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The Parent Times>
THE IMPORTANCE of PHYSICAL ACTIVITY for KIDS
January 1, 2010
First of all HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone! Hope this year brings good luck and good health to everyone.
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Children NEED physical activity for healthy physical growth and development. If your child is NOT active you can change this slowly by getting them to be more active 5 ? 10 minutes more a day and gradually increasing this. Physical activity does not just mean participation in sports. Not all children like or enjoy competition. Other activity alternatives include such things as hiking, biking, walking and even household chores such as yard work. The easiest way to encourage children to be more active is be a role model for them. If you are being active it is easier to then have your children join you. Usually active parents will have active kids!
Another important point is to make physical activity an important part of your childs? life as early as you can. For example, you are able to start babies in swimming classes as early as 6 months of age. If you are finding it hard to get your child to participate in physical activity use a reward system. If they participate in so much physical activity they are then allowed to watch so much TV or play video games. Slowly decrease non active activities while increasing active activities.
The Benefits of Keeping Kids Active
Keeping children active does a number of things such as:
a. Maintains flexibility;
b. Builds strong bones and strengthens muscles;
c. Promotes good posture and balance;
d. Increases relaxation;
e. Strengthens the heart
f. Helps them meet new friends;
g. Improves fitness, ect.
Depending on the age of your child, it is always better to try to speak to your child first to see what they are interested in. Again depending on the age of your child, you can ask them what they would like to try or what sports they would like to enroll in. If sports is not there thing, there are many things you can do together with your child such as:
a. Go for a walk everyday or walk or bike to school instead of driving if it is close;
b. Take the dog for a walk if you have one;
c. Put music on and dance with your children;
d. Teach them to ride a bike;
e. Teach them how to rollerblade;
f. Bring a ball or frisbee to the park;
g. Have the kids help bring in the groceries;
h. Go skating, skiing or swimming;
i. Teach them how to jump rope or hula hoop;
j. Have them help with the yard work; or
k. Make a treasure hunt.
As a note always remember when teaching a child a new activity that you also teach them the safety aspect of the activity as well such as when biking always wear a helmet, etc.
A way to have your kids participate in sports if they are a bit nervous would be for you to coach or help assist with the team if that would make your child feel more comfortable.
Lastly, always remember that when having your child participate in activities make sure they include a warm up and a cool down. Also make sure that they always have plenty of water.
STATS
According to the 2009 Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth, children who are physically active perform better in school than those who are not. They also found it interesting that academic performance actually improved even when academic learning time is reduced to allow time for physical activity. They also found that physical activity impacts children?s achievement in math, reading, grades, perceptual skill and overall academic readiness. It has also been shown to increase a child?s self confidence, self-esteem and self image.
The report card also found that only 13% of Canadian children and youth are meeting the minimum recommendation of 90 minutes of physical activity a day. It also does show that Canada is moving in the right direction to help promote kids to get involved with more physical activity.
A full copy of this report can be found at http://www.activehealthykids.ca.
Endurance Guidelines ? How to get Started
There is a chart to help you increase your child?s activity level while decreasing their non active time at this link: http://www.albertadoctors.org/bcm/ama/ama-website.nsf/AllDoc/A7206D0418D3773E87256E360066B405/$File/ACTIVITY%20GUIDE%20-CHILDREN.PDF (page 2)
Your GOAL is to have your child participate in at least 90 minutes of physical activity a day!
PRODUCT OF THE MONTH
One product that I highly recommend to parents is the toilet Lid Lok made by Mommy?s Helper.
Most parents do not consider the toilet a drowning hazard but it can be. Children three and under are naturally top-heavy. Many kids are curious about the toilet and if a child leans over too far to look into the toilet they have the potential to tip in and not be able to get themselves out. That is why it is so important to use a Lid Lok. Also another reason to have a lok on the toilet is to prevent children from flushing things down the toilet.
For a full description and price to purchase, check out my website at http://www.childsafetyprofessionals.com/catalog/item/7037928/7082847.htm
*Please note that all tips are offered as suggestions only. While we have tried to provide you with some suggestions to help parents keep their kids safe, unfortunately we cannot think of everything and it is the responsibility of parents to ensure their children?s safety.
Check us out on Facebook (Childproofers BC), Twitter (Childproofersbc) and Blogspot (Child Safety BC) for regular updates. Links to these sites will be posted.
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/home.php?ref=home
Twitter - http://twitter.com/childproofersbc
Blogspot - http://childsafetybc.blogspot.com/
Erin Johnston
Child Safety Professionals http://www.childsafetyprofessionals.com/ChildproofersBC.html
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