The Foundation of Healthy Lives: How Can We Keep Our Kids Physically Fit?
We all need to keep physically active as we get older, and some parents are lucky to have children who love to jump around, but some have major concerns that their children are becoming more sedentary as they get older. Being physically active is so important because it will maintain their fitness and will set them up for life. So what are the ways that we can get our children to start getting fit, but also keep them fit?
Build Exercise Into Your Everyday Life
Some people think of exercise as something that they should only do every now and again. And while your child needs to have that motivation to do it, the other approach is to instil habits where they do it every single day, so once you start to build habits, you can then gradually increase the volume of exercise. Once there is a base level of fitness, you can start to plan family activity holidays that involve more vigorous practices, such as walking up mountains or kayaking. But you can’t do these things until you start building the habits into your everyday life.
Emphasise Fun
It’s not about push-ups and sit-ups. It’s important to make sure that you find sports and hobbies that your child will enjoy. The more they enjoy it, the more they will continue to do it. And when the entire family gets involved, it becomes a great way to spend time together, but you also need to choose an activity that is appropriate for their age. A child that is pushing 9 or 10 will be great at riding bikes, swimming or kicking a football. However, teenagers may benefit more from martial arts or weightlifting.
Do Not Overdo It
It is important that we have some level of activity built into our everyday lives. But your children have the benefit of age on this site, which means that they can recover a lot quicker than we can. However, if your child is showing signs of pain or extreme soreness that persists for more than a couple of days, your child needs to slow down or try something less vigorous. It’s also important to be aware of something like overtraining. If it starts to interfere with your child’s activities or school life, you may want to get in contact with the doctor to see if everything is okay.
Set the Example
It’s easy for us to tell our children to go and run around outside, but if it’s something they’re not particularly comfortable with, we have to get into the habit of doing these things ourselves. Providing a wide variety of materials like balls and skipping ropes will make a big difference but it’s also a good idea for us to get involved with our children.
Exercising is something that doesn’t just keep your children fit and healthy, but the right type of exercise will ensure that they have the confidence to express themselves and develop in life. And as they become more fearless, the fact is that their abilities all stem from a solid foundation of fitness. It’s not just going to help them through their teenage years but will help them in every other aspect of their life for years, if not decades.
