How to get children exercising (without them knowing it!)
I’m still out of commission, but I came across a solid article from Dr. Sheri about exercise for kids. It mirrors my own thoughts on getting my kids moving throughout the week. Here’s an excerpt of her suggestions:
Additional suggestions to get your kids moving more:
# Whenever your kids have ten free minutes, encourage them to walk around instead of sitting down.
# Get your kids more involved in helping doing physical chores around the house, like cleaning, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, and washing dishes.
# Make a game out of raking the leaves in the yard.
# Take your kids with you when shopping for groceries (as an added bonus, use the time to teach them about which foods are healthier to eat).
# Put on some music and have an impromptu family dance.
# Send your kids outside to kick or hit a ball around or throw a Frisbee.
# Get a basketball hoop to set up in your driveway and send your kids outside to play regularly, or walk to the nearest neighborhood school and use theirs.
# On nice days, take your kids to the nearest park to walk or play.
# Encourage your kids to take the dog out for a daily walk (it needs exercise, too!).
# Always have your kids walk around the house while talking on the telephone.
# Have your kids walk in place, dance, or simply move while watching TV – at least during the commercial breaks.
To these I’ll add a couple of the things I’ve been doing:
- Races. My daughters LOVE to race in the yard and around the house. I time them with the stopwatch function on my cell phone and they enjoy hearing that they are getting faster. Timing helps by letting me know when they’ve done enough - if the times start getting longer, they’re tired or hot. Time to stop. In effect, this serves as an interval workout.
- My oldest daughter likes jump-rope, and can jump for 15-20 minutes at a stretch.
- Playgrounds! I’m a believer that there is no better workout for a kid. It’s a full-body workout done for an extended period of time at a variety of speeds and levels of effort.
- We live in Florida, so swimming is big. We don’t have a pool, unfortunately, but we take advantage of every offer to have the girls swim with friends or family. We also have the
beach.
It’s summer. Can you challenge your kids to do something physical every day until school (and PE and fall sports!) starts? Can you challenge yourself to make it fun for them? What are your ideas?
Tags: children, exercise, kids