How to Raise a Fit Kid
For most adults, exercise is about sweating it out at the gym with treadmills and weight-lifting. For kids, it's all about fun stuff and all the active things they do regularly. Exercise for kids may simply mean playing ball games, sessions at gym class, dance lessons, or simply playing tag and riding bikes.
Benefits of Exercise
Every child should exercise regularly to achieve the benefits of an active lifestyle. The following are among the many advantages an active child is bound to get:
- Healthier and stronger bones and muscles
- A leaner body
- Decreased risk of being overweight or obese
- Decreased risk of acquiring diabetes
- A positive disposition and outlook on life
Regular exercise among children contributes to a better quality of life. Kids with an active lifestyle get better sleep and are capable of facing up to the challenges of the day, be it physical and emotional.
Factors of Fitness
Even with simple activities at the playground, three factors of fitness come into play:
- Endurance (when a child runs in a tag game)
- Strength (when a child tries to cross the monkey bars)
- Flexibility (when a child bends down to pick up objects or to tie his or her shoelace)
Kids should develop an active lifestyle to be well-developed on all three factors. Parents' encouragement and assistance will be very helpful.
Developing Endurance
Kids may develop endurance by engaging in activities that tend to speed up respiration. Dance movements would be perfect for this category. And the fact that there is music involved makes the activity both fun and healthy for the kids.
Activities that speed up respiration make the person breathe faster and cause the heart to beat at an increased rate. When done on a regular basis, such exercises will result to a healthier heart that is better able to live up to its function of delivering oxygen to cells.
Developing Strength
Strength development for children need not be about rigid weigh-lifting sessions at the gym. Kids develop strength through fun physical activities like climbing, wrestling, and doing handstands. Simple exercises like stomach crunches and push-ups are also great for toning the muscles.
Developing Flexibility
Stretching activities are important for the development of flexibility. Kids often unwittingly find ways to do the exercise in simple activities like reaching out to get a toy, flipping over, or practicing a split.
Are Kids Getting the Exercise They Actually Need?
According to statistics, they're not. As a matter of fact, children who are overweight have doubled in numbers for the past 30 years. Many factors contribute to the epidemic. But it does not come as a surprise, with kids more sedentary than before. As reported by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the average kid watches television for about 3 hours a day. And according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average child spends a total of 5 ? hours on all types of media.
Parents hold the responsibility of ensuring that their children get the exercise that they need. So what makes for 'enough exercise'? According to the dietary guidelines released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as of 2005, all children from two years and above need 60 minutes of exercise, ranging from moderate to vigorous, on a daily basis. The guidelines also give advice on a healthy and balanced diet, emphasizing the kids' increased need of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.
For detailed information, you can log on to USDA's interactive website. You can enter your child's personal profile (age, gender and activity level). After which you get a food guide pyramid that recommends the total amount of calories (and the corresponding food) appropriate for your child's unique needs.
Keep Your Child Active
It is also important to note that children should not be left inactive for too long a time. Unless they are asleep, young kids should not be inactive for more than an hour. As for school-age children, they should not be allowed to stay inactive for more than 2 hours.
That means that they should not be allowed to do sedentary activities for prolonged periods of time. You should limit the time they spend playing videos and watching TV. The AAP's recommendation stands that children under 2 years of age should not be allowed to watch TV and that older kids' TV viewing should be limited to 1-2 hours in one day. Parents are also advised to promote quality programming.
Keep Your Child Fit
The key to your child's healthy lifestyle is a combination of both regular physical activity and proper diet. You can successfully keep your child active and healthy by encouraging activities that are both fun and physical. As for ensuring that your child gets a healthy diet, you can rely on the scientific methods provided by Personal Diet Planner. This interactive site asks for your child's specific profile and gives you the exact calorie count that your child needs to stay fit. And with a database of over 8000 food entries, you will find the calorie count of just about every food you plan to give your child. And because the data is provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), you know that what you are getting is reliable and accurate.
And here are some additional tips that will help you raise a fit child:
- Encourage your child to participate in physical activities that are appropriate for his or her age.
- Set a regular schedule for your child's physical activity.
- Make your child's daily routine an opportunity to get a tad more active. You can encourage him or her to skip the elevator and take the stairs instead.
- Set an example. Make sure that you are living a healthy lifestyle yourself so your child has something positive to emulate.
Finally, don't forget to make everything fun. This is one effective way of ensuring that your child will join you in your efforts.
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