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Fitness For Kids
By Joe Fier | June 20, 2009
The lifestyles of today’s kids have undergone enormous change. Computers, television, and video games have taken place of many of the physical activities children once enjoyed.
Fitness seems to have taken a backseat when it comes to the modern child. Our kids are becoming victims of unhealthy lifestyles, inactive, unmotivated and their health is deteriorating.
Kids, whether they are overweight or at a healthy weight, should be physically active and need to exercise regularly to be physically fit and for a healthy lifestyle. That doesn’t imply that every child needs to spend four or five hours day training for the Olympics or should do the workout in gym, or practicing with a select baseball or soccer team. Just active free play is enough, as kids can get plenty of exercise during active free play.
How Much Exercise Do Kids Need?
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children and teens must be “physically active for at least 60 minutes per day,” though that doesn’t need to be 60 minutes of continuous activity.
Fitness practices
Remember that kids don’t like to go to health clubs or use home exercise equipment. That is why you don’t see many kids in health clubs. Kids do better with lifestyle exercise programs, including active free play and organized team and individual youth sports.
To get kids more active and more interested in exercise and fitness, it can help to:
- Involve the whole family in being more active. If you go out with your child to play or simply go for a walk, you will see your child will be quick to follow.
- Encourage your kids use “active transportation” by using stairs instead of elevators and walk to school or to their friend’s house or use a bicycle instead of always being driven.
- Support personal fitness and fun recreational activities.
- Help your child find the sport that he/she likes. This could be a team sport, such as soccer, football, an individual sport such as tennis, karate or dance.
- Encourage your child to help in household works and gardening. This will help them to be active at least better than doing nothing.
- Swimming is all the time popular choice with children and parents. Regular swimming sessions will not only teach children how to swim properly but is the best exercise and kids love to do it.
- Encourage your child stay fit and healthy and show the active participation in different sports and activities.
- Teach the children the importance of health and fitness at an early age. Then, they are more expected to continue to be healthy and get regular exercise when they are older.
- By including goals to aim for such as swimming badges or getting involved in some competitions, your children are going to stay motivated, and by encouraging them, you can help them to enjoy being fit and healthy.
Regular exercise is excellent for kids, may be done in any form. Exercise helps them build self confidence, sleep better, have more energy, build stamina, decrease depression or in short… “better overall development”.
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