I recommend the following tips to assure your child wears a bike helmet:

• When you buy your child’s first bike, buy a helmet, too.

• Make wearing a helmet a rule you enforce.

• Be a role model; always wear a helmet when you ride a bike.

• Let your child personalize the helmet by using stickers to decorate it.

• Praise your child and others for wearing their helmets.

• Help your child realize the head is the most important part of the body.

• Help your child’s school establish and support the rule: “If you ride your bike to school, you must wear a helmet.”

• Make sure the helmet fits properly. If the helmet is too loose, it is not protecting your child’s head.

Do your kids make positive choices when it comes to safety? Each day, they find themselves in many situations where they have to make a choice. The new exhibit, Kohl’s Healthy Kids: It’s Your Move! at Betty Brinn Children’s Museum in Milwaukee makes learning about safety fun.

As kids climb, crawl and move through the exhibit, they’ll have to complete various health-related activities and challenges, including a take-off on the game, Operation.  Kids use a stylus to carefully navigate throughout their “days.” Along the way, they’ll be faced with situations in which they must choose the safest way to get out. If they make a bad choice, they’ll get buzzed.

Kohl’s Healthy Kids: It’s Your Move! was developed in partnership with Children’s Hospital and Health System and brought to you by Kohl’s Department Stores. Learn more at bbcmkids.org.

-Colleen Schultz, Children’s Health Education Center.

It’s a fact: At least half of kids do not take part in physical activity that promotes long-term health. Here’s another fact: Exercise is an important part of keeping kids healthy. Regular exercise helps kids:

• Manage stress.
• Build a positive self-image.
• Learn in school.
• Keep weight under control.
• Build and keep healthy bones and muscles.
• Get a better night’s sleep.

So get your kids moving! And you should move with them – lifestyles that are learned in childhood are more likely to stay with the child into adulthood. Changes in lifestyle are harder to make the older the person becomes. The best way to promote healthy lifestyles is for the whole family to become involved. Plan activity time into your family calendar. Ask your children what types of activities they like to do. We should all be moving our bodies 60 minutes everyday or most days.

Even low-to-moderate intensity activities for as little as 30 minutes a day can be beneficial. These activities may include:

• Walking.
• Climbing stairs.
• Kickball.
• Playing outside.

Dancing is another fun physical activity. The Betty Brinn Children’s Museum in Milwaukee, the new Kohl’s Healthy Kids: It’s Your Move! exhibit features a fun activity that will do more than get your kids’ toes tappin’. A large wall comes to life as two different physical activities appear. Kids must choose which one is more physical by hitting the corresponding button. It’s fast-paced, so it’s sure to get your kids moving!

Kohl’s Healthy Kids: It’s Your Move! was developed in partnership with Children’s Hospital and Health System and brought to you by Kohl’s Department Stores. Learn more at bbcmkids.org.

-Colleen Schultz, education manager, Children’s Health Education Center

Yea, it’s April! Spring has sprung, and that means cold and flu season is over, right? Wrong. Unfortunately, it’s hanging on. So, we have to continue to be good hand washers. After all, that is the best way to stop the spread of those pesky bugs.

Get your kids into the hand-washing habit early. Teach them to:

• Wet hands with warm water to kill germs.
• Place a small amount of soap in palm of the hand. (Turn off the faucet to save water.)
• Rub hands together quickly, rubbing soap between fingers, on backs of hands and lightly scratching fingernails on palms of hands. Rub for as long as it takes them to sing their ABC’s or “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”
• Turn on warm water. Rinse hands well, being sure to scrub while rinsing. Point fingers down in sink. This will rinse germs off hands.
• Dry hands, making sure they are completely dry.
• In public restrooms, when possible, turn off the water and open the door with the paper towel in hand. This will help prevent picking up more germs.

It is important that your child wash his or her hands before eating and after going to the bathroom. Pay attention to how your child washes and praise good technique. Set a good example by washing your own hands well.

Are you looking for a fun way to give your kids “hands on” practice? Take them to the Kohl’s Healthy Kids: It’s Your Move! Exhibit at Betty Brinn Children’s Museum in Milwaukee. Children’s Hospital and Health System partnered with Betty Brinn to develop this interactive exhibit that focuses on health. The exhibit is brought to you by Kohl’s Department Stores.

As kids climb, crawl and move through the exciting, new exhibit, they’ll have to complete various health-related activities and challenges, including the Pit O’Germs! They must make their way across the pit without touching bad germs. When completed successfully, they’ll move on to the next fun challenge, all the while picking up healthy habits! Learn more at bbcmkids.org.

-Colleen Schultz, education manager, Children’s Health Education Center

Check out some photos from the Kohl’s Healthy Kids: It’s Your Move! Exhibit at Betty Brinn Children’s Museum.

Gus Gnorski from Fox 6 Milwaukee learns how singing the ABC’s can help kids properly wash their hands.

It sounds simple, but talking to your kids about eating healthy works. A recent poll found that 82 percent of Milwaukee kids who talk with their families on a monthly basis about eating healthy eat more fruits and vegetables and drink more water. Overall, they’re more likely to eat healthy foods. I recommend following the tips to help foster your child’s healthy habits today.

Serve a variety of healthy foods. Eating a variety of healthy foods helps us get the nutrients our bodies need. Take your child to the grocery store to see the number of fruits and vegetables available. I often let my daughter pick out one or two I normally wouldn’t buy. Together, we create healthy snacks with our choices.

Be a role model by eating healthy yourself. To encourage healthy eating in your child, eat well yourself. Have fruits and vegetables around the house. Limit portion sizes. Tell your kids when you feel full.

Involve kids in your family’s healthy lifestyle. Most kids like to help make decisions about what the family eats. Include your child in meal planning, grocery shopping and reviewing food labels. Have your child help prepare a meal. Talk about what you prepare and why it is healthy. By letting your child participate, you can help create a lifetime of healthy choices in your child.

Have your kids put their decision-making skills to the test at the Kohl’s Healthy Kids: It’s Your Move! exhibit at Betty Brinn Children’s Museum in Milwaukee. This awesome, new exhibit is a giant board game full of health-related activities and challenges your kids can complete.

One activity puts kids in the driver’s seat – literally. Sitting inside a car, they must order a meal from the drive through of a fast-food restaurant. Healthy choices are awarded by advancing on to the next challenge.

Kohl’s Healthy Kids: It’s Your Move! was developed in partnership with Children’s Hospital and Health System and brought to you by Kohl’s Department Stores. Learn more at bbcmkids.org.

-Colleen Schultz, education manager, Children’s Health Education Center

You’ll be able to jump into a giant, interactive board game with your kids and play your way to a healthy lifestyle. This exciting, new exhibit features action-packed activity stations and fun health challenges about nutrition, activity and rest, safety and personal hygiene.

Visiting this exhibit is a great way to get kids interested in learning what being healthy is all about. The exhibit highlights the benefits of making good decisions and the consequences of making poor choices. All the while, kids are moving, crawling, climbing and sliding through the exhibit – discovering the winning combinations that will help keep them healthy and safe.

The exhibit’s grand opening is Saturday, Feb. 27. Check out Betty Brinn’s Web site for more information.

This new feature exhibit was developed in partnership with Children’s Hospital and Health System and brought to you by Kohl’s Department Stores.

-Colleen Schultz, education manager, Children’s Health Education Center

Learn more about Children’s Hospital and Health System at chw.org.