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Get out and play

Photo: AFP

Game time Raveena Tandon

Her four-and-a half-year-old daughter says no to aerated drinks, prefers dal and chawal over pizza and goes outdoors in the evening to sweat it out.

And the credit goes to a healthy lifestyle put in place by her celebrity mother Raveena Tandon. “It is important to introduce children to a healthy lifestyle,” says the proud mother. She takes her daughter and two-and-a half-year-old son to a children’s park in Bandra regularly to ensure that they run around the grass a bit, play in the sand, slides and sweat it out.

Raveena is now associated with Nickelodeon’s “Let’s Just Play” movement to spread the message of ‘active play’ among children. The channel will go blank for 30 minutes on November 7, encouraging children to go out and play. There will a 10-hour play-a-thon on the same day in some cities comprising inter-school sports events, high energy games, and movement therapy and dance workshops. “It is an excellent initiative and it is something close to my heart ever since my kids were born,” says the actor.

Recalling her childhood days, she says: “We used to rush out when it rained, make paper boats and float them. We’d be out all the time playing games such as hide and seek.” Raveena feels new age children are missing out on the joys of playing such games. “The experience of jumping off the bicycle and getting those bruises on your knees are lost.

Earlier, when you drove around in Mumbai, you would see a lot of children out in the open and playing. There used to be so much of football and gully cricket happening. Now, they are glued to television sets and play stations and the streets look desolete.”

A sedentary lifestyle makes them obese and they also battle other lifestyle related health problems. “Children should go outdoors. It is important to improve the energy levels.

A great deal of bonding happens when they play and it ensures a holistic development of the child.”

Raveena makes sure that her children go for long walks on the beach with their naana-naani (Raveena’s parents) whenever they visit them in Juhu. “I also pack their cycles when they go to my mom’s house. In the evenings, they enjoy cycling around the place. I take my kids swimming and they participate in pool games too.”

On the career front, she is working in “Ap Ke Liye Hum”. “I play a lawyer in the movie and the star cast includes Jaya Bachchan, Arjun Rampal and Ayesha Takia. I want to focus on women-centric roles that suit my personality,” she signs off.

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