As a kid, it seemed easy to naturally get exercise just by playing in the neighborhood. Times have changed with technology more prevalent, living in urban environments, or just parental concerns with safety. I’d spend hours on end just being outdoors in the neighborhood playing sports. The thought of actually having to make time to go to a gym was somewhere in another dimension. Typically when we develop a passion for something at a young age, it helps us to continue that engagement into adulthood, so helping our kids love being active when young will propel them into adulthood.
How can we help our young children develop a love for exercise? It starts by helping kids to be involved in physical activity that they enjoy and not seeing exercise as drudgery. We can help our kids to identify those experiences that they can get so excited about that they forget they’re exercising. Here are some things that will help fuel a desire in our kids to exercise that will be explored further throughout this post:
- Make it Fun
- Build Self Esteem
- Take the Pressure Off
- Do it Together
- Educate Your Kids on Health Benefits
- Help them Work Towards a Goal
- Engage in Something for Socialization
Is Exercising Good for Kids
Absolutely! Exercising is so beneficial for our children’s overall wellbeing. Does this mean that our kids need to be weight lifting or utilizing an exercise workout routine every day, not at all.
Kids can get much of what they need from just being involved in outdoor/indoor play. When they aren’t moving around as much as they should be, as parents, we can help them to identify activities that they can enjoy to help them get the exercise they need.
How Much Exercise Does My Child Need
Let’s start by saying that every child has different body types, so it’s more of a generality then saying every 7-yr old needs exactly this amount of exercise. It’s also important to consider the different types of exercise. Some exercises are more strenuous then others, while others work different parts of the body.
For example, doing sit-ups primarily works the core, while running is more of an intensive cardiovascular workout. A general rule of thumb is that children should be getting about an hour of exercise per day, which should mainly consist of cardiovascular types of exercise. As a parent, having a basic understanding of the amount of physical activity your child needs will allow you to support your child in a healthy lifestyle.
Why Kids Should Exercise More
Kids have a lot of distractions keeping them from exercise. As kids continue to grow and develop, physical fitness is paramount for healthy children. There are so many benefits for kids living an active lifestyle. Here are just a few:
Physical Development: Kids bodies and brains are developing at a rapid rate through childhood. Maintaining a consistent level of physical fitness will aid in key developmental areas like motor skills, balance, strength, flexibility, and a healthy body weight. Strengthening these key areas through an active lifestyle are critical for daily living skills like getting dressed, walking, and writing, just to name a few.
Fight Obesity: Childhood obesity has been a growing epidemic throughout the world. Obesity leads to other health problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Sugary and fatty foods cater to kids, while combining that with sedentary lifestyle habits can be lethal for our children. Building healthy lifestyle habits for our kids reduces these potential problems.
Mental Health: It’s been proven that exercise produces endorphins, which are the feel good chemicals in our brain. As someone that has spent several years working in adolescent behavioral health, I’ve seen how prevalent mental health disorders are in our children. Just the simple act of incorporating more exercise can help our kids become happier. There are studies that suggest that physical activity can reduce behavioral problems in children. Fitness can help burn off some of that pent up energy or being active outdoors can reduce stress.
Prevents Injuries: Exercise helps strengthen the muscles and bones in our children’s bodies. As their bodies become stronger, it helps them to recover quicker and be more resistant to injuries.
Sleep: Living an active lifestyle helps promote a more restful sleep. As kids get the sleep their bodies need, they will continue to develop properly. A more restful sleep ensures that kids will be performing at optimal levels throughout the day and have more consistent moods.
How Can I Encourage My Child
If your child is struggling to be active, now is not the time for criticism or being a nag. If we want our kids to develop a love for an active lifestyle, taking a positive approach is going to make all the difference.
Make it Fun- I believe this is the biggest thing that will help your kids to maintain an active lifestyle. It they are doing something that they enjoy, they will want to continue to do it. It’s so important to help your kids to identify those types of activities at a young age and continue exploration throughout childhood. I write a couple different blog posts that look at both individual sports for kids and how soccer can be a great first team sport for kids. As parents, we tend to gravitate towards a team sport, but there are so many different fitness options that kids can enjoy.
Build Self Esteem- Girls tend to suffer from a lot of body image challenges throughout their lives, due to various things they go through or societies portrayals of women. Being sensitive of these types of things regarding what our kids are going experiencing helps us be more supportive as parents. Offering words of support and encouragement can go a long way in building our kids up. Being involved in programs with coaches or leaders that help kids to learn and grow in a supportive environment are great for boosting self-esteem.
Take the Pressure Off- Sometimes as parents we can get a little too caught up in pushing our kids to be successful. I see this a lot in youth sports with parents going to extremes on the sidelines. It’s easy for kids to become disinterested with too much pressure. Take a look at my post, Helping Kids Through Performance Anxiety in Sports, which goes more in-depth on this topic.
Do it Together- I write a post, How Parents and Kids Can be Active Together, which looks at the benefits of engaging in physical fitness with your children. As a coach and parent, I’ve always believed that setting the example is huge. If you aren’t willing to do something, then why should they. Doing things together can strengthen your relationships with your children and create a better environment in the home through shared interests.
Educate Your Kids on Health Benefits- If we understand the “why’s” of doing something and how it rewards us by doing that action, then it’s going to help us to comprehend the importance of doing it. Having the knowledge can lead to a desire to do that action. We can help to teach our kids the “why’s” and “rewards” of fitness.
Help them Work Towards a Goal- Accomplishing goals can help kids feel a sense of purpose or enliven their sense of self-worth. Kids can take small steps while recognizing that they are able to accomplish hard things. Many fitness activities or sports support working towards something greater.
Engage in Something for Socialization- Many kids like to participate in sports or other group fitness activities for the camaraderie. Kids can make lifelong friends through these shared interests with other kids. These types of activities tend to focus on working together, communication, building sportsmanship, which leads to favorable socialization with peers.
Exercising Together as a Family- Not only is this a great way to get your kids active, but an amazing way to strengthen your family. If your kids see that you value exercise, it will help them to see that it is an important thing to do. Having the support of one another can give everyone that extra push to do it. Families can find common interests to form bonds.
What Exercises for Kids
There are so many ways that kids can incorporate exercise into their lives. It doesn’t require spending a ton of money to enroll our kids into something, although some paid types of exercise programs can be great. Here are some ideas to get your kids moving around:
- Play a Sport
- Walk a Pet
- Have Nerf Gun Wars
- Hiking
- Tag Games
- Playing at the Park
- Scavenger Hunts
- Obstacle Courses
- Fitness Circuits
- Relay Races
- Biking
- Skateboarding
- Skating
- Swimming
- Trampolines
- Rock Climbing Walls or Climbing Trees
- Kayaking
- Paddleboarding
- Gardening
- Throw a ball
- Yoga
- Dance
- Scooters
- Frisbee
- Water Balloons
How Can Kids Stay Fit
As kids find fitness activities that they become passionate about, we can continue to encourage them to maintain their involvement. Limiting screen time can help our kids to stay out of ruts or from developing lazy habits.
Healthy eating habits go hand and hand with staying fit. Providing foods that are healthy, while reducing sugar intake will support the healthy lifestyle. Remember to continue to lead the way through your example.
In summary, we can help our kids to develop a love for being active. As they develop this passion for fitness in childhood, it will be more likely that they will sustain these habits throughout their lives to ensure that they build a healthy foundation. Living an active lifestyle will promote an overall sense of well-being for a more fulfilling future.
Please comment below on anything that you enjoyed from this post.