Raising a happy and healthy child means ensuring that you’re taking care of their health in a variety of ways, from starting good oral health habits to giving them an out for their creativity. Most kids have energy to spare, and sometimes you only need to give them the chance to let it out. However, they can start to slow a little, especially as they get a little older and show interest in things other than physical play. Trying to create a regimented exercise routine is not going to motivate your kids to move very much, so what should you be doing, instead?
Make A Game Out Of It
For younger children, one of the best ways to motivate them to move around more is to make it fun. Incorporating fun ways to move around, such as obstacle courses, jump rope, or making a hopscotch set of squares can very naturally incentivize them to move around. This can work even better if you can find local active play centers like KidZania. In a way, you can get them exercising without them realizing that they’re doing it.
Find A Team For Them
One of the most consistent ways that parents have gotten kids into physical activity is with the introduction of team sports. There are few better ways to help children learn how to healthily manage their competitive side while encouraging them to learn the values of teamwork, and of connecting with mentors such as coaches. Whether it’s football, baseball, basketball, or more, you can try a whole of team sports clubs with your kid, or find out what they’re playing at school, see if they’re interested in doing more of it, and help them do that. It might take some investment to get them to join a team, but the benefits are far-ranging.
Go Outside Of Traditional Sports
Aside from the traditional team sports, you should look into the options around them that might better suit their personality. Not everyone is designed to work well in a team, but sports like tennis can suit just as well. Some children with a stronger competitive edge might do better in things like karate. Those with a more creative spirit might enjoy the more free-flowing nature of options like the South Shore Gymnastics Academy. Aside from the physical benefits of moving around, learning a sport teaches a whole host of mental and emotional skills as well.
Get Involved
Depending on the age difference, there might not be a lot of sports or activities that suit both you and your kids. However, getting involved and doing routine exercise alongside them is a great way to motivate them to keep up with you. It provides family bonding time on top of helping you both stay fit Sites like Alltrails can make it much easier to find walking and hiking trails near you, for instance, that are well-suited to both kids and adults. Just make sure that it’s something you can both do consistently.
Set Goals
You want to avoid applying too much structure to exercise, initially, so that you can effectively “trick” your kids into regularly getting active. However, at some point, that routine is going to make itself apparent, and you have to learn how to manage their motivation over the long term.
One of the best ways to do this is with incentives and rewards. For instance, if your kid consistently goes to their sports practice sessions, then you can contribute to their savings towards something expensive that they might want, or take them out to the cinema on the weekend. You want to avoid making unhealthy treats a reward too often, of course, as it does undermine the purpose of getting active in the first place.
Set An Example
Even when you’re not exercising alongside your children, they are going to look to you as the prime example of how they are trying to live. As such, living healthily, being active, eating healthily, and avoiding unhealthy options and habits are going to pass on those lessons to your kids. If you’re not able to stick to a better way of living, then they’re not likely to take those lessons to heart, themselves.
There are some things that you can drill into your kids to help develop them better, but unlike math and English lessons, exercise requires a lot more active participation, which requires motivation. Hopefully, the tips above give you some ideas of how, exactly, you can get your kids moving around more enthusiastically.
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