Mother to a 12-year-old girl, Lisa Mattox of Taneyville, Missouri, keeps to this top 10 Back-to-School wellness list:

•  Just turn off the television. With the push of a button, it will be amazing how you can get your family more involved with each other.

•  Don't buy junk food or drinks. If you have the stuff in your house you will eat it, and so will your kids.

•  Do buy lots of fresh vegetables, fruit, different kinds of cheese, and deli cuts of meat.

•  Make after-school snacks of plates of fresh fruit, rolled deli meat, and cut cheese.
 
•  Make sure your kids have bikes and make sure they ride them several times a week, if not every day.  If you have a swimming pool, make sure they swim several times a week if not every day.

•  Think about getting your children, especially if they're younger, exercise balls.  I have one that my daughter uses when she is watching television. She rolls on it, bounces on it, and has all kinds of fun on it. The ball works her leg, arm, and stomach muscles, and she doesn't even consider that she is actually exercising.
 
•  Include your children in buying groceries and educate them on how to eat healthy. We compare bad fats to good fats, total carbs, sodium levels, etc. It makes her aware of healthy eating and hopefully will prevent her from having an eating disorder.
 
•  Stop buying your kids video games. If they only have a select few to play, they will less likely spend five hours a day playing and thinking about them.

•  Say goodbye to fast food. Cooking dinner at home is so much healthier. I am talking a real dinner, not a pre-packaged, pre-cooked or frozen dinner. I am a working, single mom, and I have to find time to cook dinner for my daughter and my mother every night. 

There are times I don't feel like it, so I understand the want-to-go-out-to-eat or throw a pre-packaged dinner in the oven or microwave.  But, on the same note, I am fortunate because I don't like those kind of dinners, so it is easy for me to resist the urge to throw something in the oven and go sit down and relax, which is really what I want to do after a long stressful day at the office.
 
•  Don't overschedule your children. I let my daughter play one sport at a time. I don't push her to do other things. I have instilled in my daughter the importance of mental health and how important it is to have inner peace.