Children today are being raised in a world where they’re surrounded by media – while that’s easily a good thing, it also has it negative aspects – some children get so hooked on to the various forms of entertainment that they end up spending the majority of their time in front of the TV or computer.

In a study released by the Nielsen Company, they revealed that the media consumption rates among children have been steadily increasing lately. And putting together every form of digital entertainment kids have today, that’s 7 hours and 38 minutes a day, every single day, according to the study.

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For those who wish to make exercise more fun than labor and also for those who are in the habit of making excuses to shun exercise, here is a tempting idea from the Dutch that combines taking your baby/babies along with you while you exercise.

The makers of the Taga — which is a combination of a stroller and a bicycle, claim that the device is “a feat of engineering genius”. It’s an unique design that easily converts (in only 20seconds) from a regular stroller to a bicycle-carrier and even to a double-seat stroller, thus making it easy for the mother to exercise with her children.

The Taga weighs 44 pounds to 64 pounds, depending on the configuration. It has an aluminum-alloy frame, an internal Shimano gear system as well as front, rear, and parking brakes.

The Taga will, in addition to the existing ‘trike’ and stroller models, soon have options for a double-child seat, a car seat, shopping basket, and a wooden double-seat trailer. At present, the Taga is available only in Europe, at a price of £1,695, but the contraption is hoped to make its debut in the United States sooner than later.

[via TreeHugger]

If we want our kids to become environmental conscious citizens, campaigns like Nickelodeon’s “The Big Green Help” are great. It was designed to make children aware that we need to live a greener life and use gaming and grassroots activities to teach them about recycling, reusing waste and so on.

“We know that kids can truly be agents of change on important issues, and the environment is an issue that affects 100% of our audience [...] Whether it’s addressing kids’ health and wellness through our Let’s Just Play campaign, or promoting volunteerism with The Big Help, Nickelodeon has a history of talking to kids and engaging them on issues that affect their lives, and encouraging them to take action. With The Big Green Help, we want to provide them with the necessary tools and information so they can become part of the environmental solution.” said Marva Smalls, Executive Vice President of Public Affairs, for Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group.

The main reason behind the Nickeloden campaign is a study that showed more than 50 percent of the kids these days are concerned about the environment. More, they revealed that half of the children between 8 and 14 years old don’t know what to do for a better environment, even so 80 percent of them think they can stop global warming.

The campaign is going live in April and will include Nicktropolis, an online eco-friendly game, where the kids can start their own green virtual community and partnerships with Wal-Mart where they will sell “green seed packs”. I sure hope they will stick to the main idea of making kids aware of environment issues and not about selling products.

EarthTimes (photo by paigewatkins)