Technology, hectic lifestyles, increased educational demands, and other factors have greatly reduced the amount of time that children spend outdoors. In fact, statistics have shown that only 1 out of every 3 kids is physically active on a daily basis. Physical activity, however, is good for your kids which is why as a parent, you have to do more to get them up and active.
When kids are engaged in at least an hour of physical activity each day it helps to enhance their growth and development. It helps build strong bones and muscles, maintain a healthy weight, and improve performance. It’s also important to point out that active children have an easier time academically as it enhances their critical thing skills, test scores, and school grades.
Of course, you want what’s best for your kids so start by making time each day for them to spend doing something active.
Family Outings
The best way to encourage your kids to get more active is to lead by example. So, start planning more family outings where you guys are doing more than just watching a movie or going shopping. There are plenty of things you could do. Pack your bathing suits, towels, sandals, and surfboard and take the kids to the beach for the day. Or, grab your backpacks, some healthy snacks, plenty of water, and head to a nearby trail for a hike. When your kids see you having fun being active they’re more inclined to want to do things like this on their own.
School or Community Sports
Does your kid’s school have a sports team? Maybe they have a basketball, football, soccer, or baseball team your children could enroll in. Playing sports for school or in the community is good for a number of reasons. It gets them up and moving regularly, and it teaches them quite a bit about teamwork, problem-solving, and more as they improve their performance. You can encourage them to stick with it by making sure you and the rest of the family are there cheering them on from the stands during game time.
Household Chores
This one may take a bit more convincing and may not seem like much fun to your kids. However, completing household chores actually does get you up and moving and can serve as good exercise. For smaller children, it might be as simple as asking them to be mom or dad’s big helper and they’ll assist you with washing the dishes, folding laundry, mopping, and whatever else they can. For older children, on the other hand, it may take a reward at the end of it such as an allowance. This is also a great opportunity to teach kids about financial responsibility.
Family Fitness
Exercising really is great for the entire family. So make it a family affair and see what a difference it make in all of your lives. You don’t have to hit the gym or try grueling hard to do exercise moves either. There are lots of fun physical activities that double as an exercise that you can try together. You can go for a swim, have a dance party, play fitness or sports video games, or go in your yard and have a water balloon fight or bounce around on the trampoline. If you would like to try some regular exercises, however, aerobic and yoga videos are generally easy for everyone to follow along with. You can find beginner videos online and workout as a family.
Play Dates
Remember when you were growing up? You couldn’t wait to get outside and do something fun because you knew your friends were going to be right there ready to share in your adventure. Today, however, most kids spend their time in the house glued to a screen so there’s barely anyone doing activities outdoors. You can change that by organizing playdates. Taking a group of kids to the park, the pool, or other places where physical activity is encouraged makes it a lot more interesting to your kids.
Don’t let your kids turn into couch potatoes and ruin their health. Get them encouraged to get active. Whether they help you out around the house for extra cash, join the school soccer team, or have fun skating around the neighborhood with their friends it is imperative for them to get moving. Hopefully, this has given you some advice on how to encourage them so they can remain happy, healthy kids.
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