Some parents don’t worry about their child being overweight, referring to the problem as nothing more than a little “puppy fat”, convinced they’ll grow up healthy and lose the weight in their teenage years. The stark reality is that an overweight or obese child is likely to grow up and suffer from serious health problems later in life.

Aside from eating a better diet that is lower in fat and sugar, children need to exercise in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. But, we understand that it can be difficult to bring subject up with your child, especially if your kid even hates the word exercise and switches off as soon as you mention it.

In order to help parents facing this tough situation, we have come up with a few fun and innovate ideas to help kids get fit by introducing a little more exercise into their lives subtly.

Here are four fun ways to encourage your couch potato kid to get up and get active:

1) Trampoline

Trampolines are a great way to encourage a little additional activity in your child’s life, from the safety and convenience of your own back garden. Some parents are worried the equipment might lead to injury, which is a risk – but there are plenty of precautions you can take to set your mind at ease: ensure you buy all of the relevant safety nets and pads recommended, place the trampoline on level ground in your garden, preferably on grass not concrete and always supervise your child as they’re jumping.

Trampoline tent from All Trampolines.com

2) Get a dog, or suggest your child starts dog walking service for pocket money.

Most kids are keen to get a pet pooch and family dog walks around the local park are a great way to introduce a little gentle exercise into your child’s life in a completely stealth, undercover way. Their focus will be entirely on the dog – not your ulterior motives!

If your home is too small for a dog, or if you can’t afford the time to look after one, why not encourage older children to start a dog walking service for neighbours to earn extra pocket money? The opportunity to earn an extra few pounds of an evening should appeal to your child. Of course, you’d need to supervise this task initially to ensure your child’s safety.

3) Send your son or daughter on activity days!

Why not arrange for your child to visit a local climbing wall with a friend? If climbing isn’t their thing, what about an afternoon at a roller disco? The trick here is to package the experience as a fun and thrilling day out, not an opportunity to get them to take additional exercise. If your child enjoys the experience, you could encourage them to visit weekly.

4) Games

If your child is overweight and fits into the lower age range quoted above, you’ll find it very easy to encourage them to play active games with a hidden added fitness benefit.

Encourage whacky obstacle races with friends (supervised, of course) and invent mimicking games linked to animal traits. It’s easy to coax most youngsters into running like a tiger or jumping like a rabbit. You can offer homemade certificates for the best bunny hop or lion leap!

Hopefully these tips will help set your child off to leading a more active lifestyle. Please share your own tips, I would love to hear them!

And that applies not just to the individual purchaser of international private insurance. The warning is primarily aimed at privileged policyholders – the millions of expats covered under a group scheme paid for by their employer.

Put simply, the message from consultants Mercer is that many expats will no longer be able to lie back and enjoy the luxury of full cover. Increasingly, they will have to prioritise.

The report says the shaky recovery in 2011 has left companies “questioning the feasibility of maintaining their health benefit schemes against a backdrop of rapidly mounting health care costs as well as a rising tide of government regulation and legislation”.

Millions of Americans are to receive refunds from their health insurance companies.

The rebates come as a part of a new policy in the federal health care system which puts strict conditions on how insurers spend their money.

The new rules, which came into place last year, state that insurers must spend between 80 and 85 percent of premium dollars on medical care.

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