To Your Health
August, 2007 (Vol. 01, Issue 08) |
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According to the Mayo Clinic, it's important to let your children set the pace of the activities. Organized sports are a great outlet for many kids, but what do you do if your child is more artistically than athletically inclined? If your child likes to paint or draw, take them on a walk or hike in search of things for them to re-create on paper.
If you are blessed with a child who is a climber, explore the local jungle gym or find a local climbing wall they can master. If your child is a reader, walk or ride your bikes to the local library.
It's also important to promote activity, rather than just exercise. If parents don't see activities as fun, kids won't, either. With younger children, it's OK to be silly. Your 5-year-old will enjoy seeing you hop like a bunny or walk like a spider, and they are much more likely to try it themselves once they see you do it. If your children are active in sports, play catch with them. Enjoy a family game of tag, basketball or soccer. Kids will make it their life's mission to defeat their parents. You accomplish several important goals with these types of activities. Not only are you spending quality time with your children, but you also are exercising, burning calories and instilling a competitive spirit within them.
Make chores a competition. See who can finish cleaning their room, mowing the lawn or shoveling snow off the driveway first. When it's time to plan your child's birthday party, don't have it at the local pizza parlor, where kids will load up on pizza, cake and video games. Instead, schedule it for a local bowling alley or climbing wall, where kids can work off some of that birthday sugar. Celebrate at the park and schedule games such as tag, hide-and-seek or relay races. Rent a bounce house for your child's party, and the kids won't ever come out for cake! Physical activities such as these allow all the children to be involved, active and interacting with each other.
The American Heart Association recommends children and adolescents participate in at least one hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily. Regular exercise helps children (and their parents) feel less stressed; feel better about themselves; feel more ready to learn in school; maintain a healthy weight; build and maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints; and sleep better at night.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a Web site designed to help kids get active. Called BAM! Body and Mind Physical Activity (www.bam.gov), this site provides a wealth of information and includes an interactive activity calendar that allows parents and kids to schedule regular activities to look forward to throughout the week. The site advises parents to plan which activities will occur each week, remembering not to overdo it. They also advise setting a goal in terms of the number of activities you schedule, and how often you want your child to participate. You can track your child's progress using the calendar - and it offers more than 100 activity options, so you and your child don't burn out.
Another great resource for activity ideas for your family is PACES, or Parents and Children Exercise Simultaneously (www.lensaunders.com/paces). Organizers are encouraging every weekend to become a PACES weekend where children and their parents can spend time being active together.
