It’s no secret that today’s kids are significantly less active than previous generations. This trend, driven by various factors, underscores the urgent need to ensure your kids stay active for their health and well-being.
Studies show that only 42% of 6-11-year-olds meet recommended activity levels, and 15% of 12-17-year-olds are as active as they need to be, meaning finding fun and creative ways to get kids moving seems easier said than done.
As a parent, you have the power to instill healthy habits in your children that will last a lifetime. But how can you effectively encourage your kids to be more active?
Reader's Roadmap
Let Them Pick
The reality is the more your kids want to do something, the more likely they will be to do it and stick to it. Allowing them to dictate what activities they want to do can be a great place to start. Whether it’s gymnastics with a club like South Shore Gymnastics Academy, they want to start to track running, playing baseball, swimming, or anything else, allowing them to control what they do and how they get to be active to help encourage a love for being active.
Lead by Example
If you want your children to adopt healthy habits, it’s crucial that you lead by example. Your actions speak louder than words, and by demonstrating the benefits of an active lifestyle, you can inspire your kids to join in. Whether it’s home workouts, running, swimming, cycling, or hiking, show your kids the joy of being active.
Keep It Fun
There are so many ways your kids can be active even if they don’t leave the house. And if you have more of a reluctant mover, then keeping it short, sweet, and fun can be the trick instead of forcing it. From playing games at home or in the garden, like tag, hide and seek, or obstacle courses, to using technology to inspire them to move and make things as fun as possible to get the activity levels up. You can take this outside the house, too. Trips to the park, roller skating, surfing, etc, are all fun activities you allow your child to do, and you can kill two birds with one stone. You get them active, and they have fun.
Bribery or Enticements
Whatever way you dress it up, using incentives can be a great motivator for your kids to do something you want them to do. However, it’s important to be mindful of the potential risks of using bribery or enticements, such as creating a dependency on rewards for motivation.
Whether an hour of movement means they get additional pocket money, more gaming time, or something else they really want, there is no harm in bringing out encouragement in the form of rewards.
You can keep reward charts to help them build up towards something more substantial, or you can create a reward schedule to use to help them keep pushing forward and building on their activity levels. If you know what your child will be more receptive to, use it to your advantage.