The Y’s largest single-day event celebrating youth development featured a full day of free activities to celebrate kids being kids
SAN DIEGO (April 30, 2022)- The YMCA of San Diego County hosted the Y’s annual Healthy Kids Day, encouraging families to take a moment to help kids be kids and set them up for a summer of success. Sponsored by Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan, Healthy Kids Day activities took place at YMCAs across San Diego County with free community events featuring activities such games, healthy cooking demonstrations, arts and crafts, and competitions to motivate and teach families how to develop and maintain healthy routines at home.
“At the Y, we believe in the potential of all children, and each day we work to help kids find that potential within themselves,” said Todd Tibbits, president and CEO of the YMCA of San Diego County. “Healthy Kids Day is a fun, free community-wide event to kick off summer and remind us all how important it is for kids to stay active physically and mentally throughout the summer.”
Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2022, Healthy Kids Day is the Y’s national initiative to improve health and well-being for kids and families. The uses the day to get more kids moving and learning, creating healthy habits they can continue while they’re away from the classroom. When kids are out of school, they can face hurdles that prevent them from reaching their full potential.
“Having a balanced diet, incorporating regular exercise and getting enough sleep is significantly important to ensuring that San Diego County youth stay healthy during the summer,” said James Cruz, M.D., chief medical officer at Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan. “We are proud to sponsor the YMCA of San Diego County’s Healthy Kids Day, which encourages healthy habits, ensuring that residents who live in the communities that we serve have the health resources and education they need to live a prosperous life.”
Research shows that without access to out-of-school learning activities, kids fall behind academically. Kids also gain weight twice as fast during summer than during the school year. With all that’s going on in the world right now, Healthy Kids Day is a reminder to families that local communities and residents can help ensure all children have access to what they need to reach their full potential, even during out-of-school time.
KEEPING KIDS HEALTHY ALL SUMMER LONG
In celebration of YMCA’s Healthy Kids Day, the Y offers the following tips to help families develop healthy habits this summer that can have a lifetime effect:
- High Five the Fruits and Veggies – Make sure kids get at least five servings of fruits and veggies each day, the minimum number nutritionists recommend for healthy childhood development. And to keep kids’ taste buds evolving, have everyone in the family try at least one bite of a new fruit or vegetable at least once a month.
- Read Together – The summer is a great time to enjoy reading—and 30 minutes a day goes a long way! Take trips to the local library or create a family reading challenge to see who can log the most minutes of reading. Encourage youth to create their own stories as well.
- Get Moving! – Activities that require movement also help kids flex their mental muscle. Use materials in unique ways: ask kids to build models, manipulate tools or develop their own theatrical scenes.
- Play Together – Play may be the best way to prevent childhood obesity. By putting more play into your family’s day, you will soon find yourself getting the activity that will have your family feeling energized and strong.
- Make sleep a priority – Doctors recommend 10-12 hours of sleep a day for children ages 5-12 and 7-8 hours per night for adults. Sleep plays a critical role in maintaining our healthy immune system, metabolism, mood, memory and learning.
Locally, Healthy Kids Day in San Diego County was made possible thanks to a $25,000 sponsorship from Blue Shield Promise Health Plan. For more information, visit www.ymcasd.org
About Blue Shield Promise Health Plan
Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan is a managed care organization, wholly owned by Blue Shield of California, offering Medi-Cal and Cal MediConnect. It is led by healthcare professionals with a "members-first" philosophy and committed to building a quality network of providers and partnering with community organizations for more than 400,000 members. For more information about Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan, please visitwww.blueshieldca.com/promise. For more news about Blue Shield of California, please visit www.news.blueshieldca.com. Or follow the health plan on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.