Over the past half of a century, people have been leading much more sedentary lives than ever. Unfortunately, the children today are some of the least active in American history. In the age of two income families, televisions, cell phones and video games have been the ones raising kids. This has not only caused the highest number of child obesity cases, but has also contributed to the breakdown of child-parent relationships. If your children are less active than they should be, there are some great ways to get them up and moving their bodies.
Take It Outside
It is really important that while raising kids, you lead by example. Children tend to emulate their parents’ behaviors. If all the parent does is sit on the couch and watch TV, the children will do the same. You must plan some fun activities outdoors to encourage your children to run and play.
Kids of all ages love to play Hide and Seek. This is a wonderful way to play outside and improve your child-parent relationships too. In the winter, building a snowman or going sledding as a family activity can be great fun. A family vacation in the summertime filled with camping, hiking, bird watching and fishing would bring all of you closer together, and help you in raising kids who appreciate what nature has to offer. Any fun activity that gets you children outside and moving their bodies is a good thing for their overall good health.
Take a Stroll
Family walks are becoming more and more popular. Years ago, people were always out walking with their families, but this has seemed to stop over the past few decades. Walking is a great form of exercise, and it also gives you time to talk with your kids. This is a free activity that opens up the lines of communication and helps to improve child-parent relationships. Going on family walks will not only benefit your children’s health, but will make you healthier too.
Play In the Park
An outing to the park will encourage your children to run, play and socialize with other children. You should play an active role while there as well. You can push your kids on the swings, teach them how to climb on the monkey bars or catch them when they come down the slide. By playing with your children, you are creating a stronger bond between you and them. Strong child-parent relationships are essential while raising kids, and will create a never-ending bond for life.
Signup for Sports
Sports are a great way to get normally sedentary children up and moving. There are many things that a child can learn from playing sports. Kids can learn to be team players and to cooperate with others. They can also learn that exercise will make them stronger, faster and healthier. Sports can also help to improve child-parent relationships, providing the parents play an active role in the children’s sporting activities.
Unconventional Sports
There are children who simply do not take to team sports such as soccer, football, softball or basketball. It’s all right to be raising kids who just don’t like those types of sports. You should not push them into it, as this could severely damage child-parent relationships. There are other great options that your kids might enjoy. Baton twirling, karate, dance or gymnastics might be unconventional sports that your kids will enjoy. Your children will make new friends, and you will meet other people raising kids that prefer unconventional sports as opposed to more widely played sporting activities.
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