Keeping Kids Fit

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

24 Feb 2006 09:46 AM

Trying to stay fit is hard enough, keeping your children fit is another tale altogether. Most kids hear the word exercise, roll their eyes and run the other way. They want to have fun. They want to play. They want to enjoy themselves. The word exercise is weighed on the same level as 'clean your room' and 'do your homework.'

You'll have a few takers and even the few who might think 'exercising' is fun will have to be convinced about how to do it. So the best thing a parent can do for their child is to mix business with pleasure. Drop the label of exercise and get the party started.

Children don't need fitness centers and treadmills, they need the outdoors, sunshine, parks and playgrounds. It's up to we the parents to get our children up and on the go. You have to set the example for your children when it comes to eating healthy foods and performing healthy activities. So just how can you do that? What can you offer them? How do you handle your toddler versus your older child versus your teenager?

Well here are a few ideas.

Pre-Schoolers

• An hour a day of outside play including running, bicycling, roller-skating, and playground.
• One hour of inactivity at a time. If your kiddo has been sitting quietly for an hour, give them a nudge to get up and play.
• Get down and play with them. Make it fun. Make it Mommy and Me Time or Daddy and Me Time.
• Kids this age love games. Try follow the leader, obstacle courses, dance videos or walking the dog!

School Age Kids

• Use rewards to motivate them into action. Kids need at least 1 to 2 hours a day of steady physical activity.
• Encourage biking, tag, jumping rope, trampolines, skating, karate, martial arts, dancing, ice skating.
• Kids enjoy more structured activities like classes versus unstructured 'exercise.'

• Use social opportunity, the prospect of winning and other teens to influence their motivation to exercise.
• Teens may like working out at a fitness center with their parents or without.
• Check out Xbox and Playstation 2 workouts like YourselfFitness and Kinetics.
• Dance pads for the the video games are increasing in popularity.
• Give teenagers more physical chores like yard work and such.
• Encourage summer activities as well as the rest of the year including swimming, football, dance, yoga and working with younger kids (that'll keep them moving.)

Be creative. Find ways for your kids to exercise, they will thank you as they continue to grow and thrive as healthy, fit individuals.

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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