Tips And Advice On How To Keep Your Child Active, Fit And Healthy

Tips And Advice On How To Keep Your Child Active, Fit And Healthy

The number of children and teenagers who are overweight or obese is higher than ever before and keep going up. Your children should lead an active lifestyle if they are to stay fit and healthy. It would help if you taught them the significance of this while they are still young. As the parent, you will be a role model for your kids, hence the need to lead by example.

Worrying Facts worth Knowing

According to statistics, kids aged 8 – 18 years spend an average of an hour on their computers, an hour playing video games, and 4 hours lazing around watching TV and movies.

Two in every three children have a TV in their bedroom. They spend nearly 90 minutes of their spare time watching compared to engaging in a physically demanding activity.

Parents should limit the amount of screen-time their kids have to less than an hour or so. That means the children will have a strict schedule for when to play video games, use the computer or watch movies. You also need to set the right example, starting with limiting your screen-time.

The Solution

Being physically active help keep health issues at bay. It also plays an essential role in managing body weight. Some of the top benefits of encouraging your child to be active include:

1. Burning calories as opposed to storing them up as body fat

2. Build muscle strength and body endurance

3. Reducing cholesterol levels and maintaining healthy blood pressure

4. Improving sleep and promoting mental health

5. Boosting self-esteem and helping the kids feel confident about the body and appearance

6. Relieving stress and help them be more focused

7. Promoting stronger bones and better agility

8. Maintaining healthy blood sugar levels thus lowering the risk of diabetes

Path To Wellbeing

According to research, children that are aged six years and older need roughly 60 minutes of being physically active each day. The activities do not need to be done all within an hour. They can be spaced out throughout the day. Health experts recommend that kids should engage in at least three different exercises daily. It should be a mix of muscle strengthening, aerobics, and bone strengthening.

Aerobics are more of cardio exercises that strengthen the lungs and promote a better heart rate. Some of the aerobics children can do include:

• Cycling

• Hiking

• Skateboarding

• Running

• Swimming

• Skating

• Dancing

• Playing ball games

For building and strengthening the muscles, kids should be encouraged to do the following activities:

• Sit-ups

• Gymnastics

• Push-ups

• Climbing

• Pull-ups

Some of the best bone-strengthening exercises that children that do include:

• Jumping Rope

• Dancing

• Running

• Skipping

• Playing Ball Games

From the above examples, it is evident that there is something that every child will find interesting to do. Trying out different activities helps your children discover what they like. Ideally, it should be something that they find fun doing.

Encourage the kids to try teaming up and doing these activities as a group. Some of these things are more exciting when done together; this also aids in socialisation. Note that some kids enjoy sports while others do not have a competitive nature and would instead do something different such as dancing or adventure based activities such as high ropes courses. Games such as hide-and-seek are also a fun way of being active. It would be best if you tried to understand your child’s personality when encouraging him or her to be part of a particular activity. And if you find your kid prefers playing along at times, it should not be a cause of worrying. It is good to allow him or her to develop some sense of independence.

Overall, try to be a healthy role model for your children. You can do this by planning family outings in which you everyone will participate actively in various enjoyable exercises and activities. It will play an essential role in building a family lifestyle of exercising. And try not to reward your kids’ efforts with food, but something healthy. Moreover, allow them to pick or come up with exciting activities.

Alison Lurie

Alison Lurie