Health messages and kids

It's January, the time of year when we think health resolutions-either because we want to make those resolutions or because social marketers and advertisers are telling us that we want to make those resolutions.

A weighty issue

Some of the most hard-hitting ads to debut this season are the ones Participaction created that focus on the issue of childhood obesity. The message is clear: move it or lose it (your health, your quality of life and your longevity).

The great thing about these ads is that they are very tongue-in-cheek, so you and your kids will actually want to pay attention when they come on (as opposed to, say, heading to the fridge for a snack). 

Smoke and screens

If you want proof of how powerfully kids can be affected by what they see on the screen, you may want to take note of a brand new study, published in the current issue of the medical journal Pediatrics ("Longitudinal Study of Viewing Smoking in Movies and Initiation of Smoking by Children).

Researchers at Dartmouth Medical School have discovered that children who are exposed to smoking scenes on an ongoing basis face one in three odds of becoming smokers themselves.

The researchers tracked the movie-watching and smoking behaviours of a group of nine to 12-year-old from 26 schools in New Hampshire and Vermont. They found that smoking in movies was a factor in approximately one in three children's decision to start smoking.

Your odds of being able to protect your child from ever seeing a movie character light up on screen are slim to none, unless Hollywood itself decides to go smoke-free. (Don't hold your breath.) Your job as your child's parent is to help your child make sense of all those smoking images flickering across the screen: the tough guy passing a smoke to the hot girl - and every other smoking cliché in the book. If you're a smoker yourself, but you don't want your child to start smoking, be honest and truthful about this fact: tell your child that starting smoking wasn't one of your best decisions, and you hope she'll never start.

If she makes it to age 19 without lighting up, odds are she'll never develop a smoking habit. So if you've got a child or preteen at home, these are the key years to help her to decide to become a member of the smoke-free majority.

And while you're at it, encourage your daughter to get off the couch while the two of you are laughing at that great childhood obesity ad. Think about other great ads you'd develop, if you were the ad campaign director — and share your ideas while you take a walk around the block.

• So what do you think about the new Participaction ads? Do your kids like them? Do you think they'll do their job - encouraging kids to be more active?
• What kinds of conversations have you had with your kids about smoking and other lifestyle choices (drinking, drugs, etc.)? What works best when it comes to having these types of discussions at your house?