Parenting Blog

Expose Your Child to a Variety of Sports and Activities

Let’s face it, we’re not all going to enjoy and be good at soccer. We’re not all marathon runners or rock climbers or Olympic skiers. But physical activity is important. It is important to keep our bodies moving and burning calories, it’s important for our heart, muscles and lungs. Physical activity is important for our metabolism, our development, our immune system, our coordination and even for our happiness.

When we’re physically active, endorphins are released which stimulate feelings of happiness and well-being. Without physical activity, we suffer. Your children suffer. They miss out on the valuable health benefits of exercise but they also miss out on the mental and emotional benefits.

Sports engage us to set goals, to problem solve, to work with others to achieve a common goal. They teach us to be better people than we are. Children gain a sense of pride from participating in sports. They learn the value of competition.
They learn the value of themselves. The good news is that there are hundreds, possibly thousands of sports that your
child can try. In fact, it is important to expose your child to a number of activities so that they can not only find a sport that fits their personality, they can find a sport that fits their abilities.

Healthy Kids Begin With Healthy Parents

Take the time to be a good role model. There’s no doubt about it, healthy kids begin with healthy parents. As a parent, regardless of the words that come out of your mouth, it is your actions that your children really pay attention to. You can
profess up and down how strongly you believe that good nutrition is vital for their health and development, if you’re sitting on the couch with your hand in a bag of chips, they’ll get the message that you don’t want them to hear. “These chips are
better than an apple any day.”

If you want them to eat a good breakfast, then prepare a good breakfast and sit down with them. You want your children to make healthy choices when they are away from you at school and their friend’s homes.

Help your child develop healthy habits by:
• Asking them to assist with the meal preparation and shopping.
• Ask them to plan and prepare their sack lunches for school.
• Ask them to choose the menu one evening each week.
• Learn about nutrition and healthy habits together.

Limit TV/Computer Time

One of the biggest time killers for children of all ages, and adults too, is the television, computer, and video games. Children can spend hours of their precious time parked in front of a screen. Time that could be better used playing outside, practicing their favorite activity, or even reading a book. Also, quite often this time spent in front of a screen leads to unhealthy eating habits. After all, how can you prepare a sandwich while you’re engrossed in the latest video game or social networking site? You can’t, you have to grab a quick snack and head right back to what you were doing.

A quick and easy remedy to this problem is to limit their time in front of the screen. Take the games, computers, and televisions out of their bedrooms and move them into one location, preferably the family room, where everyone has access to them. Don’t want to hear the complaints, protests, and general whining when you tell them that they cannot watch TV or get onto the computer?

Make Sports and Exercise a Family Event

Just as your children learn from your behavior and actions towards nutrition, they also follow your example when it comes to physical activity. If you want your children to be physically active and involved in sports, you need to demonstrate that it’s an important part of your life too. Take up a new sport. Try karate with your child. Explore yoga, join a running club, or even learn to rock climb. The world is full of adventures for both you and your children. Show your children how to seize life and they will thank you for it. If your child is expressing an interest in running, or any sport, but they’re not sure where to start, you can show them your support by:

• Running or training with them
• Helping them find the right gear.
• Helping them locate and register for races
• Guiding them on the type of running they want to try; distance, sprinting, trail running, relays etc.
• Show up for all races and events Another way to demonstrate that physical exercise is an important aspect in your life and your child’s life is to participate in physical activity together.

Understanding Proper Nutrition

Proper nutrition means that your child is getting all of the nutrients and vitamins that they need to grow strong and healthy. They need their calories and nutrients to be dispersed throughout the day, which means that skipping breakfast, having
a candy bar for lunch and then having a healthy dinner isn’t giving them what they need to perform well during the day. Instead, offer your children 4-5 smaller meals each day or three main meals with two healthy snacks.

The average child age 4-8 needs about 1300 calories a day. The average 9-13 year old needs about 1700 calories a day and children 14-18 need about 2000 depending on their activity levels and development. These calories can be broken down into three main meals consisting of a lean protein, vegetable or fruit, and a carbohydrate.

That’s not easy to do, many parents protest. My child is choosy about what they eat. That may be true but no child has ever let itself starve. Children, how ever picky they may seem at the dinner table, will eat healthy foods if they’re placed in
front of them. More importantly, healthy food doesn’t need to taste bad.