Olympic Gold Medalist Kristi Yamaguchi Offers Tips On Keeping Kids Active


Kristi Yamaguchi wants everyone to feel like an Olympian this winter. The Olympic gold medalist has teamed up with Team Kellogg’s for the Winter Olympics to help parents keep their kids healthy—and active—during the cold winter months. Kristi spoke exclusively with Celebrity Parents Magazine about being a part of Team Kellogg’s, her top picks for Sochi, and why kids always love playing with boxes.

For many parts of the country experiencing arctic temperatures, it’s hard to keep your kids active. What do you recommend for parents to keep their kids moving?

Everyone is holed up in their homes now trying to stay warm so it’s hard to stay active. There are a variety of ways to stay busy with your kids to keep the time occupied even though you feel like you’re getting cabin fever. With my kids, we do Olympics-themed charades to keep their imaginations moving and keep them active as well. They think of sports and put it on a piece of paper in a bowl and we take turns drawing the paper and then acting it out.

Another one that is featured is being crafty. We did a craft with cereal boxes, cutting them up and making furniture and their own little houses. They used their imaginations and had a lot of fun. That can keep them occupied for hours on end.

When you have little kids, they always love playing with the box rather than the toy.

[laughs] That’s true. Kids are creative; give them some tape and glue and they’ll make some amazing things.

In terms of Kellogg’s, a bowl of cereal is a quick and easy way to get your kids to eat breakfast in the morning.

It was a staple for me growing up as an athlete and now as a mom too. It’s important to make sure that the kids are fueled for the day. My girls love Raisin Bran.

So the Winter Olympics are coming up. Who’s standing out in your mind?

It’s always exciting rooting for the U.S. Team and seeing what happens. In the U.S. team, my favorite for gold medal is Meryl Davis and Charlie White. It would be historic if they get it because the U.S. has never gotten a gold in ice dancing. In skiing, Ted Ligety is exciting to watch, and in speed skating it’s Shani Davis. It’s hard to pick just one; they’re all amazing.

If you had to pick another sport other than ice skating, what winter sport would you have chosen?

Last week we were in Minnesota and we went tubing outside, and it was so much fun! I went down on my stomach at one point, and I said, “Hey, that’s as close to skeleton as I’m ever going to get!” [laughs]

How is your Tsu.ya, your clothing collection, going?

It’s going great. The spring line is coming out end of February, and we’re already working on Fall 2014, too. The girls are great, busy with activities, skating, softball and soccer. It’s really just a great time, and like everyone else, we can’t wait to watch the Winter Olympics at Sochi with our family and see the U.S. bring home the Gold!!

 

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