Regular exercise offers your child a list of benefits; it lowers the risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes and reduces the likelihood of obesity. Additionally, an active child is likely to continue with the routine to adulthood. It also improves their mental health, children who spend most of their times indoors in front of a screen are more prone to anxiety and depression, but a simple activity such as kicking a ball or dancing outside drastically improves their mood and mental health.
Finding kids exploring outside trying to get in touch with nature or playing is very rare as most teenagers and children spend their days in front of a screen watching movies and cartoons or playing video games. Thus, they spend less than the recommended 60 minutes of active exercise in a day. So what are the ways you can get your child motivated and moving around? We have listed a few tips that we feel might be helpful.
How to get your child active?
Try and make it fun
The first important thing is ensuring you make the physical activity fun for them. Therefore, try and find a sport that he rather enjoys as this increases the chances of him continuing. And if you can, try and make it a family affair of fun and active play.
Try and get a safe environment
The toys and the environment your child is getting active need to be safe. Additionally, his clothing needs to be comfortable and appropriated for the type of activity he is getting into. Also, ensure there is plenty of drinking water nearby; kids get carried away when they are having fun and might forget to sip some water.
Ensure you are a role model
As you know, children do best with mimicking our steps and actions; thus, you must be a role model to your children. If your weekends were all about bingeing on movies and series, it is time you changed this to more outdoor activities. The more you get active will Aget your child interested and cause a ripple effect and love outdoor activities.
Avoid overdoing physical activity
When trying to get your child into an active routine, the physical activity should not hurt. If he wakes up with sore muscles and body aches, this might discourage him. Try and keep it light and fun to keep him engaged and interested in getting active. Also, ensure the physical activity does not interfere with his school or any other activities.
Try and set limits
We are trying to get our children outdoors as much as we can, but you cannot completely eliminate screen time. Instead, consider setting some limit and a small program. This way, your child gets screen time in a day and still puts in some physical activity during his free time. It is a win-win kind of situation.
Conclusion
Getting your child active can be hard at the beginning, but when done right can be a routine that they will follow even as they get older. Make it light and fun initially to get them engaged and interested.