been said that “progress” is not always a good thing.  In regards to the health of our children, this is partially true.  Childhood obesity is rampant.  Gone are the days of after-school play and lean,active children.  Today, most of their after-school hours are spent praying to their electronic “God”- aka Computers, Televisions, and Gaming Systems.

As a parent of a 13 year old son, I have struggled with the same problems that face most parents today-obesity, struggling with school, and little desire for physical activity.  As a responsible parent, and despite working two jobs, I felt is was my job to motivate my son- working with him to complete his homework, prodding him to work out, and planning outdoor activities-hikes, sports, etc whenever possible.  It was my hope that he would eventually show the initiative to pursue these activities on his own, yet the desire was still absent.

I was once an Insurance salesman, and I know that people don’t take initiative based on what you “tell” them is best for them.  Everyone has a “hot-button”, something that causes them to act.  In my son’s case, his hot-button is his XBox gaming system.   If it was up to him, he’d play from the time he got home until it was time for bed. 

So, I devised a system to reward him for being active and devoting himself to his schoolwork, based on his hot-button.  The system is divided into two areas-weekend gaming time, and Monday through Friday gaming time.

His weekend gaming time is based on an hourly system based on his individual class grades.  If my son gets all ”C’s”, he gets 2 hours of gaming time for the weekend.  For every “B”, he gets an additional quarter of an hour, for every ”A” an additional one half hour.  But since it doesn’t seem right to reward someone for poor grades, for every “D” he loses an hour, and if he has an “F” , there is no gaming that weekend.  So, let’s say that my son has 1 “D”, 2 “C’s”, 2 “B’s”, and an “A”.  He then gets his baseline of 2 hours for the “C’s”, one half hour for the 2 “B’s”, another half hour for the “A”, but loses 1 hour for the “D”.  The result, two hours of gaming time for the weekend.  You might say, where’s his motivation for good grades?  Well, let’s say he gets 2 “C’s”, 2 ”B’s, and 2 ”A’s”.  He still gets his initial 2 hours for the “C’s”, but now gets an additional one half hour for the 2 “B’s” and an additional hour for the 2 “A’s”.  Now the result of his improved grades is 3 and one half hours of gaming time.   The basic idea- better grades equates to additional gaming time.  Poor grades, less gaming time and more time for homework.

During the week, when time is at a premium, my son would still like to play with his XBox, but instead of basing his time on grades, he earns time by working out.  I devised a routine consisting of push ups, leg lifts, and sit ups which takes about 20 minutes.  Once completed, he gets an hour of gaming time-once his homework is done.  He can also substitute other activities- walking, basketball, football, etc, for his workout, as long as he is physically active in some way.  And, he can earn additional gaming time for the weekend, simply by working out on the weekend.

Now, instead of having to prod my son to work out, he enthusiastically starts as soon as he gets home, has a snack, does his homework, then has an hour of gaming time before dinner.  Between the incentive for good grades and workout routines, my son’s grades have improved, he is leaner and more fit, and generally seems more focused.