Superhero Training Program:

Print the Energy Journal and post it somewhere you and your child will see it every day--such as your fridge or your child's bedroom door. Print the Superhero Training Stickers on sticker paper and help kids cut them out.

Before starting the Superhero Training Program, it is important to talk together about what each sticker represents and come to an agreement on what your child needs to do to earn a sticker each day.

For example:

When your child brushes his teeth twice a day, he gets two toothbrushing stickers.

When your child eats a piece of fruit for a snack, she gets a fruit sticker on that day.

When your child tries a new vegetable at dinner, she gets a vegetable sticker that day.

When your child plays an active game or turns off the TV to go out and play, she gets an exercise sticker.

Also agree on how many of each sticker your child needs at the end of two weeks to earn the Superhero Reward Pack. To come up with the numbers, talk together about how many times your child finishes her juice at breakfast, and try increasing that number. Talk about how many vegetables your child ate the day before and increase that number by one a day the first week and two a day by the end of the last week.

Kids should feel empowered by the program and understand that the stickers are not bribes given out for good behavior in specific situations (at dinner, at mealtimes, etc.), but something that they are earning themselves each day.

Rather than saying at dinnertime, "If you don't eat your peas, I won't give you a sticker," try saying, "Remember what we decided. You need to eat three bites of every vegetable to earn a healthy hero sticker."

Use the Energy Journal chart and stickers as part of a long-term strategy, rather than focusing on what your child does--or fails to do--each day.

Instead of saying, "You earned only one vegetable sticker today," you could say, "You've earned one vegetable sticker every day this week. I wonder if you could earn two vegetable stickers a day by Friday."

At the end of the first two-week period, review the chart with your child and point out which stickers she has the most of and which stickers seem to be lacking.

If you'd like, you can continue the program beyond two weeks. Print out another journal and more stickers and come up with a new reward with your child. Work together to improve healthy habits for another two weeks.

As you continue the program, try to focus with your child on healthy habits that still need work--but try not to use the stickers as bribes for individual instances of healthy behavior. For example, say, "Remember, you're trying to get more toothbrushing stickers this week" rather than saying, "You're not going to get a toothbrushing sticker unless you brush right now."