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| To keep active, my teen son loves organized activities a homeschool co-op mom puts together, like Dodgeball Tournaments and Airsoft Wars |
While everyone loves the sight of
kids playing in the park, the harsh reality remains that it is a rare sight
these days. Considering that only one out of three kids is physically active
every day, one can't deny that the health of our children is being jeopardized
by the sedentary lifestyle we've adopted. Food adulteration and inorganic food
production are the biggest contributors to increasing obesity among children
which calls for taking serious measures in keeping kids physically active.
The task however, isn't as difficult
as it may sound, provided you set out a routine for your kids. Here are 5 ways
you can keep your kids physically active.
1.
Fitness Watch
For kids who love gadgets and are
always found in their sofas playing on their Play stations and Xbox, fitness
trackers can prove to be pretty effective. A fitness watch allows you to
connect the device to the app on your phone and set goals and challenges for
kids which involve physical movement. By considering the whole activity a game,
kids indulge in active physical movement and are rewarded with points, coins
and new levels in return.
This keeps them away from screens
and out in the ground. Every time the device detects an inactive period, it
displays a reminder to take a few steps. A fitness watch keeps your kids
motivated and also monitors their sleep and calories intake, being a win-win
for both you and your kids. If you're looking to buy a fitness watch for your
child, kidsactivitytracker.com has got some good options.
2.
One Activity Per Day
To keep kids interested, it is
crucial that your daily routine is anything but monotonous. In order to keep
that from happening, it is best that you allot a different activity for every
day. Lay out a list of options for your kids to select from, this way you get
to allot a different activity for every day. If you are taking your kids biking
on Monday, you can simply ask them to help you clean around on Tuesday, since
it is still fulfilling the purpose of keeping them off the couch.
Set a badminton net or basketball
hoop in your backyard and ensure that your kids play in there for a good 30
minutes at least thrice a week. This is one of the most cost effective ways of
keeping kids physically active.
3.
Sports Club Membership
A good and physically active routine
calls for participating in sports actively. A wise step would be to get your
kids membership for any sports club. Kids tend to develop an interest for one
sport or another from an early age. If parents build on that conviction, the
chances of your kid excelling in that sport increase manifold. Signing up
for swimming classes or a basketball game twice or thrice a week would be
a good move to keep them physically active.
4.
Limit Screen Time
Probably the toughest yet most
important thing you will have to do as a parent is to limit screen time, to start off with a healthy lifestyle. The increasing
dependence on internet gives kids all the more reason to get exposed to
excessive screen time. This, in turn, directly affects their overall health,
including eyesight, muscle coordination and movement etc. as well as brain
activity.
Therefore, you will need to take
strict measures to keep them off video games, mobiles and tablets. Start off by
setting a fixed time for computers and tablet usage. If your kids lack self-governance,
you might need to penalize them for excessive time spent using these devices.
This may vary within every household. While some kids can be made to help clean
the house, others might get less or no TV time at all for the rest of the week.
5. Be
a Role Model
As important as it is to make your
kids participate in physical activities and sports, the need for acting as a
good role model is equally essential. There isn't a more important source of
learning for kids than what they see at school and home. The fact that kids are
more inclined towards using mobile devices is directly linked to the increased
usage of these devices in parents.
Therefore, a healthy lifestyle for
the whole family needs to be adopted in general for kids to stay physically
active.
