7 Tips To Become A Healthier Family
Motivating your children into physical activities before the COVID-19 pandemic was a tall order. For the simple reason that physical activity, for many children, had given way to watching more television. This is in addition to playing video games and spending hours online. But with COVID-19 ravaging globally, motivating your children into physical activities requires parents’ willpower. Particularly when you consider implementing fitness for children to be mentally challenging.
But it’s never too late to motivate your children into physical activities. Therefore, when you follow these simple tips, you can direct your child’s energy into a permanent love of physical activity. As well as an enduring appreciation for activities that strengthen their bodies.
Parents Set A Good Example
So, if you want active kids, be active yourself. This means you see physical activity as an opportunity to take care of your body. And not as a punishment or a chore. For instance, many physical medicine specialists believe that a parent’s active lifestyle is a powerful stimulus for a child. Therefore, based on this view parents are advised to set a good example for their children by making physical activity a priority.
https://www.webmd.com/parenting/raising-fit-kids/move/video/video-fit-family-everyday-moves
Limit Screen Time
A definite way to increase your children’s activity levels is to limit the number of hours they watch television each day. Alas! this is a tough task for parents. This is due to the fact that most children are still at home safe from COVID-19 infection. Consequently, more time spent at home triggers children’s restlessness. Which then means an increase in screen time as a diversion.
In order to lessen screen time, therefore, you may want to remove the television from your children’s bedrooms. Another good idea will be to keep the computer in a family area. You may also want to limit other sedentary activities such as text messaging, or chatting on the phone.
And if your children play video games, choose those that require movement. This is the reason activity-focused video games increase a child’s calorie-burning power. Hence, look out for dance video games and video games that use a player’s physical movements to control what happens on the screen.
Start A Routine
It is crucial to set aside time each day for physical activity. As such, get up early with your children to go for an early morning walk or throw a frisbee. You may also want to do jumping jacks together in the late afternoon before dinner. Remember to start small, and gradually add new activities to the routine as you and your children become fit.
Kids Initiate The Pace
While for many kids, organised sports are a great way to stay fit. The fact is team sports or dance classes are not the only options. This means if your child likes to swim, head to the nearest fitness center or gym. Or if your child likes to walk or bike, you can do this around the neighborhood. Or if your child likes to dance, simply turn on your child’s favourite music and dance in the living room.
The truth is every child is wired differently, with certain strengths and characteristics that influence his interests. In view of this, the solution is to identify those things that interest your children, and gently motivate them into doing them.
Make Physical Activity Fun
So by motivating your children into physical activities, you also have to keep them interested in physical activity and fitness, not exercise. In addition, you have to make it fun.
Be a comedian
As a parent, let younger children see how much fun they can have while being active. For example, run like a gorilla. Walk like a spider. Hop like a kangaroo. Stretch like a cat. Or try to imitate their favourite cartoon characters to keep them motivated.
Get involved in the game
It is also a great idea to get the whole family involved in a game of Frisbee. Or a jump-rope contest or play catch. Another fantastic option is to go for a picnic with a large space to run, jump, and play football ball. You should not be afraid to get dirty while having fun together.
Get physical doing housework
It is possible to turn housework into physical activity, and even make it a friendly challenge. For example, who can pull the most weeds out of the back garden? Or who can collect the most litter in the neighborhood? Or who can sweep the lawn in record time? You can make your rules as you go along to make it enjoyable.
Include fun activities in the child’s party
So perhaps for your child’s next birthday, you may want to include fun activities like chair dancing or a dance competition. Or set up relay races in the backyard. You can even go further by taking the kids to pool parks where they can get involved in several water-based fun activities. The major goal is to do a lot of running around as much as possible. However, this should be done in a manner that will see everybody willingly participating. At least without being pressured, but getting fit while doing so.
Allow your kids to dictate
You can make it possible for each child to take a turn choosing the activity of the day or week. This could be jogging, jumping rope, hide and seek, or running around playgrounds (as lockdown eases). This is because all these activities count. Although what matters at the end of the day is that the children are doing something active.
Bottom Line
Motivating your child into physical activities means integrating physical activity into your child’s life. The good news is that it does more than promote a healthy weight. Which is to build the footing for a lifetime of good health and fitness.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-04-covid-physical-kids.html
Photo Credit: Creative Commons
