VIDEO games have become an addiction for our kids. As more and more leisure-based activities compete for our time, the gaming industry at least is becoming increasingly exciting for our younger generation. Companies are spending billions in marketing and research to sell their products to our young. The games are so sophisticated and enticing that kids spend hours playing these games.

American kids on an average spend 75 minutes on video games out of a total seven hour screen time everyday. According to research, there is a direct link between increased screen time and childhood obesity in the US, where nearly one-third of the children are overweight. Video games are increasing the already existing screen time and therefore resulting in our kids spending even lesser time in healthier leisure activities like sports.

Our children in Saudi Arabia are already heavier and fatter than those of the previous generations. Earlier, kids used to spend less time in front of TV and more time playing as leisure-based activities were few. We did not have satellite TV, computers and advanced video games. We are starting to see our children fall victim to obesity-related diseases due to inactivity and bad eating habits. We also tend to see our youth consume wrong types of foods – unhealthy snacks high in fat and sodium – while playing video games.

How do we make our kids spend more time in physical activity and lesser time in video games, Television and the Internet? Our culture of non-adherence to sports does not help. We also do not have enough facilities for sports to entice the young into physical exercise. Females are also not encouraged to exercise and do not have the outlets to do so.

What should we do?

Well, first of all, we need to become role models ourselves and instill the culture of physical activity, wellness and fitness in our young. We need to be active ourselves so our youth grow up emulating us as they always tend to do. Playing sports with your kids on a daily basis even for 15-20 minutes is paramount in shaping active kids.

Engage your kids in a variety of sports from an early age. They will automatically choose a sport that best fits them or which they excel in. Your encouragement is necessary for them to be successful. You will need to show support by taking them to the training, playing with them and attending their games.

We have our own issues about how much time we spend in exercise as we culturally believe that playing is a waste of time. We also tend to associate sports with failure as most of our athletes are school dropouts. We imagine the exemplary student to be someone who only studies and hardly spends any time on physical activity. We need a paradigm shift in our thinking. We need to consider exercise an important subject in our kids’ lives.

To educate your children, you may need to educate yourself first. Include proper nutritional diet to get the real benefit out of exercise. Once you and your kids start to realize the importance of this subject in life, it becomes easier to turn it into a habit. Once it becomes a habit, you will be hooked on it and it will become a part of your lives.

We also need to make the activity fun so the kids would want to engage in it. For our preschoolers, collective games that include basic movement and teamwork to subtly develop the attitude to win must be encouraged. For children in the primary school, we can be more sophisticated by introducing them to specific sports while still keeping it fun and collective. From ages 13 and above, the focus must be on competitive sports to push them to become stronger, faster and fitter. Once you have set a clear path for them, they will adopt it and go beyond your expectation to be active and healthy.

As adults, we need to control their access to screen time by limiting the time they spend in front of the screen. If they play video games, push them into exercising games that will require them to be more active. Let's be innovative in devising ways to spend time away from the screen, even if that does not involve physical exercise.

Let's push ourselves to help our kids become healthy, fit, strong and smart, as they will be our future leaders.