Trips For Kids Works To Promote Health Locally

By NBC 4

WASHINGTON -- With all the high-tech gadgets out there, many experts said more and more children are staying indoors, glued to their television sets, computers and video games.

Health experts said all the couch-potato behavior is measuring up to some serious health problems among kids.

A local organization is working to buck the trend, teaching kids to embrace the outdoors and lifting their spirits at the same time.

Julie Childers said she and her husband founded the group Trips for Kids Metro D.C. in order to get children off the couch and outdoors.

"We'd see a lot of kids in the neighborhood and never riding a bike at the park, at the end of the street, and thought, 'This is crazy. We need to get kids out there and riding a bike,'" said Childers.

Trips for Kids organizes bike treks in the city for children ages 8 to 18. Julie and a team of volunteers help the kids develop their cycling skills and environmental awareness. They said they also promote a healthy lifestyle to fight childhood obesity.

"I like this program because it gives me a chance to go outside and ride. Most kids will just stay inside, play video games and eat potato chips," said Antonio Phillips, of Fredericksburg, Va.

"When I started, I wasn't good. All the time I fell down, and now I'm good at it," said Catalina Arevalo, of Fairfax, Va.

Childers said that while the physical benefits of the program are obvious, she's noticed that biking has also positively impacted the children's lives in other ways.

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