As a mom of three, I realize how important it is for my children to get enough exercise and have time to play outside. Things have changed dramatically since I was a child growing up and I feel that kids today don’t have the opportunity to get outside to play. Kids are either busy with school work, participating in after-school activities, or their parents don’t have time to sit outside and watch their kids play. Parents today are worried about their children’s safety and parents often feel that it isn’t safe to leave their kids outside unsupervised, so the kids are suffering.
Playing outside is not only a great way for your child to burn off some of that excessive energy but it is a great way for them to get some exercise. According the the Centers of Disease Control, they recommend that children and adolescents should get a minimum of 60 minutes of exercise on a daily basis. An hour may seem like a lot of time but figuring out how to add an hour of exercise for your child doesn’t have to be overwhelming. In fact, most children are getting enough exercise, especially, if they have physical education, recess at school, or go to daycare after school. However, if your children aren’t getting enough exercise during the day it is important that you try to commit to making sure that your child is getting enough physical activity each day.
Disclosure: This post is for informational purposes only. Please check with your child’s doctor before starting any exercise program.
Exercise Gives Them a Break from School Activities
Once your child gets home from school, most children are ready to relax or spend time playing before diving into their homework. During the school day, most kids spend a majority of their day sitting down focused on their school work. If they are allowed to go outside once they get home from school, they are able to burn off some extra energy. Exercise can help them channel their excessive energy and help improve their ability to concentrate and focus on getting their homework finished. If you see that your child is frustrated or struggling with their homework, encourage them to take a break or go exercise. Exercise can help clear your child’s mind and reduce their stress and frustrations.
Exercise Reduces Stress
Adding exercise to your child’s daily routine not only improves their overall health but it also helps reduce stress. Children today are often overwhelmed with pressures from school and their friends. Most kids probably seem like they have it all together and seem like they have a stress free life. In fact, it may seem as if they are handling their stress pretty well but the truth is more and more children today are stressed out. Children often become withdrawn or they are overactive and try to find things to keep themselves constantly busy. If you think that your child is stressed out, you should encourage to find some type of exercise that they enjoy (see list of ideas below).
Exercise Improves Your Child’s Health
There are many great benefits of adding 60 minutes of exercise into your child’s daily routine. Are you aware that the childhood obesity rates have tripled over the last 30 years according to the CDC? The CDC claims that children are spending more time in front of the television, playing video games, or spending excessive amounts of time on the computer. Instead, of spending time outside playing or exercising. Exercise can help reduce your child’s risk for obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, type two diabetes, depression, anxiety, certain cancers, arthritis, and falls.
Creative Ways to Get Your Children More Active
If your child isn’t very active there are lots of ways to get your child off of the couch and get them moving, especially, during the summer or winter months when going outside might seem impossible. Check out this great list of ideas:
- Walking
- Jump Rope
- Running
- Team Sports
- Bicycling
- Hiking
- Dancing
- Aerobics
- Zumba
- Yoga
- Rock Climbing
- Jumping on a Trampoline
- Wii Fit
- X-box Kinect
- Jogging
- Roller Skating
- In-line Skating
- Going to the Park
- Freeze Tag
- Hide and Seek
- Relay Races
- Gymnastics
- Don’t Let the Balloon Touch the Floor
- Karate
- Swimming
- Stretching
- and so many more ideas.
Adding an exercise program into your child’s daily schedule doesn’t have to be overwhelming or impossible. There are lots of ways motivate your children to get more active and exercising more. Parents, if possible, join your children and help improve your overall health and well being.
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Can I challenge you and your family to add 30 to 60 minutes of exercise into your daily routine?
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