How To Keep Your Children Fit, Healthy And Happy With Daily Exercise
‘Small but mighty’
‘Grow up strong’
We all know that exercise is great for your children's hand-eye coordination, balance, flexibility, wearing your little people out... the list goes on.
But do you feel daunted by a long summer of occupying them now after all these weeks of keeping them busy?
Here are some ideas for fitness for families and remember it doesn't need to be 'sport' to help them burn off that excess energy and sleep better.
Set a time for activity and stick to it. You are more likely to find time to be active if you do it at the same time and on the same days each week.
Split activity up throughout the day - you can achieve your target in bouts of 10 minutes or more.
Be active with your children - for instance, walk to the shops rather than drive - this will also help them develop a pattern of activity.
Set up a buggy group with other parents and go on long walks with the children.
Have a go at couch to 5k with your kids.
Try something new. If you're not sure what activities you'd like to try as a family, try the BBCs 'Which sport are you made for?' tool.
Let your kids help decide what to do. Children are more likely to participate in something they're involved in picking.
When it comes to play, children should do what they enjoy most - running around.
Have a disco in your lounge- all you need are some great tunes.
Get them doing some household chores that raise the heart-rate like gardening and washing the car, all working towards their daily activity target.
These things not only help keep your children well and maintain a healthy weight but they also improve self-confidence and assist in developing new social skills. Many of you will have noticed a change in your child's mood during this pandemic. They may usually have had team sports as an energy outlet. And they are missing their friends. The world seems a scary place. We all feel it don't we? And we know how much better exercise makes us feel so it is the same for our little people.
All children should engage in at least 1 hour of moderate-intensity exercise every day such as bike riding - activity that makes them feel warmer, breathe harder and cause their hearts to beat faster but they should be able to carry on chatting.
Aim for vigorous exercise 3 times a week to strengthen muscle and bone - activity that makes them breathe much harder, the heart beat more rapidly and makes it more difficult to talk such as fast running, swimming or football. Working against a resistance or using body weight is great for strength, for example swinging on playground equipment, hopping and skipping and sports such as gymnastics or tennis. Children should minimise the amount of time being sedentary for extended periods.
(Department of health- Physical activity guidelines for children and young people 5-18 years)
If parents are active, kids are too - they lead by example. Book yourself on to a class and let them join in or watch.
Lauren Waterworth