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Important Ways to Motivate Your Child to Exercise
Grandparents can remember when children’s TV programming came on television roughly at the time the sun came down
during the winter months. There was no such thing as a cartoon or kid’s channel. That meant that if you didn’t want
to stay inside (which made it a lot easier for someone to ask if you had homework) you were outside. There were a
few precious hours to play a game of ball or freeze tag; you could be on the neighbor’s patio learning the words
and creating dance steps from the new Beatle’s song; or you could be practicing skate boarding or your big
brother’s five speed bike (with or without his approval).
In other words, kids got a bunch of exercise because there really wasn’t much else to do. The combination of
outside stimuli and frenetic childhood energy just naturally had kids whooping and hollering until that first
streetlight came on and it was time to come in.
Nobody had to tell us that the outdoors was fun; but for a multitude of reasons modern children haven’t gotten that
message. How, then, can today’s parents motivate their children to exercise?
The time to start your children exercising is before they can walk! Put them on your back and show them you enjoy
the outdoors; point out birds and cats and other interesting features of the neighborhood. Whistle and hop a little
bit (babies like hopping) and give them the fun feeling of a body in motion and the idea that being outside is a
fun place to be. When they begin to walk, take them out to practice. If you have a bike, put them on the back for
fun rides. As the child gets older, supply them with some fun stuff to do. This doesn’t have to be expensive; a
tire hanging from a tree could suffice. Also important is to furnish them with a nice, welcoming lawn, if
possible.
Make exercising a fun family activity! Start early by trooping the whole family out for a walk around the block for
no reason except it’s nice to walk. Be silly and sing at the top of your voice if you want (soon your children will
be mortified if you do so, so take advantage now). Go hiking, swimming, and kicking around whatever nature is near
to you.
Speaking of nature, while teaching your kids that the outside is not radioactive is also a good time to teach, or
to let them discover, that nature is to be protected and respected.
Encourage any aspect of the outdoors they might be interested in, be it fuzzy caterpillars, birds, or animal
tracks. This will also encourage them to be out and active.
Sports are another fine way to encourage exercise. Have family or neighborhood softball or whiffleball games. Take
your kid out to have a catch. Go to school games to encourage your child to strive, if that is his nature. Even if
your kid is a born spectator, that’s all right; he’s outside, jumping up and down, and yelling for his team.
Perhaps you have noticed my drift, which is: it’s hard to get your kids up and motivated about exercise if you’re
not. Sitting on the couch and telling them to go out in the fresh air and run around may not sound as if you really
mean it. If all of a sudden you decide that your kids are not fit enough and need to exercise, it will probably
sound like one of mom or dad’s wild hairs that will go away in time if ignored long enough.
Taking your kids out and kicking around outside not only tells the kids that you like the outside and exercise, it
tells them that you like them too, and that spending time with them is something you enjoy.
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