Your Kids and Exercise

Keeping kids active in their everyday lives plays a key role in keeping children healthy and happy. While we think of kids as being active and energetic, with today’s technology, more and more kids are staying in and playing on their iPad as opposed to enjoying a bike ride in their neighborhood.

Keeping your kids active and engaged in sports or other athletic activities results in many benefits that parents love. Exercise helps your kids have stronger muscles and strengthens their bones, helps control weight and in the prevention of type 2 diabetes, and helps keep them happy through releasing hormones that promote happiness.

If it is a struggle to keep your kids engaged in athletic activities, try some of these useful tricks to steer them in the right direction:

1. Tag: A fun, adrenaline-pumping, and endurance activity. Have your kids get involved and play tag, either with neighborhood friends or in the playground at school. This keeps your kids running and active for a long time.
2. The playground- Whether it is at school or at the local park, believe it or not, the playground has some great features to help kids be active. They are constantly climbing, hanging from monkey bars, using their upper body strength to pull themselves and exploring the endless world of the playground.
3. Bicycling: Bicycling around the neighborhood may seem like an easy time for your kids, but they are being challenged in a way they might not recognize. Bicycling actually requires both, good endurance and lower body strength. You want to really put them to the test? Bike with them up a local hill to really work those lower leg muscles.
4. Create your own 'Family Olympics': You can get really creative and competitive with this one. Make it a new yearly tradition and pick some activities that you and your family want to compete in, from sprinting races to timed swimming, there are so many possibilities.
5. Active Games: Kids love the latest technology features. So why not set them up with a fun and athletic game? Even dance games like ‘Dance Dance Revolution’ get the blood flowing.

Parents are always keeping their kid’s health in mind. Through athletic activities, your kids will learn to follow a fun and healthy routine at a young age that can continue throughout their life.