Helpful Tips to Get Your Kids to Exercise

Parenting can be hard work and can be especially difficult for those whose children lead sedentary lifestyles. All too familiar a scenario today; a child or teenager coming home from school and subsequently spending hours on end in front of a computer, television, or playing video games. The parent suggests going outside or some other active recreation but has difficulty getting them off the couch.

So what can be done?

Fortunately, there are some helpful strategies out there to help parents get their children to become more active without resorting to threats and groundings. For example, it’s important to try and balance a child’s recreation time. That means not banning them from using computers or playing video games entirely, but instituting a type of trade-off, where an hour of exercise is rewarded with 30 minutes of video game time.

Also, remember that quality trumps quantity: fifteen minutes here, 50 jumping jacks there, are just as good as two hours of non-stop strenuous activity. Most importantly, make it a group effort. Children will be more likely to enjoy exercising if done in tandem with a parent.

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